How to Successfully Change Careers: The Ultimate Guide

Changing careers can be life-changing. Our days are filled with work, which means sticking it out on the wrong career path can be financially, emotionally and physically detrimental over time.

Whether you’re considering a career change because you need a new challenge, or because of a lack of good opportunities on your initial trajectory — make the switch more seamless by following this guide.

Why is Changing Careers Becoming More Common?

A long stint in one profession can become stifling. And if you didn’t experience a true calling early in life, you might discover your chosen career doesn’t actually match your values or capabilities. 

A career change is also a practical necessity for many. Industries, technologies, and work demands evolve in ways that make certain career paths too narrow, competitive, or difficult, such as being physically or emotionally draining.

Career changes usually happen because of:

• Gaining a better understanding of their true passions and motivations.
• Realize growth or promotion in their current profession has become unfeasible. 
• Needing different conditions to manage their health or work-life balance.

But the labor market was more favorable to jobseekers back then. Is a career change still viable in the current economy? U.S. unemployment levels remain low, and experts say the job market is stagnant, with fewer new jobs available to move into. Over a quarter of people without a job in the U.S. had been unemployed for at least six months, according to August 2025 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In some ways, this makes a stronger case for considering a career change. Some fields have shrunk in size as new ones have emerged, which can make it harder to simply change jobs. Choosing an entirely new occupation can reinvigorate and extend your career.

Where To Start: Assessing Your Career Goals

Sound career change decision-making requires a deeper understanding of what makes you tick, your unique strengths, and the realistically available career options. Otherwise you risk a fruitless job search or moving into a career that leaves you dissatisfied.

Identifying Your Motivations for a Change

Best-selling U.S. author Robert Greene, who has written about the path to mastery and people’s motivations, said that many people choose careers based on the influence of others and essentially become strangers to their own innate preferences. To help determine a new direction to take, he suggests reflecting on what you were drawn to as a child and what you don’t like.

“You must look at those subjects in the present that continue to spark that childlike intense curiosity in you. And you must look at those subjects and activities that you’ve been forced to do over the past few years that repel you, that have no emotional resonance,” Greene said. 

Greene argues that transformation is a process of slowly narrowing your path, which means welcoming “wrong turns” as an opportunity to accumulate skills, blend new knowledge with your previous experience, and build resilience.

In addition, it’s helpful to clarify the conditions that must be met for a career to be in alignment with your values and lifestyle. For example, professions where remote work is a possibility may be a non-negotiable, or you may draw the line at working in certain industries like fossil fuels, gambling or advertising. 

Setting Realistic Timeframes and Expectations

Tuning into intrinsic motivations helps career changers remain focused in spite of distractions or setbacks during the transition to a different profession. Preparing to change careers can take up to a year or more depending on the size of the knowledge and skills gap between where you are now and where you need to be to compete for roles in your new field. 

Potential hurdles of a career change to be mindful of, and to plan ahead for, include:

• Salary reduction: The earning potential may be greater long-term, but you may need to accept a lower wage initially, or a position with less seniority or benefits.
• Steep learning curve: Switching careers can require significant professional development and also adjusting to different workplace cultural norms.
• Stress and overwhelm: Change is hard, and the fear of failure or having made the wrong choice can upset your emotional equilibrium as you adapt.

Evaluating Your Skills and Strengths

Make a comprehensive list of your core ‘career-agnostic’ skills and attributes. LinkedIn data shows the top skills employers are looking for in the U.S. in 2025 include AI literacy, conflict mitigation, adaptability, process optimization and innovative thinking. None of which are restricted to a specific career. 

It’s almost impossible to remain employed without picking up a wealth of transferable skills, such as communication skills, time management and organization, or a knack for problem-solving. Many hard skills, like competency in Microsoft Excel or project management software, are also highly transferable.

Fortunately for career changers, many organizations have embraced a skills-based model to guide how they hire, develop and promote employees. But it puts an even greater onus on being able to prove how you’ve applied your skills and attributes to deliver value. One way to evaluate your most marketable skills could be to think of your biggest work successes and work backwards — what qualities did you bring to the task or project that ensured its success? 

Researching Potential Career Paths

Having listened to your inner voice and examined where your strengths lie, you can explore the broad range of alternative careers that make sense. Cognizance of changing market demand and the long-term security of different roles is also useful.

Technology-related skills will underpin the fastest-growing roles out to 2030, according to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, which is based on a survey of over 1,000 global employers. Think machine learning specialists, fintech engineers, and app developers. But based on the volume of roles alone, frontline jobs will remain in demand — that includes salespeople, construction workers, social workers, personal care aides, and teachers.

Leveraging your experience, skills and networks to pursue self-employment can also be an effective way to change careers without losing momentum. Entrepreneurship, freelancing, consulting and online content creation can enable a smooth career transition. 

Narrow your options based on the careers that appeal to you most, and then conduct more in-depth research into what it would actually take to enter that field. Then create a list of actions that will move you closer to your goal.  

Is it Too Late for a Career Change? 

With improving healthcare and increasing financial burdens, it’s not uncommon for people in the U.S. to work beyond the retirement age of 65-years old — that’s a long working life, and multiple career changes are to be expected. 

Savvy and inclusive employers know that experience is an asset. Ageism does exist, but you can help mitigate its impact through a proactive job search, and confident self-advocacy.

Is Switching Careers at 30 a Good Idea?

Changing careers in your 30s is often ideal. By the age of 30, many people have been working long enough to have developed a strong and broad skills base. That can help minimize any potential salary or seniority downgrade that arises from changing careers. 

Having held multiple jobs, possibly across different industries, by the age of 30 also gives you a better insight into the kind of work environments where you could thrive, or that would match your desired lifestyle.

Considerations for a Career Change at 40 Years Old 

Switching careers at 40 is not only possible — it may be a smart move if you’ve acquired significant transferrable leadership skills. In high-paying senior and executive roles focused on managing and inspiring teams, the specific field you worked in previously becomes less relevant.

It may also be easier to take a risk in midlife and invest time and money into further study to underpin a career change. Most people have settled into family life, paid off student loans, and potentially built a financial buffer by the time they’re in their 40s.

Is a Career Change at 50 Years-Old Still Possible?

It is literally never too late to alter the course of your career. Workers in their 50s may face greater conscious and unconscious biases. More effort may be required during the job search to:

• Articulate your motivations and commitment to a career in the new field; and
• Demonstrate that you are digitally-savvy and have a growth mindset. 

On the plus side, changing careers in your 50s could help shift (incorrect) recruiter perspectives around being ‘overqualified’ for roles in your current profession. 

Preparing for a Career Change Job Search

Career changers don’t neatly fit the mold. That can make navigating the traditional job market more difficult, but definitely not impossible. 

You Can Change Direction on Your Professional Journey

Changing careers isn’t the same as getting a new job. Switching fields tends to be more disruptive and difficult to achieve, as it can require retraining, rebuilding your networks, and adjusting to significantly different work conditions and on-the-job expectations. But it’s a misconception that career changers need to start from scratch.

Take the example of a travel agent who began their career when travel planning services were more in demand, before the rise of online booking websites made her career less tenable. She could parlay her valuable customer service skills, and in-depth hospitality and tourism destination knowledge, into a new career in hotel or venue management. Or start a private tour company, leading small groups on overseas adventures.  

Experience gained in one career doesn’t need to be wasted — with the right preparation, it can be repurposed to give your career fresh legs.