Tips to Justify a Career Change To the Interviewer
There are several motives for professionals to take that career changing step and move on to a goal that they have a strong interest in and are well-matched to handle. This positive life choice comes with its own share of hurdles. In the pursuit of establishing oneself in a new career, persuading an interviewer that the right choice has been taken is often a mammoth task. Here are some tips to justify a career change to the interviewer.
Research Is Crucial
Before determining on a career change, most people spend noteworthy time and energy investigating and learning about the career. Interacting with folks in the industry and discussing the profession is a practical way of gaining a conception about what to do to make the career shift. Regardless of how many career-switches a professional has done in the past, it is crucial to clarify to the interviewer the quantity of contextual work that has been put into this change and how switching careers makes sense for the individual’s professional future.
Flexible Skills
For professionals, it is always important to analyse the work that they have done in the past. In this analysis, a clear distinction between all the skills he or she has acquired needs to be made. These skills can range from –
Experience as an efficient team member
Managerial expertise from supervising projects
Fluid communication skills
Problem solving skills
Information analysis
Learning the description of the occupation that is in question and making a catalogue of all the corresponding skills and features presently in possession of the professional is the best way to go. Also, in an interview situation this list will also prepare the interviewee to discuss how his or her past experience can help in succeeding in the offered job position.
Long Term Targets
External forces may often provoke professionals to switch their careers. Improvements in technology and deteriorating businesses can occasionally make way for new-fangled career – hence, the finest way to maintain a professional standard and only take progressive steps may sometimes entail taking a step backward while changing careers. A temporary change should not hinder a professional from making a career shift. Often, it’s the lateral moves that make the difference in the bigger picture.
It’s not uncommon for employees to take up a provisional position at a company, or in some cases, making a lateral switch into another industry.
For employees interested in making such a switch it is important to make sure that the interviewer is conscious of the fact that career changes of such nature were deliberate, not forced, and that at present, the candidate strongly believes that the switch is in his or her best interests.
Examining these distinctions in an interview aids a commercial recruiter recognize that the candidate has a long term target in mind and is worth investing time in. In other words, career changing comes with its own share of risks and benefits. The justification behind a career change should always be honest and planned.
Reshali Balasubramaniam
Head of HR, HR Counselor and adviser at https://jobpal.lk and EFutureTech Systems. Submit your resume online and be contacted by prospective employers.