A Guide to Making a Successful Career Change

Are you thinking about changing your career and trying something new? If so, you’re not alone. Many people find themselves in work that doesn’t quite fit with their skills, values, or interests. Perhaps you chose your career based on early opportunities that you had or educational decisions that you made before you really knew what you wanted. Or maybe your circumstances have changed: you want more flexibility, a higher salary, or work that feels more meaningful and impactful.

These are all great reasons to switch careers, and although entering a new field can be intimidating, the benefits can be well worth it. In fact, if you’re already seriously considering a change, then there’s some evidence that you’re unlikely to regret it (though take this with a grain of salt). Through our advising and interviews, we’ve spoken to many people who have been able to switch into careers they care about.

Bell Arden

Bell worked as a construction engineer for eighteen years before deciding to find work they’d find more meaningful. After making a career change, they took a role as an operations manager in an organization doing important work in AI regulation.

Read our full interview with Bell here

Bal Dhital

Bal studied medicine and worked as a doctor for two years before deciding to step away from his clinical career to work in global health. He joined the Lead Exposure Elimination Project, an organization that works to end lead poisoning in developing regions, where he works with governments and paint manufacturers to implement important lead regulations.

Read our full interview with Bal here

This article walks through what a career change looks like in practice, covering the key steps to take before and during your switch to a new kind of work. We’ll explain how to figure out what credentials or experience you actually need, tailor your job applications, and build a strong network in your new field. We’ll also help you to consider whether you can get what you want by making smaller changes to your existing career.

Preparing for a career change

Before you start updating your resume and applying to jobs, you should take some time to figure out exactly what it is you want, and how you can get there. This will take reflection and research, but investing the time now will pay off later, by helping you avoid dead ends, or even worse, ending up in a career that still doesn’t align with what you want. 

Identifying your target career

One of the most valuable things you can do at the start of your career pivot is spending time working out which target career you want to switch to. If you’re already interested in a career change, you likely have something in mind, but we’d still recommend expanding your search to consider the full range of options. There may very well be avenues you haven’t considered that could be a great fit for you.

A simple way to start is to identify and write down your key strengths and interests. These are the things you excel at, the kind of tasks that motivate you, and also the kind of work you find most interesting. On top of this, identify any other constraints or preferences you have. These could be things like a minimum salary, flexible hours, or geographic requirements.

Even if these seem obvious to you, it’s still worth making them explicit and concrete. Having solid criteria for the kind of work you want helps to narrow down the search, letting you match them against the careers you’re interested in. They’re also something you can return to and tweak later if your preferences change.

Once you’ve clarified your preferences and needs, you can start investigating career paths. We’ve covered a lot of high-impact careers that are great options for people looking to help others with their work. But there are many other places to look. For instance, if you went to college or university, you may still have access to careers services and other resources (alongside an alumni network). Your government may also have a careers website, and some find it useful to browse various job boards, where you’re able to filter by useful parameters like location and skillset.

Once you have a list of initial ideas, you can start honing in. For each career path, try to get down to the concrete details. What do people in these careers actually do all day? What is the average salary? What does career progression look like? There are a host of ways to answer these questions. For instance, you can find and read interviews with people across various paths, or even better, reach out to people directly and ask them. Several websites exist with salary data for different career paths (though the reliability varies), and looking at relevant LinkedIn profiles can give you a sense of how career progression typically works.

This research process is worth dedicating a solid amount of time to; it’s probably the most important part of the career change process. While there’s no specific number of hours we’d recommend, keep going until you’ve identified a target career (or perhaps multiple paths) that you can be fairly confident will give you many of the things you want from your work.

Identify required experience or qualifications

Chances are you won’t be able to simply waltz into whatever role you want in your target career. The further away your target profession or industry is from your current line of work, the more likely it is you’ll need to spend some time filling out your CV with new experiences and qualifications before you start applying for positions. But how do you go about working out what you’ll need? 

First, you’ll want to identify the kinds of roles you want to end up in after some time in your target career, even if they’re not the ones you’ll be applying to up-front. This is important because career paths can branch quite a bit depending on the kind of experience you have, and the kind of roles you’ve taken before. Your medium/long-term goals in your new career have important implications for how to prepare for the career change.

For example, if you’re interested in monitoring and evaluation, it’s worth thinking about whether you’re ultimately interested in roles that focus on academic research, which will require postgraduate credentials, or more boots-on-the-ground work with nonprofits, which often don’t. As another example, if you’re interested in journalism, you’ll want to work out whether your aim down the line is to cover a range of topics, or if you only really care about journalism in a specific area. The former roles may require more general journalistic experience, while the latter will usually require subject-specific expertise. You don’t necessarily need to have a clear idea now for what you want in the future, but it’s worth doing some extra research to give you some direction.

