Komunitas-Super

You either lost or quit your job last month. You have been working in Human Resources (an example) for 10 years at this company and before that at another company for 8 years. You have one kid in college and the other two are young adults living on their own. Now What?

Last week you had a daily routine, health insurance coverage, and a regular paycheck. You have always dreamed about working for yourself but you never took the risk. Now that you have been laid off or you know the company is going under the risk to leave your job isn't that great. You understand that trying to find another job with hundreds of thousands of people also unemployed will be almost impossible. This is as good a time as any to, at the least, make an attempt to fulfill your dream.

Sometimes finding a new job or starting a new career is less risky than staying in your current employment. A career change can be done with some planning. The key is to research your options thoroughly.

Your first step is to decide what your goals are and what you want to do.

If you have not done some serious soul searching by now, this will take some serious thinking on your part and may even require outside counseling. Take your time. You are in this for the long term. Thinking about long-term goals from the start will keep you grounded and help you determine how to proceed.

Once you are clear on your goals, ask yourself what specific skills, knowledge, money, resources, information and contacts you need to bring to your self employment. A career change may be a change of direction in your current job such as working for yourself rather than the company.

A career change may require going back to school and gaining new skills so that you can do what it is that you want to do. More and more people are doing this and you will be surprised to find lots of people within your age bracket that are back in school, learning to study all over again. In what areas would your work experience be of benefit to you?

If you know what you want to do you are already half way there so don't sit there and wait for something to happen. This is the best time to talk to your family, let them know what you are planning, and ask them for support. Transparency is the new political buzz word and it works for families, also.

Keep your ties to your old company. Very often, former companies are the sources of first outside contracts for the self employed especially if you are freelancing in the same area. Network with them and be prepared to make networking in general a full-time job.