Beyond Updating Your Resume: Five Ideas to Regain Your Career Change Mojo

Is updating your resume enough when you want to change careers?

You know the feeling. You’re bored. You’re not moving up. You feel stuck in your career. It’s time to make a move.

You brush off and update your resume. You submit your updated resume to multiple positions. You deploy your network. Your updated resume might get you an interview or two. You may even make it to final rounds for  a position. But so far, you haven’t made the change into a job that excites you. Before you know it, you’re burned out with the job search. You’ve lost your mojo. How do you keep going?

Updating your resume isn’t enough. Here are five ideas from Wayfinders’ coaches to regain your career change mojo.

1. Pause and reflect. Ask yourself: how do I want my life to be different a year from now? Once you have the answer, ask, what is one step that I can take to get closer to that goal?

2. Establish—and keep—a routine. Dedicate a certain amount of time each week to your career change. Keep a regular schedule for researching new positions, making new connections and following up. Keep track of what you’ve done. When you look back, you will see how all the small actions you’ve taken have added up to positive progress.

3. Focus on what you can control. Revisit your elevator pitch. Brush off your target company list. Create a list of people you want to connect—or reconnect—with. Develop success stories so you can explain your value proposition when you’re talking to people. By focusing on what’s in your direct control, you will feel more empowered.

4. Identify your “non-negotiables.” On a blank sheet of paper, list what you WANT from your work. Beyond a title, pay or company prestige, what are the things that truly drive your happiness and satisfaction at work? What kind of boss do you want to work for? Independence and autonomy, or broad cross-functional collaboration? Steady and predictable work pace, or lots of intense sprints? “What” and “how” you work are far greater drivers of your emotional wellbeing than any paycheck. Evaluate opportunities based on your non-negotiables.

5. Widen your circle. Reach out to third ring contacts—people who you know tangentially, but don’t know well. These connections are the ones that will most likely lead you to an introduction to a new position because they have access to different circles. These connections are less invested in who you are now and more interested in who you want to be after your career change. In fact, a LinkedIn study shows that people are more likely to be referred for jobs by their second­ and third­ degree connections.

Now, it’s your move. What will you do beyond updating your resume to regain momentum in your career change?