To help you understand the viable entry points to your target career, spend time browsing job boards and try to identify 10-20 jobs you’d be excited to be in once you’ve spent 3-5 years or so in your new career path. For each of these roles, note down the qualifications, skills, and kinds of experience they ask of candidates. Supplement this by identifying professionals on LinkedIn whose careers you’d like to emulate. How did they get to where they are? What did their journey look like? If you can find people that have made mid-career switches like you, that’s even better. Keep doing this research until you have a good sense of the kinds of jobs, degrees, qualifications, and internships people usually take before they get the roles you’re targeting down the road.

Finding and applying for opportunities

Now that you know where the common entry points are for your target career, and what common trajectories look like, you can start thinking about finding opportunities to apply for. You’re probably not able to apply for your ideal jobs just yet, instead you’re finding the best first steps in your new career path. These are likely to be entry-level jobs, degrees, volunteering opportunities, or dedicated development opportunities like internships, fellowships, or scholarships (though some people may be able to start in a more senior position). In short, they can be anything that gets you onto the kinds of paths you’ve been investigating. Conduct some research and find 10-20 of these opportunities you could feasibly apply for with your current skillset and experience. 

With the opportunities you identify, you’ll want to strike a balance between ambition and realism. For example, the best opportunity might be a competitive fellowship or postgraduate course at an elite university. These may well be worth applying to, but you’ll also want to hedge your bets. Ideally, you want to give yourself a chance of landing a great development opportunity whilst still making sure you’ll have decent options if it doesn’t work out. We’d recommend distinguishing between reach opportunities, target opportunities, and backup opportunities, including several options in each. 

Another consideration here is the cost of taking these opportunities, both in terms of time and money. Committing to a 6-year graduate program might be a fantastic option on the surface, but it’s risky if you find you don’t enjoy your new field as much as you’d hoped. If you can, give extra weight to lower-commitment “tests”–opportunities that will help you enter your new field, but also let you get information in a low-stakes way before making a big leap. These could include things like short internships and part-time roles.

Finally, it’s worth reflecting on whether or not the opportunities you’ve identified will give you good career capital for roles and career paths other than your “plan A”. You don’t want to waste time gaining experience and credentials if these only have narrow relevance, since you could still struggle to land your dream job, even if you technically meet the requirements.

Consider whether a career change is really right for you

Though there are many benefits to career changes, it’s worth bearing in mind some of the potential risks and downsides of making a switch. For one, a successful career change sometimes takes a lot of time–possibly years if you pursue further education or are only able to gain relevant skills part-time alongside your current work. Once you’ve switched, you may also end up in a more junior role than the role you really want, adding more time to the process. 

Career changes sometimes also involve a step down in salary, even if only temporarily. This doesn’t have to prevent you from making a change, but it is worth accounting for. This might involve reassessing your budget, building up savings before making the transition, or deciding to build relevant skills whilst maintaining your current, more lucrative job.

These costs are often worth it, but you should also think about whether you can get the things you’re looking for without a full career change. You may want to ask yourself whether a promotion, new company, or even a frank chat with your manager could satisfy some of the things you’re looking for from your work, whether that’s taking on different responsibilities, working with a more aligned team, or working for a more impactful organization. This strategy can help you reach your goals without the investment needed for a complete career overhaul.

Making the change

If you’ve weighed up your options and identified some initial opportunities to get started in your new career, that’s great! It’s time to start sending out applications and making connections to help you progress.

Overcoming challenges in the hiring process

In many respects, applying for opportunities as a career changer is a similar process to any other kind of candidate. Whether you’re applying for jobs, internships, or academic courses, you’ll need to do all the standard good practices, like refining your resume, crafting strong cover letters, and practicing interview techniques–all things we cover extensively elsewhere.

But, as a candidate making a career switch, your applications can also bring some unique challenges compared to more conventional candidates, making it harder for employers to see you as a good fit–at least on the surface. Perhaps the most common obstacle here is being perceived as “overqualified” by hiring managers, especially if you’re applying for roles that look like a step down on paper. The problem is that, from a hiring manager’s perspective, being overqualified doesn’t literally mean you’re too qualified for a position. Rather, it’s about seeming like a mismatch for the particular position you’re seeking for all sorts of other reasons.

