Page 193 - Talane Miedaner - Coach Yourself to a New Career_ 7 Steps to Reinventing Your Professional Life (2010)

STEP 7: MANAGING THE TRANSITION SMOOTHLY 181

by going on informational interviews to learn more about a given
company to which you might want to move. You can gain practi-
cal experience in that industry or field by doing volunteer work, by
enrolling in evening classes, by taking on part-time or temporary
work, and by joining the representative
associations. I’m all for getting a toe wet
first before diving in completely. While one person
One client, Michaela, thought it hesitates because
would be really fun and glamorous to be he feels inferior,
a personal shopper for busy executives the other is busy
who didn’t have the time to do their own making mistakes and
shopping. Before quitting her day job becoming superior.
in a retail shop, Michaela tried this out
on some of her mother’s friends, using —HENRY C. LINK
her evenings and weekends to shop for
them. She soon discovered it was a major
hassle dealing with the shipping and all the returns. In the end, she
decided to stay in retail and got a job buying clothes for the store.
She gets to go shopping, but on a much bigger scale! Sometimes
things aren’t as much of a hoot as they look on the surface, so field-
test your ideas first any way you can.

Start Getting the Training and Experience

You Need Now

If you are jumping from one field into a completely different field,
you may need to go back to school full-time or take courses in the
evening and on weekends. Your company may even have a training
department in-house that offers relevant programs or may pay for
you to take outside courses. For example, if you are in operations
and want to switch into sales, you can probably take some in-
house sales-training courses. It is easier to get the training at your
current company and make the transition internally before you
make the transition to another company. This is simply because
with other candidates out there who have the relevant experience,
your own résumé will look pretty weak in comparison.