A Guide To Figuring Out Your Dream Career During Lockdown

Lockdown is a difficult time for everybody. Some people are working from home, others have been furloughed or even laid off. One thing is for certain: life is going to be different for everybody after this. If there’s one thing we’ve all got during lockdown, it’s time. Even if we’re working from home, we’re all likely doing a lot less with our spare time, giving us much more time to think. Perhaps you’re realizing that you’ve been unhappy with your job for a while, and you’d like to make a change. What better time to figure out what you want to do than now? You don’t have to start online training for your dream career now, and you don’t need to start a business and be the most productive person in the world. It’s a global pandemic - cut yourself some slack.

All you have to do is think about the sort of change you’d like to make, and then start taking steps towards the change when you feel ready. Read on for some inspiration:

Know Your Personality Type
If you don’t already, knowing your personality type can give you a huge hint as to what you should be doing. Not only will this help you to become more self aware, it’ll give you plenty of ideas as to the sort of careers that could fulfill your soul, not just your bank balance.

Think About Where You’d Like To Be in 5-10 years
Think of yourself in 5-10 years time. What would you like to be doing? What would you like to have? Use this vision to define your career goals and ensure they resonate with you. You don’t want to work hard trying to achieve somebody else’s dream. You don’t need to own a hugely successful business just because it’s what everybody on Instagram seems to want to do.

Start Networking
Open a Linkedin account or speak to people you know in the career you’re thinking about switching to. You could learn a lot from a short conversation!

Image Source: Pexels

Take On A Research Project 
When you have an idea of what you’d like to do, take on a research project and learn as much as you can about the role/career. If you’re thinking of accounting, for example, know what qualifications you’d need, the accounting career salary, whether you’d need insurance, if you could work from home, etc. Write everything down.

Ask Yourself The Important Questions
Ask yourself questions, such as:

• How much time do you want off each year?

• Do you want to be able to work flexibly?

• What incentives would you like?

• Would you like to travel for work?

• Would you like to work alone or as a team?

• What are your skills/passions?

• Who do you want to help?

• What would you do if money wasn’t an object?

How Much Time Are You Willing To Invest In Upskilling?
You could do a quick online course and learn a new skill in a few weeks, or you could go back to school for a few years. There are usually various paths you can take into a career you want, but it all depends on how much time and effort you want to put in. You could do an intense course, for example, but you will likely need to put a lot more effort in the long term.

Whatever you do, don’t limit yourself!