6 mistakes I've made when changing careers

I’ve changed careers 5 times by the age of 35 and while I’ve generally been successful, getting a pay rise each time (including tripling my salary in 3 years to almost $200,000), working on bigger and more complex projects, and getting promotion after promotion, I’ve definitely made mistakes along the way. 

Here’s a list of 6 mistakes I’ve made.

Mistake #1: Waiting too long to change

I worked in a cafe for 6 years before I finally decided that I wanted to be paid for the skills I’d built during university and numerous summers of interning for free with small businesses. I probably could have made the move from Hospitality to Advertising a year earlier but I was lazy and chose short-term convenience over long-term potential and fulfillment. 

Mistake #2: Thinking I didn’t have the skills or experience to change careers

When I moved to Change Management, my hiring manager had to convince me I was ready to move to this incredible new career and profession. After I started working in Change, I realised I totally had the transferable skills and experience and with some practical on-the-job training, I was leading great change within a few months.

Mistake #3: Not doing my research on average pay and salaries

I was already working in Change Management for a few weeks when I got a call from a recruiter offering me a role at $750 a day. I almost fell off my chair - I had not realised how lucrative the profession was and my next role in Change I almost doubled my income. This is one of the reasons I step through the different day rates and equivalent salaries for different levels in Change in my Intro to Change Management webinar.

Mistake #4: Burning myself out

When I did a practical industry training course in Coaching and started a business on the side of my full-time job, I was really only thinking about building skills and making a bit of extra money. But working weeknights and weekends got exhausting and it was a year or two before I started working part-time (4 days per week). You need to rest and recharge!

Mistake #5: Thinking that past skills wouldn’t be used in future projects

Having come up through a Communications, Advertising and Marketing background before moving to Change Management, I use knowledge, skills and tools from these fields all the time in Change. In fact, in my Leading Successful Change program, a whole module is devoted to "Crafting Incredible Communications". Everything you’ve done in the past can be used today and in the future - nothing goes to waste.

Mistake #6: Going down the wrong career change path

For every career change I’ve successfully made, there are several others I didn’t. For example, when I worked in Banking I thought I wanted to do a special internal program to be a global banking leader. But I never did Commerce or Business at school or uni, so I stayed behind every evening to research financial terms and definitions on Investopedia. It was so boring and I wasted so much time on a path that was never going to be for me. Change to something you’ll enjoy more.

I’ll be sharing more about how I made the career change to Change Management in my upcoming free Change Tools Masterclass. I’ll be sharing all my practical tools and templates as well as answering your questions when we kick off on Tuesday 5 March. 

CLICK HERE to register your free spot on my Change Tools Masterclass

All my belief, 

Lata xx