In the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness”, Will Smith portrays Chris Gardner, a single father with a young son living in homeless shelters. He worked in sales but became one of 20 unpaid interns competing for a paid position as a stockbroker in a bid to have a stable career, albeit in a different field.

From fresh graduates who find that a career in their specialised fields of study is not their cup of tea, to professionals who either have hit a glass ceiling or want a change of scene, they come to career advisors like myself asking whether it is too late to change their minds.

They also seek advice on what they can do to channel their skills and knowledge towards their areas of interest.

Making a career switch requires hard work and sometimes sacrifice. Before you make the move, you need to ask yourself about your motivation.

The biggest hurdle to a career switch is a mindset change. Having invested years in building up knowledge, skills and experience in one area, it is difficult to take the risk and put in the effort to do something different.

DO YOUR RESEARCH

Research is always a good starting point when considering a move into unfamiliar areas.

Sites such as Jobstreet, Glassdoor or Indeed.com can help you find work scopes that are of interest.  Some portals even allow you to compare different job descriptions side by side, allowing you to identify the requirements of the jobs that are interesting.

Once the roles have been identified, list down in two columns the skills you already have and what are lacking.  You also need to consider the soft and transferable skills that you can use to sell yourself to the employer for the new position.

You will also need to take steps to acquire skills and knowledge that you do not have.  This can be done by either going back to school, tapping initiatives such as SkillsFuture, or leveraging online video courses. There are many free training videos available online, but my favourite is LinkedIn learning which is complimentary with a LinkedIn premium subscription.

GATHER EXPERIENCE

However, video training will carry you only so far and theory without practice has its limitations. For existing students, check if your institution has the resources to help you apply your knowledge in practice.  

If you are interested to learn and practise data analysis, for example, clean and ready-to-use data is available via sites such as www.data.gov.sg.  

Another channel is to look up internships that will allow you to pick up new skills and knowledge.

Let me cite an example of an American alumnus who enrolled in NUS Business School with years of experience as a drilling engineer in an oil and gas company.

He pursued a Master of Business Administration degree with a view to starting a new career in the technology sector, and possibly even start his own company.

As he did not have the relevant skills, he took up a part-time internship with a technology start-up during his first semester to learn as much as he could.

With new experiences and perspectives, he returned to his previous company but requested a new job scope that involved technology. He is also in the midst of creating his own start-up.

MAKE THE TRANSITION FROM WHERE YOU ARE

Before making the switch, it is useful to find out if there are opportunities that interest you within your current company.

Exploring an internal role has its advantages since the environment, culture and teams would already be familiar.  There is less risk and the staff member can immediately step up to the new role.

However, such a move would depend on the policies in place to support staff development.  There will likely be internal politics to manage as well, especially if you are already a valued member of a team.

I have seen a number of Masters of Science in Business Analytics students switching job functions from within their current companies.  This is because business analytics skills are in high demand and companies are willing to sponsor employees to upgrade their skills in the area.

When you plan an internal move, look for skill gaps within the company such as analytics and cyber security. If you are willing to develop the skills, the company may encourage your development.  

CONSIDER STEPPING DOWN TO MOVE UP

Sometimes, making a career switch requires sacrifice. Companies may be unwilling to pay the equivalent of your current or previous salary if you are joining them in a job function in which you have little experience.

Your willingness to take a pay cut might incentivise them to hire you, especially if you have the right transferable skills.

One of our recent graduates spent two years interning with companies like Airbnb and P&G just to pick up new skills after graduating with a view to start his own business in five years.

With the additional skills and experience he picked up during his internships, he secured a position in a tech company that aligns with his future start-up vision.

While there are two more years to his five-year plan, he is making use of his new skills to lay out the necessary groundwork, expanding his network and raising funds through a side e-commerce business in the United States via drop shipping.

THE SINGAPOREAN SHORTCUT

Singaporeans can make use of Workforce Singapore’s (WSG) Professional Conversion Programmes targeted at professionals, managers, executives and technicians.  

WSG collaborates with companies and tertiary institutions to help this target group undergo skills conversion and move into new occupations that have good prospects.

The conversion options vary across all growth areas in Singapore, including cybersecurity, data analytics, digital marketing, e-commerce and even occupational therapists. WSG subsidises a large part of the salaries during the conversion period.

Overall, making a career switch is not easy. You need to know why you are making the switch so that you have the motivation to put in the hard work.

Apart from fields that require professional qualifications, such as medicine, engineering, and accounting, there is potential to switch to most other areas. If you are willing to put in the hard work, the sky is the limit.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kenneth Lam is a career advisor with NUS Business School’s Career Services Office, which works closely with business undergraduate and postgraduate students to prepare them for their careers ahead. This is part of a series of career-related commentaries which TODAY is running in partnership with the school.