These concerns are often legitimate, but they’re fortunately something you can mitigate during the hiring process during interviews and in your application materials. A few questions that are worth addressing up-front include:

• Will you actually want to do this work once you’ve started? Display genuine knowledge and excitement for specific aspects of the role and organization. In other words, make it clear that this isn’t just another application you’re firing off, but a job you truly understand and want.
• Will your previous experience actually translate well to this work? Focus on relevant experience that translates to the new role instead of just highlighting all your impressive credentials, prioritizing the parts of your background that actually align with the work you want to do. You might have led a large team in your previous role, but if you’re applying for a role without management responsibilities, highlighting this can distract from the more relevant experience you’re bringing. 
• Will you stick around, or leave once you’ve found another job that’s more on your level? This question should be addressed if you’re applying for a role that’s clearly less senior, or comes with a lower salary, than the one you’re currently in. This is a dynamic that’s common for a mid-career change. Make sure the hiring managers know you haven’t misread the job description and that this change of responsibilities is something you’re actively seeking, and that taking a lower salary than you’re used to is a sacrifice you’re happy to make.

A final pointer to address the “overqualification” problem is about choosing the right roles to apply to. It’s not worth spending time on applications if you’re just not a good fit for them–even if you have a wealth of experience. Instead, we’d recommend targeting roles where your background is advantageous, or in organizations that are more open to non-traditional hires (often but not exclusively small or early-stage organizations).

Use rejections to refine your approach

As you start applying for jobs, you’ll almost certainly face rejection. This can be discouraging, especially if you’ve invested time and effort into getting experience or qualifications for your new field. In reality, though, it’s an inevitable part of the job hunt. Remember, it isn’t personal–and if you’re not getting rejected, you might not be aiming high enough! 

What’s important is that you try to extract what information you can from these rejections, use each job application as a learning process and use them to diagnose what might be going wrong. This isn’t easy; there’s a significant amount of luck involved with job applications, making it hard to know if you’re doing anything wrong or are just getting unlucky. On top of this, feedback is scarce, meaning you’re often in the dark as to why you’re being rejected. That being said, you can use a simple question to pinpoint what might be going wrong: are you struggling to get interviews from your applications, or are you getting interviews but no job offers?

If you’re struggling to get interviews

If you’re sending off lots of applications but aren’t getting interviews, then your resume and other application materials might need improving. The problem could be that your resume doesn’t highlight your strengths as well as it could, or perhaps your cover letters aren’t conveying your experience and enthusiasm well enough. Take a close look over these materials and, ideally, also ask for feedback from someone whose advice you trust.

In addition, you might need to reassess the jobs you’re targeting. Review your applications and consider whether you’re applying to jobs that aren’t realistic for you right now. Though we think it’s worth being ambitious in the roles you apply for, if you’re only applying for dream jobs, then consider expanding your applications to some more realistic targets for this stage of this career switch process.

If you’re getting interviews but no offers

Spend some time rethinking your approach to interviews, and try to think of them as a skill that you can develop and hone, much as you’ve developed more concrete skills to make this career change in the first place. Things like practicing common interview questions and preparing for interviews ahead of time are good places to start. You can follow a similar approach for work tests, which are also an important part of the hiring process for many organizations.

It’s also possible that you’ve done everything perfectly, but that another candidate was just more suited for the role. This can be deeply disappointing, especially for roles you have invested a lot of time and energy in. It’s okay to process this before moving on, too.

Grow and use your network

In addition to sending out applications, it’s important to use and grow your professional network. It’s common knowledge that jobs are often filled through personal connections rather than (or in addition to) formal application processes. But networking may be even more helpful in the context of a career change. Building relationships with people in your target field can both give you important insight into how it functions, as well as provide potential job opportunities.

If you find the prospect of networking daunting, you can start small. For instance, your existing connections can be really valuable. Friends, family, former colleagues, mentors, or classmates are already part of your network, and they would likely be open to help you–just as you’d want to help them. Using the network you already have is a great way to start getting introductions and contacts in the field you’re moving to.

When you’re ready to expand further, consider showing up to events that align with your goals. Rather than attending every available networking opportunity, focus on events in the field you’re trying to break into. Following up on any promising connections you make is an important part of this process; ideally, you’re looking to form sustained relationships rather than just having one-off encounters.

