Will a Career Change Work for You?

转行是否适合你？

If you're looking for work and aren't having much luck in yourcurrent field, it's temptingto decide now is the time for a careerchange.

如果你正在找工作，并且在原来的行业没多少希望，那这时候考虑转行听起来就很有诱惑力了。

But although it's always good to be flexible, it's also important to be realistic.

虽然灵活一点总是好的，但是现实也是很重要的。

"There's a bigger pool of more highly qualified people who arewilling to work for less money" in a downturn, says Richard Phillips,owner of Advantage Career Solutions.

Advantage Career Solutions公司的老总Richard Phillips说："在经济低迷时期有大批比你更有资历的人愿意以更低的薪水接受这份工作。"

Experts such as Phillips offer these four tips for ensuring a career change will work -- before you make the leap:

Phillips等专家提供了以下四点建议，可帮助你在作出决定之前确保换行对你来说是有用的：

1 Do your homework.

做好功课。

Make sure you don't jump from one sinking industry to another."Ask, 'Is this a growth area?'" says Melissa Fireman, a careercounselor in Washington, D.C., and co-owner of Washington CareerServices.

要确保你不是从一个濒临死亡的产业跳到了另外一个。Washington Career Services公司的持有者之一，也是一位职业专家的Melissa Fireman说："要弄清楚'这是否是个有潜力的行业？'"

You can start your research online, with government publicationssuch as the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook.

你也可以在政府部门的准许下，到劳工统计局的在线前景手册上搜索答案。

Also look at whether a particular specialty within your potentialnew field is in demand. For example, perhaps school districts in yourarea aren't hiring many elementary school teachers, but they do needspecialized teachers.

另外，也要看看你要进入的行业是否有特别的专业要求。比如，你当地的学校可能不会聘请小学老师，但是却可能需要特别的教师。

2 Talk to people.

和别人谈谈。

Before you make a change, you need to find out "what the career and job really involve -- not your fantasy," Phillips says.

在你做出改变之前，你要弄清楚"这项工作或该领域实际上涉及到什么，而不是你妄想。Phillips如是说。

For example, many careers, ranging from interior design tofinancial planning, may involve selling your services in addition toperforming them. Or you may be enticed by the high average salary ofyour dream job, only to find that it's a field where a few people makea lot and most people make very little.

比如说，对很多从室内设计转行到财政规划的工作人士来说，可能需要在做好工做之余还要销售出去。又或者你被理想工作的高薪吸引，最后发现原来那个行业里只有少数人才能挣到大量的钱，大部分的人工资都很低。

To get the real story, talk to people who work in the field you'retargeting. You can find them through your college alumni association,professional associations, and schools with programs in the field.

想要知道实际情况，就和那些已经在你的理想行业工作的人士谈谈。你可以通过大学校友会，专业社团，或该行业的培训学校那里找到这样的专业人士。

3 Assessyour experience.

评估你的经验。

The lowest-risk decision for a hiring manager is to choose someonewho has done the job before, Phillips says. So if you try to compete ina new field, you'll be at a disadvantage.

Phillips说招聘经理做出的风险最低的决策就是聘请以前从事过该工作相关的候选人。所以如果你打算进军一个新行业，你就处于不利情况了。

"It's just hard to sell yourself when you don't have anyexperience, or the experience that you do have is a completedisconnect," he says. "You can't make your past not exist."

他说："如果你没有任何经验，或已有的工作经验和目前应聘的工作毫无关系的话，你就很难推销自己了。你没办法抹杀自己的过去"

This doesn't mean it's impossible to change careers. But you mayneed to find a substitute for the experience you lack. One way to dothis: networking.

但这也并不意味着转行是不可能的。不过你可能需要找到一个优点来弥补工作经验的不足。有个方法就是：人际关系网。

"Does somebody know you from a former company?" Fireman asks.People are much more likely to take a risk on someone they have workedwith in the past, even if it was in a different job. Volunteerexperience can also help, Fireman said.

Fireman问："是否有以前公司了解你的同事在呢？"即使是在不同的工作上，人们也更愿意和以前共事过的同事工作。Fireman还说志愿者经历也是有用的。

4 Build a bridge.

建一座桥。

Not all career changes are equally difficult. The hardest is tomove to a field where none of your previous experience is relevant.Often, though, you can find a way to build on your previous experiencewhile doing something new.

并非所有的工作转行的困难都是相当的。最难的是进入到一个与你以前的工作经历完全不相关的行业。虽然通常来说，你可以在尝试新事物的时候应用自己以前的经验。

Consider staying in your industry but moving to a new role so youcan play up your industry knowledge. Or you could keep working infinance, for example, but for a biotech company instead of a publisher.In that case, you can show that you have already done the job, even if the industry is new.

考虑呆在你目前的行业，但是找份不同的任务，这样你就可以积累行业知识。比如，你可以继续在金融方面工作，但并不是为一家出版社工作，而是为一家生物科技公司工作。这样的话，即使是在新行业，你也可以说自己已经有了这样的工作经验了。