The Biggest Lessons I Learned From Making a Major Career Change
By: Steven Hopper
Tags: Motivation, Life Lessons, Work, Life, Inspiration

The Biggest Lessons I Learned From Making a Major Career Change Steven Hopper Follow Nov 7 · 6 min read

I spent nearly a decade as a high school teacher and loved every minute of the job itself. What I struggled with was poor leadership, annoying politics, low pay and recognition, and the rigid day-to-day schedule.

Not surprisingly, these align with the top three reasons from a recent Indeed.com survey on why people make a career switch: unhappiness with the sector, desire for more flexibility, and desire for more pay.

The tipping point for me came when health concerns made doing my job as a teacher too difficult and I decided it was time for a change.

And I’m not alone. According to CNBC, nearly half of workers make a major career switch in their lifetimes. But it’s not easy to do and it takes planning and patience to pull off.

But what I didn’t know at the time, is that finding a new job was only the beginning of the hard work it would take to switch careers.

It took over a year for me, but I finally feel comfortable in my new role and am grateful for all that I learned along the way.

Here are the major lessons I learned from this journey for anyone else looking to make a major career switch:

Confidence is key.

“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right.”– Henry Ford

The first step to making big life changes is going all in. Everyone who switches careers will experience doubts — both internally and from the people around them.

When I started looking for new career opportunities, I remember feeling overwhelmed and nervous that I wouldn’t be able to find another job that matched my level of education and experience. I panicked feeling like I would either be forced to stay in my current position forever or like I would have to take a significant pay cut to get requisite training and experience for a better job.

Nevertheless, I proceeded with the job search and applied for any and everything I felt aligned with my passions and strengths.

Confidence is what allowed me to put myself out there despite not being qualified on paper. And when I started my new job, confidence enabled me to lean into the challenge and prevail over the doubters I faced.

The easiest way to overcome doubters is by exuding confidence.

The ability to learn trumps all other qualifications.

“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.” — Peter Drucker

Making a major career switch means overcoming a steep learning curve to onboard to a completely new industry and role. This means being able to find a balance between exuding confidence while also knowing when you’re not skilled in something and need help.

The best thing I did was ask a lot of questions, jot down notes when I didn’t understand something, and spend time researching outside of work so I could prepare myself for the next conversation.

Lucky for me I had previous education and experience that helped me catch up quickly. In fact, I would suggest that having a different set of skills and knowledge became one of my biggest advantages.

What I had to learn was how to apply these to my new career in a way that highlighted my unique perspective.

Whether you switch careers or not, those who embrace continual learning as a part of their work realize many benefits.

A recent LinkedIn survey found,

“that employees who spend time at work learning are 47% less likely to be stressed, 39% more likely to feel productive and successful, 23% more ready to take on additional responsibilities, and 21% more likely to feel confident and happy. And the more you learn, the happier you become.”

For me, the learning challenge revived my passion and interest in work. It allowed me to grow in ways that I would not have if I had stayed in the same field my entire career.

Failure is expected. Embrace it.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston Churchill

I won’t lie, switching careers is not easy and it does not happen quickly.

For me, it took months of countless networking events, several job application submissions, many “thank you, but at this time we’re going in a different direction” responses, and only a few in-person interviews.

Just when I was about to give up and prepare myself for the next year of teaching, I found the right opportunity and got a job offer.

Now on the job, there have been many times I’ve underperformed. Instead of accepting these moments as failure, I’ve embraced them as learning opportunities.

I’m reminded of Carol Dweck’s research on growth mindset. In her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success she writes,

“In the fixed mindset, everything is about the outcome. If you fail — or if you’re not the best — it’s all been wasted. The growth mindset allows people to value what they’re doing regardless of the outcome . They’re tackling problems, charting new courses, working on important issues. Maybe they haven’t found the cure for cancer, but the search was deeply meaningful.”

So remember that making a career switch is like all aspects of life — it’s a journey, not a destination. Celebrate the highs and embrace the lows as growth opportunities.

Everyone is an imposter.

“Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we’ll ever do.”- Brené Brown

I faced an uphill climb in my new role as a business consultant to prove myself to my new colleagues and clients. This made me doubt whether or not I had made the right decision — I went from being viewed as an expert in my field to being viewed as an unqualified imposter.

And it made me question myself and doubt my ability to switch careers.

What I’ve learned, however, is that this is natural for everyone — whether you have years of experience or are new to a role. At some point we all face this feeling of imposter syndrome.

In fact, Rita Clifton writes about this in her book Love Your Imposter: Be Your Best Self, Flaws and All and says that about 70% of people have experienced imposter syndrome at some point in their career.

But there are ways to overcome this natural doubt. Instead of letting the fear of not fitting in paralyze you, you can use these feelings to your advantage by maximizing your strengths and transforming that fear into excitement.

While this sounds simple enough, it’s definitely not. It takes courage to stay true to ourselves in the face of doubt. What helped me immensely was sharing these feelings with others and hearing similar experiences from them.

This led me to discover that people across jobs and industries have a lot more in common than we’re led to believe when looking through job postings. Sure we may have different education, experiences, and backgrounds, but we’re still connected as people.

Ultimately, realizing this helped me reframe my outlook and open up to others instead of feeling like I had to defend my position. In turn, I was able to find great mentors who have helped me see my own potential in my new role.