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有些候选人在职业转型时，不仅想找一个新的工作机会，还想离开过去所做的部门和行业，尝试新的工作内容。比如，销售专员想尝试做市场，技术专员想转型做业务，在企业做的人想投身咨询业。但是，对于正在换公司、换工作的你，如果还要同时换部门和行业，那你的要求太高了。

想想自己的背景中，别人最可能看重什么

如果你能再耐心一点，更现实一些，客观思考自己的背景中别人最会重视什么，那你成功实现职业转型的可能性也会更大一些。我的故事就是一个很好的例子。在我职业早期，曾经试图从一名研发设计工程师转行成为市场专员。为了成为一名市场专员，我希望能参与产品开发，设计市场推广方案和策略，推动新产品进入市场。这些工作领域都需要我有很好的人际交往能力，能和公司内外的方方面面进行有效沟通。

我是做工程师出身，我很清楚，在别人眼中，我不是一个左右逢源又了解客户和市场的人，没有承担这些任务的能力。他们顶多认为我擅于分析，适合处理数字和数据。这些确实就是我的强项。

我也觉得我当时还没做好准备完全转行做市场，所以，我并没有追求这样的机会，而是充分发挥我的分析能力，将自己定位在成为一名市场调研专员，并以此作为目标。虽然这并不是我最终想要得到的市场专员一职，但至少这个职位会让我接触更多的市场职业人士，参与市场推广项目。当时我只想更近距离地了解市场部门。

后来出现了一个重大转机，台湾强生市场部总监雇我做暑期实习，让我审查一种新型洗发产品的市场调研，这种产品的市场表现不尽如人意。虽然她一开始雇用我只是让我做市场调研，但当我为期3个月的实习结束时，我已成功参与到这个产品的市场推广项目中，因为我提出了一项关于这种洗发产品市场定位的重要建议，市场总监对此非常满意。到头来，恰恰是这个市场调研工作让我有机会参与市场部的工作并证明自己的能力。

 寻找机会，证明实力

我在知道候选人实现职业转型时，总是鼓励他们重点关注能利用其现有优势和经历的工作。你的首要目标是让自己进入更有利的职业环境中。如果换了公司，你的工作却也不太理想，问题不大。你要相信，只要你开始在新环境中工作，你很快就会了解这家公司的文化和业务操作。

另外，你也可以向别人证明你的能力，做出优秀表现，积累成就，从而获得更多内部支持，助你离目标职位或工作越来越近。实际上，只要你能向别的部门或行业证明自己有能力、有潜力，那要想让他们考虑给及机会，让你换到那里工作就绝非难事。总而言之，在你做出重大职业转型时，为了实现你的目标，这么做更现实，也更可行。

Lead With Your Strengths When Making A Career Transition

When it comes to making a career change, I meet candidates who try to pursue a new job opportunity while also pursuing a new function or industry that’s different from what they’ve done in the past.  For example, they’re sales professionals who want to do marketing, technology professionals who want to be in more business roles, or industry professionals who want to become consultants.  But if you’re in the process of changing jobs or companies, it’s a lot to expect to also jump into a different functional role or industry at the same time too.

Recognize What Others May Value In Your Background

Instead, you’ll increase your chances of successfully making such a career transition by being a little more patient and realistic about what others may value about your background.  A good example of this happened early in my career when I was trying to make the transition from an R&D design engineer into a marketing role.  In pursuing a new career as a marketing professional, I wanted to get involved in product development, put together marketing plans and strategies, and help launch new products into the market.  These were areas that involved good people skills and communicating with many different parties, both inside and outside the company.

Given my engineering background, however, I knew that others wouldn’t see someone who was very well-rounded, or consumer- or market-oriented to be able to perform these roles well.  At best, they might see a person who was very analytical and good with numbers and data.  In fact, these were strengths I could offer.

As a result, rather than go for a pure marketing position, which I also felt I wasn’t ready to handle yet, I first positioned myself for and targeted a market research role that could leverage my analytical abilities.  While this wasn’t the ultimate marketing role I wanted to pursue, it would at least get me into a situation where I could gain exposure to marketing professionals and marketing campaigns.  At that point, I just wanted to get closer to the marketing function that I now wanted to pursue.

My big break came when the marketing director of Johnson & Johnson Taiwan hired me for a summer internship to look over some market research for a new shampoo product that didn’t perform as well as expected.  While she originally hired me just to do market research, by the end of my 3-month internship I was able to get involved in the marketing campaign for the product by making a key proposal on the shampoo’s positioning that the Marketing Director liked a lot.  Ultimately, it was this market research role that provided me the chance to get into and prove my capability in a marketing situation.

Look For Good Opportunities To Show Others What You Can Do

When coaching candidates on making a career transition, I encourage them to focus their job search on opportunities that can leverage their existing strengths and experience.  Your primary objective is to get yourself into a more beneficial situation for your career.  If in changing companies you end up with a less-than-ideal job, that’s okay.  You need to have the confidence that once you start working in that new situation, you can quickly get to know the company culture and business practices of your new employer.

As importantly, you can begin to demonstrate your capabilities to others, establish your track record of performance, and develop the internal support you need to help get you closer to the position or job function you desire.  The reality is that it’s much easier to switch into another job function or industry, and for others to consider you for different opportunities, once you’ve proven your capabilities and potential to them.  Overall, it’s a more realistic and practical approach for getting to where you want to go when making a big career transition.

（责任编辑：职场达人）