It’s also well worth reaching out to people in your new field directly, even if you haven’t met before (also known as cold emailing). People are often surprisingly happy to connect with and help others if they share the same goals and professional interests, especially if their approach is courteous and sincere. When doing this, introduce yourself briefly, try to make your requests specific; make it clear what kind of advice you’re looking for, be specific, and how you’re looking to receive it (such as via a call or email exchange), whilst being respectful of their time. It’s usually best to offer something low-commitment, making it easier for that person to say yes. For example, ‘can we chat for 20 minutes about your work’, or ‘can connect me to x person?’

A final suggestion is to make your intended career switch public if you can. Doing things like updating your LinkedIn profile and posting updates can let others know what you’re doing. On top of this, developing a broader public presence, for instance with a relevant blog, posting in relevant forums, or building an independent project, can also lead people to you without you actively seeking them out.

Alternatives to a standard career change

Building your own role

Even if you do all the right things, the process towards a career change isn’t always smooth. We covered how you can identify ways that you can help yourself during the application, but what if there just aren’t many relevant roles to apply to in the career you want? Sometimes, the perfect role for you doesn’t exist yet, or is very limited in number, especially if there aren’t many relevant organizations in your region. 

If relevant jobs are scarce, consider whether you could construct your own career path through freelance or independent work. Freelancing lets you build experience and a client base gradually, often while maintaining your current role for financial stability. This can be a lower-risk way to test whether your target field is truly a good fit before making a full commitment. However, if you’ve struggled to get a job in your target field so far, this could be a useful signal that going freelance isn’t your best option at the moment, and that developing your skills further (or trying something else) could also be the right move. 

Another route is even more ambitious: starting an organization, company, or community. This can be a way to bootstrap yourself into the kind of work you want, as well as (potentially) be highly valuable in itself. For example, Andrés Jiménez Zorilla worked in banking and private equity for 15 years before deciding to find more meaningful work. Through the Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program, he co-founded a highly effective charity that improves the welfare of farmed shrimp at a high level of cost effectiveness.

This path definitely isn’t for everyone; it takes a lot of effort, and starting something new always comes with a risk of failure. But for people who are inclined towards entrepreneurship and in a position to take such a risk–especially established professionals with a financial safety net–this can be a great path for a career transition. 

Increasing the impact of your current career

If your primary reason for seeking a career change is social impact, then it’s also worth thinking about the ways to achieve this without a career change. These are great options to consider if a career change isn’t looking feasible for you right now.

First, consider whether you can find ways to increase your impact within your current field. Are there other organizations (or other parts of your current organization) that would let you work on a more important problem than you do now? Could there be opportunities in the future if you stay on your current path? Even if you’re not able to do quite as much good as if you’d made a career pivot, increasing your impact to any degree is well worthwhile.

It’s also worth thinking about whether you can use your current expertise as the basis for volunteer work. Instead of viewing volunteering as a stepping stone to a new profession, you could think of it as a way to channel your existing skills toward causes you care about. For example, a web designer wanting more meaningful work could offer pro-bono services to effective nonprofits. 

This approach lets you maintain the salary and benefits of your current role while gaining the impact and fulfillment you’re seeking through targeted volunteer work. This is often easier than starting from scratch in a new field, and you might be surprised how much difference you can make by applying your professional skills to organizations that really need them, and getting personal fulfillment out of the process, too. 

One further option is donating money to fund cost-effective charities. If you’re in a path that offers a high salary, or you could get a high-paying role in the future, having an impact through effective giving could work for you. This approach requires less career disruption, but can still do enormous amounts of good.

Your next steps

You’ve now worked through the key considerations for a successful career change, from identifying your target career to navigating the application process. But knowing the steps and actually taking them are two different things. So what should you do next?

The first step is to start forming a concrete plan and really nail down what a career transition would look like for you in practice. Follow the steps we outlined earlier: identify real jobs and opportunities you’re excited about, and work out the paths needed to get there, including entry-level roles, internships, or courses you could apply for right now. Then, get feedback on this plan. Sound out your ideas with people you trust to give you honest advice. If you can find people in the career you’re switching to, their feedback is likely to be most useful. You can also consider applying for our free 1:1 career advising service, if you’re looking for some advice specifically about moving to a more impactful career.

If you’re looking for some extra general guidance, our career guide will take you through some of the most important questions to guide you through a career change, offering deeper dive topics such as developing an initial career plan, finding the right opportunities for you, actually landing a job, and developing your career over time.

Whatever steps you take next, it’s important to remain reflective and take stock at each stage of the journey. Career changes aren’t easy, but continuing to think about what you really want, and how best to achieve it, will increase your odds of finding work that’s right for you.