Making a big career change isn’t easy, especially if you’ve got kids to support, a mortgage to pay, and a car to worry about. But if you’ve got the motivation, you can do it. Here’s how.

Steps

1. Tackle the golden question: If you had all the money in the world, what would you be doing with yourself? Don’t hold back. This is brainstorming time. Make a list of all the things you’d rather be doing with your time. Your first few answers will probably be something like: Take a tropical vacation, spend more time with the kids, etc. But push your thinking beyond that.
2. Evaluate your skills and talents. Ask yourself: What am I good at? What do I most enjoy doing? Write down every skill you’re capable of. Don’t be shy.
3. Identify transferable skills. After deciding what career best suits you, and have listed all know skills and talents, identify what skills will best transfer over into your new line of work. The longer the list the easier the transition. If you have only a few or no transferable skills, do not be discouraged. Pursue your passion to find happiness.
4. Think of jobs that allow you to do what you really want to do, at least in some form, and apply your skills and talents every day. Be creative and open-minded.
5. Conduct informational interviews. Informational interviews are a gem twofold: you get straight talk about your considered profession from actual professionals, and you achieve face time with individuals that possibly have the power to hire you later down the line. (more…)