Will a Career Change Work for You?

    轉行是否適合你？

    If you're looking for work and aren't having much luck in yourcurrent field, it's temptingto decide now is the time for a careerchange.

    如果你正在找工作，并且在原來的行業沒多少希望，那這時候考慮轉行聽起來就很有誘惑力了。

    But although it's always good to be flexible, it's also important to be realistic.

    雖然靈活一點總是好的，但是現實也是很重要的。

    "There's a bigger pool of more highly qualified people who arewilling to work for less money" in a downturn, says Richard Phillips,owner of Advantage Career Solutions.

    Advantage Career Solutions公司的老總Richard Phillips說："在經濟低迷時期有大批比你更有資歷的人愿意以更低的薪水接受這份工作。"

    Experts such as Phillips offer these four tips for ensuring a career change will work -- before you make the leap:

    Phillips等專家提供了以下四點建議，可幫助你在作出決定之前確保換行對你來說是有用的：

    1 Do your homework.

    做好功課。

    Make sure you don't jump from one sinking industry to another."Ask, 'Is this a growth area?'" says Melissa Fireman, a careercounselor in Washington, D.C., and co-owner of Washington CareerServices.

    要確保你不是從一個瀕臨死亡的產業跳到了另外一個。Washington Career Services公司的持有者之一，也是一位職業專家的Melissa Fireman說："要弄清楚'這是否是個有潛力的行業？'"

    You can start your research online, with government publicationssuch as the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook.

    你也可以在政府部門的準許下，到勞工統計局的在線前景手冊上搜索答案。

    Also look at whether a particular specialty within your potentialnew field is in demand. For example, perhaps school districts in yourarea aren't hiring many elementary school teachers, but they do needspecialized teachers.

    另外，也要看看你要進入的行業是否有特別的專業要求。比如，你當地的學校可能不會聘請小學老師，但是卻可能需要特別的教師。

    2 Talk to people.

    和別人談談。

    Before you make a change, you need to find out "what the career and job really involve -- not your fantasy," Phillips says.

    在你做出改變之前，你要弄清楚"這項工作或該領域實際上涉及到什么，而不是你妄想。Phillips如是說。

    For example, many careers, ranging from interior design tofinancial planning, may involve selling your services in addition toperforming them. Or you may be enticed by the high average salary ofyour dream job, only to find that it's a field where a few people makea lot and most people make very little.

    比如說，對很多從室內設計轉行到財政規劃的工作人士來說，可能需要在做好工做之余還要銷售出去。又或者你被理想工作的高薪吸引，最后發現原來那個行業里只有少數人才能掙到大量的錢，大部分的人工資都很低。

    To get the real story, talk to people who work in the field you'retargeting. You can find them through your college alumni association,professional associations, and schools with programs in the field.

    想要知道實際情況，就和那些已經在你的理想行業工作的人士談談。你可以通過大學校友會，專業社團，或該行業的培訓學校那里找到這樣的專業人士。

    3 Assessyour experience.

    評估你的經驗。

    The lowest-risk decision for a hiring manager is to choose someonewho has done the job before, Phillips says. So if you try to compete ina new field, you'll be at a disadvantage.

    Phillips說招聘經理做出的風險最低的決策就是聘請以前從事過該工作相關的候選人。所以如果你打算進軍一個新行業，你就處于不利情況了。

    "It's just hard to sell yourself when you don't have anyexperience, or the experience that you do have is a completedisconnect," he says. "You can't make your past not exist."

    他說："如果你沒有任何經驗，或已有的工作經驗和目前應聘的工作毫無關系的話，你就很難推銷自己了。你沒辦法抹殺自己的過去"

    This doesn't mean it's impossible to change careers. But you mayneed to find a substitute for the experience you lack. One way to dothis: networking.

    但這也并不意味著轉行是不可能的。不過你可能需要找到一個優點來彌補工作經驗的不足。有個方法就是：人際關系網。

    "Does somebody know you from a former company?" Fireman asks.People are much more likely to take a risk on someone they have workedwith in the past, even if it was in a different job. Volunteerexperience can also help, Fireman said.

    Fireman問："是否有以前公司了解你的同事在呢？"即使是在不同的工作上，人們也更愿意和以前共事過的同事工作。Fireman還說志愿者經歷也是有用的。

    4 Build a bridge.

    建一座橋。

    Not all career changes are equally difficult. The hardest is tomove to a field where none of your previous experience is relevant.Often, though, you can find a way to build on your previous experiencewhile doing something new.

    并非所有的工作轉行的困難都是相當的。最難的是進入到一個與你以前的工作經歷完全不相關的行業。雖然通常來說，你可以在嘗試新事物的時候應用自己以前的經驗。

    Consider staying in your industry but moving to a new role so youcan play up your industry knowledge. Or you could keep working infinance, for example, but for a biotech company instead of a publisher.In that case, you can show that you have already done the job, even if the industry is new.

    考慮呆在你目前的行業，但是找份不同的任務，這樣你就可以積累行業知識。比如，你可以繼續在金融方面工作，但并不是為一家出版社工作，而是為一家生物科技公司工作。這樣的話，即使是在新行業，你也可以說自己已經有了這樣的工作經驗了。