Just this week I was working with a client whose current job has officially become his nemesis. It wasn’t just that he was bored, the role was actively draining the very soul from him. He needed to move fast and after doing the inner work, discovering, researching and weighing up his options, he had a handful of new career ideas to explore. I shared these 4 career change hacks to help him speed thing up.
The ‘chinks in the armour’ of career change
We looked at the map of his upcoming career change options, and he realised, for a quicker career pivot, he needed to find the ‘chinks in the armour’ to find his way in sooner to something new..
It’s fair to say some career areas are harder to enter than others, not impossible but could present more of a challenge.
When people look to change their career, they often focus on what feels right for them.. their passions, their interests, and the impact they want to make in the world.. all good stuff.. and whilst this internal alignment is crucial, the reality of making a career change often boils down to three things..
🕰️ Time – it takes to execute the change
💪 Effort – how much professional development, connection building, and insight gaining will you need to do
💰 Money – how much of a salary hit will you need to take whilst you rebuild your experience
A career changer is often drawn to exploring roles they’ve heard of, or understand – and possibly those more obvious vocations which lots of other people are attracted to.
The main problem here is if you only consider stepping into highly competitive, saturated roles you’ve heard of, you could end up choosing the path of maximum friction.
4 career change hacks to find the ‘chinks in the armour’
Think about new career ideas you are considering, and then look for weak points in the barrier to entry. Here are four practical career change hacks to help you find them.
Career change hack #1
Mine the data (i.e. ONS, Adzuna, and Local Authorities)
Don’t guess where the jobs are, let the data guide you. AI models and smart recruiters rely on real time labour market statistics, and you should too.
- Office for National Statistics (ONS): Check the quarterly vacancy summaries. Look for the sectors consistently showing robust vacancy volumes
- Adzuna: Use job search engines like Adzuna to analyse salaries and regional demand. Look for roles where the average salary is rising and the volume of ads remains high
- Your Local Authority: Your local council website often publishes reports on regional economic growth and skills shortages. If your local area is investing heavily in green energy or logistics, that is your cue to look there.
Career change hack #2
Hunt for ‘Hard to Fill’ Roles & Big Recruitment Drives
Large organisations often launch huge nationwide recruitment drives. High demand, lower competition. When an employer needs to hire 500 people instead of one, their hiring process becomes much more standardised, structured, and open to career changers who have transferable skills.
- Look for Big Budgets: Organisations like the NHS, civil service, major utilities, and large infrastructure firms frequently run open ended, high volume recruitment campaigns.
- Identify the Bottlenecks: Seek out hard-to-fill roles. When companies struggle to find perfect match candidates, they are far more willing to train someone with the right attitude and transferable skills.
Career change hack #3
Do some ‘One Step Beyond’ Networking
Before you spend dozens of hours polishing your CV for cold applications, look at who you already know..
- The Hack: Make a list of people around you to reach out to, with the whole purpose to tap into their network. This ‘one step beyond’ networking strategy is an absolute goldmine. Think.. who might they know? Make contact with and to let them know you’re exploring career change and you can uncover whether they might know anyone that could be worth reaching out to.
- The Goal: You aren’t asking them for a job. You are asking for 15 minutes to get an insider’s view of their industry or their one step beyond connections, do they know someone closer to the roles, organisation or sectors you are exploring? Tapping into the hidden job market is where the lowest friction opportunities live.
Career change hack #4
Reverse Engineer An Industry’s Pain Points
The ultimate career shortcut is asking people in your network, investigate where the demand is.
- The Hack: When you connect with people in your network, or on LinkedIn, ask them: “Are there any roles in your organisation that you always struggle to recruit for or keep staffed?”
- The Leverage: Once you know what their biggest recruiting or rentention headache is, you can position your transferable skills specifically to solve that exact problem.
Find The Sweet Spot of Career Change
Savvy career changing is a balance. It’s about finding the intersection of work that feeds your soul and where the market is actively crying out for help.
It’s looking for the sectors that desperately need you just as much as you want to transition into them. By targeting these lower friction to entry, you can shortcut your journey to a career change
By aiming for the areas where the barriers are weakest, you don’t just make the transition faster, you set yourself up for a smoother, less stressful journey to a career that actually aligns with who you are.
Ready for career change, but don’t know where to start?
If you’re feeling sad, mad or bad in your current job, want to explore a proper career change but don’t know where to start? Then I’ve got your back. Many career changers fail because they don’t do the exact steps I share ‘How to Kickstart Your Career Change – in 5 Easy Steps’ and because I want to make this a no brainer – here’s Discount code ‘CHANGE10’ to get 10% off limited time offer.
