Have you ever been on a road trip to a place you’d never been to before?
I suspect you probably didn’t just throw a bag in the car and go.
You probably checked the route and worked out what you needed to take. You might have thought about who to take with you. And you possibly even built in a few stops along the way that weren’t strictly necessary, but made the trip worth taking.
A career change deserves the same kind of attention.
Because drifting along without a plan or leaping blindly tends to cost you more than you might think. That doesn’t mean you need to have every detail figured out from the get go.
But it helps to be strategic and intentional before you begin.
In this episode, I’ll share the 6 elements of a smart career change strategy. Think of it as your route plan.
6 Elements Public Sector Leaders Need in Their Career Transition Strategy
So what are the six elements of a smart career change strategy?
1. Weigh the Cost of Both Side
We tend to only think of the cost of leaving: the risks we perceive; the income gap we assume. The unknown.
But staying has a cost too. To your energy, your health and wellbeing, your sense of self. Look at both sides of that ledger before you decide anything.
Take an honest look. Test your perceptions and assumptions.
2. Know Your Dealbreakers and Your Must-haves
Before you can recognise the right opportunities, you need to know what you’re actually looking for in the next chapter of your career.
What are your talents, strengths, and transferable skills and experiences?
What genuinely lights you up? What drains you?
What’s non-negotiable?
Where are you willing to compromise – and where not anymore?
Without that clarity, you’ll end up evaluating options with no compass to judge them by.
3. Make Space to Explore
Give yourself real room to dream, discover, and test out alternatives – ones that meet your success criteria, make your heart sing, and are actually sustainable long-term.
This isn’t indulgent. It’s the research phase of your trip. And skipping it is how people end up somewhere they didn’t actually want to be.
4. Develop, Test, and Validate Your Options
Don’t just pick a direction and commit blind. Try it on. Talk to people doing it. AND: run the numbers!
Because a dream that can’t pay the bills needs a plan.
Otherwise you might keep wondering for the rest of your life “if only I had backed myself and given this a proper go”.
5. Build Your Support Structure
There are two elements to this.
One, what you do for yourself: your own habits and practices that keep you steady.
And two, who you bring in to help. A mentor, a coach – like myself – or an honest friend or a peer, someone else who’s changing careers.
Nobody plans a cross-country trip solo and refuses to ask for directions.
I talk more about this in episode 44, called ‘Three Reasons Leaders Need A Support System for Their Public Sector Career Change’. Check that out at spacetoshiftyourcareer.com/44
And the last element of a smart career change strategy.
6. Have Fun and Enjoy the Ride!
This part often gets forgotten.
The road will have ups and downs, and some stretches will be genuinely hard.
Look after your mental health, watch your mindset. AND: build in the moments that make this journey enjoyable – not just endurable.
None of this guarantees a smooth journey. But it means that whatever happens, you’ll have the tools you need to navigate it.
Until next time: Make space, rediscover YOU, and then take action.