Work Your Money, Not Your Life

Chapter 10Take Action to Change Your Job

With a solid game plan in place, a lot of the hard work that changing your job requires is behind you. Now it's all about execution, which entails finding and applying for roles, positioning yourself effectively, interviewing, and evaluating offers.

But first, a word of warning: even after strategically narrowing your focus to one or two paths, a career change often requires a great deal of patience. According to an October 2018 survey by Randstad US, job seekers take five months on average to find a new role – and that's just the average.¹

“There are many factors beyond your control that influence your job search timeline, including the state of the job market, industry developments, and luck,” says Amanda Augustine, career expert at TopResume. “The good news is, there are numerous strategies for positioning yourself as a more qualified candidate, while potentially decreasing your job search timeline.”

In this chapter, you'll learn about a number of tried-and-true strategies that can help you search for a job as effectively and efficiently as possible, without sacrificing the career priorities that you've identified. Feeling pumped yet? Let's dive right in.

Identify and Apply for Opportunities

There are three main ways to identify job opportunities that align with your interests and skills: by submitting job applications, engaging with recruiters, and networking. Because no single job-hunting strategy works best for every situation, ...