Want to change careers? Check out expert tips

The pandemic changed the working relationship of several professionals and brought to the debate some dilemmas – new and old – in the labor market, such as adapting to the home office, reducing wages and changing careers. In a global survey carried out by Pearson, 76% of Brazilians say that the new coronavirus has changed their perception of their professional trajectories and about 60% said they fear having to change careers because of the pandemic.

This reality was experienced by Pedro Henrique Cardoso Guerra. Graduated in administration, he entered the market as Sales Planning Supervisor and with the pandemic migrated to Marketing.

“The pandemic influenced me 100%, because if it weren’t for the coronavirus, I wouldn’t have worked with marketing, because as soon as I left the last vacancy, I would go on an exchange program, I got unemployed and started working with social networks”, he says.

For Luiz Valente, CEO of Talenses Group, the current economic moment for those who are still thinking about changing their careers is favorable. “Despite a market with interest rate growth, inflation, GDP expectations for 2022, we have a heated market, especially at managerial levels and direct team leadership.”

According to specialist Maria Sartori, Recruitment director at Robert Half, during the entire period of the Covid-19 crisis, there were two movements in the market.

“One movement was to take a break from one’s career, the so-called sabbatical period, and another movement that comes stronger is the search for a career that made sense before, which can occur within the company or outside.”

Marcos Gonçalves, currently in the technology sector, felt safer to take advantage of the moment of crisis and migrate from the gastronomy area to the career he always wanted. “I already had the desire to change industries and felt at the beginning of the pandemic an encouragement to change. It was the little push I needed to get out of the restaurant sector and work in technology, as a Business Intelligence & Insights Analyst”, he says.

For Vicente, changing careers requires maximum attention. “It is necessary to be careful with this decision to make a career change. It is important for the professional to reflect on what he wants and what he does not want.

See 4 tips for changing careers

For those who want to change careers right now, it is necessary to evaluate some criteria to make the most correct decision.

Self knowledge

Assess what skills and knowledge you already have for this new area you intend to migrate and what other knowledge will need to be acquired. In addition to evaluating everything that a new career can change in your life.

“It’s also interesting to talk to people around you, friends, family to get as much information as possible. With this feedback from those watching you from the outside, it’s easier to visualize the movement he needs to make”, says Valente.

Understand the degree of change

The change is not always radical, from a finance area to a media creation area, it can often happen within the same sector, but with a different role.

“He needs to understand the area in which he works, if he is a professional who likes to do financial analysis because he doesn’t want controllership, he needs to understand if he likes what he does and if he eventually doesn’t like the area in which he is working ”, says Valente.

Research about the sector

Try to understand if it is a prosperous sector, if it suffered a lot from the effects of the pandemic or if it managed to exceed expectations, the salary base, the benefits. Be aware of the pros and cons. “Talk to professionals in the area you want to go to, and learn more about the profession and companies in this segment”, says Maria.

be up to date

Seek to improve your knowledge within what this new market area requires. “Never fail to update yourself, through updates and know what is happening in the business world”, says Maria.

*Under the supervision of Thâmara Kaoru and Ana Carolina Nunes