Things I Wish I Knew Before Switching Careers

Fellow readers, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Bella and I am a 27 year-old career switcher. For some extra context, I am speaking from the perspective of a former teacher who is now in the corporate world. What made me make the switch, you ask? Well I definitely was not ungrateful for the first career opportunity that I had. Teaching was, and always will be, my first love when it comes to my career path. The answer is simple, actually: I needed change.

Life sometimes has a funny way of showing us when we have outgrown things, or letting us know when change is due. Change can be scary sometimes, but shouldn't staying stagnant feel even scarier? So here are some things I learned while I was in the process of switching careers.

LESSON NUMBER 1: The growing pains

You can be grateful for your career and still feel that it's no longer where you want to grow. Sometimes, the career switch happens long before you resign. It all starts with the mind.

Before making any serious decisions, ask yourself why you're considering a career switch in the first place. Learning the difference between “I hate my job” and “I don't think this is where I want to be anymore” is a very important thing, so make sure to reflect on that.

With change comes growing pains, so make sure that you are patient with yourself. You are not expected to have everything figured out right away, especially when you're stepping into something unfamiliar. Give yourself time to understand what you want, what you need, and what you are willing to work toward.

LESSON NUMBER 2: Embrace the uncertainty

Shifting out of a teaching career to a corporate one was not easy at all. I've received countless rejections along the way. To keep myself calm, I would just tell myself that rejection is just redirection. The uncertainty, however, was something that I had to learn to sit with.

I also learned that uncertainty doesn't always mean you're on the wrong path. Sometimes, it simply means you're trying something you've never done before. And while I wish I could say I had everything figured out before making the switch, the truth is, I didn't. I just knew I wanted to try something different, and that had to be enough for me to take the first step.

LESSON NUMBER 3: There will be days when you question yourself, but don't use it as an excuse to be harsh on yourself.

There were days when I questioned whether I was making the right decision, especially when I was applying for roles that I had never held before. I had to remind myself that just because I was new to corporate didn't mean I was starting from zero.

I was bringing years of experience, skills, and lessons from teaching with me. I just needed to learn how to hone these skills and present them in a way that showed how they could be valuable in a different field.

It's easy to focus on what you lack when you're trying to enter a new industry. But sometimes, you need to take a step back and recognize what you already have. Your experience still counts, even if it doesn't look exactly like the experience listed in the job description.

LESSON NUMBER 4: The learning curve is real

When one is new to switching careers, they often don't realize that this would mean shifting how they work as well. Sometimes, there can be multiple learning curves happening at the same time! You're learning new software, tools, and workflows, all while managing workplace expectations.

Although it can be frustrating, it's also important to be patient with yourself. Rome wasn't built in a day. You don't have to master everything immediately to deserve a place in your new field. Even taking things one step at a time is enough.

No matter how scary things are, never be afraid to ask for help. You don't have to figure everything out on your own, and asking questions doesn't make you any less capable. Sometimes, it simply means you're willing to learn.

LESSON NUMBER 5: Be confident in your skills

The great thing about career switching is that you get to rediscover new things about yourself—your skill set, your capabilities, and what makes you a great employee despite the lack of experience in your new field.

Being confident in your skills will definitely help you present yourself better in your resume and during your interviews. It also doesn't hurt to make it an ego boost for yourself, since job hunting can be a very emotionally taxing thing, after all.

But more than just helping you get through interviews, confidence can also remind you why you decided to make the switch in the first place. You may be entering a new field, but you are not entering it empty-handed.

Looking back, I used to think switching careers meant leaving one version of myself behind. Now, I think it's more about learning what else I can do with everything I've already become.

Career switching is not just about changing jobs; it's about changing how you see yourself. I still carry the lessons I learned in the classroom: how to communicate, how to adapt, how to create, and how to keep learning even when things don't go as planned. Those skills didn't disappear when I stepped into the corporate world. If anything, I began to see them in a different light.

If you're thinking of switching careers, I hope you know that starting over doesn't mean starting from nothing. Your previous experiences still count. Your skills still matter. And it's okay if your next chapter looks different from what you originally imagined.

And if there's one thing I want to take with me from this experience, it's this: you don't have to have it all figured out to begin again.