When you have the time to consider a new career (over 6 months)
Sometimes it is possible and even desirable to take advantage of your non-renewal/lay-off to find a new career direction. You may have been considering a new career already but hadn't yet figured out what to do and how to get there. If this is the case and you have over 6 months before you need to be re-employed, you may wish to think about transitioning to a new career.
If this is your goal, you'll first want to spend some time exploring your interests, skills, values, personality and lifestyle needs. A key part of this self-exploration is reflecting upon and clarifying your priorities and needs. For adults, the hardest career decisions come down to competing values and knowing how to balance your career with the rest of your life. Meeting with a career counselor and taking some career assessments can be quite helpful here.
In addition to knowing yourself, you'll need to spend some time exploring new careers and doing informational interviews with others. This networking will be key to identifying new directions and learning about whether further education or experience is necessary for a potential career transition.
Only after you have taken the time for this exploration and reflection will you begin to actually search for a new job (presumably in your new career.) That is why you will need some extra time to explore a career transition rather than just a job change.
Career transition assistance
The Employee Career Enrichment Program is designed to help University of Minnesota employees find more meaning and satisfaction in the work that they do. This includes helping employees who are facing a lay-off/non-renewal. Especially if you are interested in finding a new career within the University of Minnesota system, ECEP's Explore-Reflect-Act model will guide you through this process.
Visit ECEP's website at http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/ecep/ for more information on this model and how ECEP can help.
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