How To Make A Career Switch In Singapore?

Is it too late to make a career switch in Singapore at your 30s or 40s? By the time you’re in your 30s, you would’ve already acquired close to or even more than a decade of work experience. You might have proven yourself to be an incredibly competent employee. 

Jumping into unknown territory simply isn’t an option. Or is it?

If there’s one thing our alma maters’ career offices underprepared you for is the possibility of regretting your career decision. Changing careers when you are this far in can definitely seem challenging. But it doesn’t have to be.

In this article, we will be sharing more about how you can make a career change in Singapore.

 Why do people want to make a midlife career change?

1) They’re underpaid at their job

A study by the Econometics Lab at the University of California at Berkley revealed that only 20% of Americans surveyed were paid the median salary. 

Back on our shores, the numbers don’t look great either. 

In 2014, 61% of Singaporeans surveyed by jobsDB said they were underpaid and overworked. This number has risen to 64%, according to the 2021 HR Workmonitor survey conducted by Randstad. Employees are feeling insufficiently rewarded and under-compensated, and it’s no surprise that more people want a career switch to seek better opportunities.

2) They were overlooked for a promotion

Having accumulated this number of years of experience and not being considered for a managerial role is a huge slap to the face. This can cause a significant amount of unhappiness and affect your mental and emotional well-being. 

It should come to no one’s surprise then that employees will consider changing careers when they feel that their hard work has not been appreciated.

3) You simply lost interest in what you do

Too much of something is never a good thing. And the same can be applied to our work. 

At this age, you would probably have already accumulated many years of experience. And sometimes, a big part of this went to working late nights and even on weekends. Many of us started strong but ended up getting too burnt out by the work.

Couple that with the monotony of doing a few variants of the same task over and over again, and you get a recipe for an exhausted individual devoid of passion for their work

List of Beneficial Courses for a Career Switch in Singapore

Want to change career? Stay calm; it is always possible to start a new career. Many successful people have made significant career changes later in life.

Consider looking into high-demand tech-related fields like UX design, digital marketing, and data analytics. These careers offer a promising future and job stability in today’s digital age. Here are the beneficial courses that could begin with at Vertical Institute.

Data Analytics Course

Vertical Institute’s Data Analytics course in Singapore is designed to equip individuals with the most in-demand skills and best practices in data analytics, covering industry tools: Excel, SQL and Tableau.

Digital Marketing Course

Vertical Institute’s Digital Marketing course in Singapore will explore everything you need to know about digital marketing: social media, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Google Analytics, content marketing, email marketing, and more.

UX Design Course

Vertical Institute’s UX Design course in Singapore will supercharge your career with end-to-end UX skills. Learn new tools and concepts, and demonstrate all stages of the UX process, from user research, information architecture, to prototyping and wireframing with Figma.

Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Course

Start excelling today with Vertical Institute’s Blockchain & Cryptocurrency course in Singapore. Let’s immerse ourselves in the world of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. We’re going to trace their history, dissect their theories, and dig into their technicalities. With our practical, hands-on approach, you’ll learn more about Bitcoin, blockchains, and cryptocurrencies. NFTs and decentralized finance are also on our learning menu. Our curriculum offers an array of in-class activities. Plus, we connect theory to reality with examples drawn from the real world.

Cybersecurity Course

Excel in the digital realm with Vertical Institute’s Cybersecurity course in Singapore. Unveil the secrets of online threat protection. Absorb knowledge on fighting scams and beyond. Experience hands-on cybersecurity practices. Enjoy guidance from seasoned experts. Level up your safety game with us.

7 steps you should take if you want to change careers

1) Think carefully about what you want

Switching careers is a huge decision to make. Just because you are jaded doesn’t mean that you genuinely want to quit.

While it applies to some people, not everyone genuinely loses all interest in their work after experiencing burnout. Sometimes, all you need is time away from what you do.

Go travel. Journal. Speak to friends and family. 

Take time off for yourself to rest, reflect and recharge. It’s not uncommon for people to find joy in what they do again after taking a break. We all just need a moment to ourselves sometimes.

If you’ve done this and still feel like your heart is not in the right place, then here are some other things you can do.

2) Start listing down transferable skills

When you’ve finally decided to leave an industry, it can be tough to push for a similar salary that you were so used to receiving. After all, it is only fair for the hiring company to pay according to experience.

But not all hope is lost.

While certain skills are things that you probably will need to learn as you apply for jobs across industries, others skills are transferable. Think leadership, account management, presentation, and general data analysis.

List these down and clearly state the results you’ve achieved with your soft skills. You’ll be surprised at how valued they are.

3) Take reskilling courses

YouTube and Google are great resources for you to learn new skills and identify talking points to use during interviews. But you’ll still need something more concrete to show your potential employers. Something that will help them develop faith in your ability to perform in a whole new role.

This is where reskilling courses come into play. Whereas upskilling involves learning new competencies to help you perform better in your existing role, reskilling involves developing expertise in a whole new domain. 

Look up some of the in-demand technical skills you should learn to stay relevant as a start. If you’re interested in joining the tech industry, then look for relevant reskilling courses and sign up. Accredited course certifications can help give your potential employer more confidence in your ability to perform. 

4) Take up side hustles

Taking up side hustles to do the work you’re interested in is a good way to practice what you’ve learnt. 

Freelance platforms like Fiverr and Upwork are great channels for you to find freelance work. Here, your focus should be on finding work instead of making money. You’ll need all the practice you can get. The lessons learnt from your freelance work can also be used for talking points during your interviews.

Employers would be pleased to know that they’re speaking with someone who is so proactive in their professional development.

5) Update your resume

Whatever you’ve come up with should be explicitly stated in your updated resume.

Also, just because you are changing careers, it doesn’t mean that your hard skills and knowledge have become irrelevant. If you are switching roles and companies but within the same industry, then whatever you’ve learned is still going to be super relevant to your new employer.

When writing your resume, be sure to be super explicit about the results you’ve achieved. This is needed to showcase your competencies to your potential employers.

6) Update your LinkedIn profile

Many people seem to forget about their online presence once they’ve updated their resumes.

Your LinkedIn profile is an online resume for you to showcase your work experience. When writing your profile, follow the same rules and focus on the results you’ve achieved.

Another thing people seem to forget is that LinkedIn is a search engine in and of itself. Recruiters can use LinkedIn’s hiring tool to automatically search for profiles based on keywords they’re looking for. 

Say I’m hiring an SEO Specialist. Which of the following job titles on someone’s LinkedIn profile will catch the algorithm’s attention:

• Digital Marketing Executive
• Marketing Executive (SEO & Content)

If you’re not too sure how you can optimise your profile, you can always hire a LinkedIn profile writer to help out with that. 

7) Network with people in the industry you want to join

The power of networking is undeniable.

85% of those surveyed by Hubspot said they found their jobs through networking. That said, you should always network with a purpose. Always set clear goals you wish to achieve through your networking sessions. The insights you gain from these sessions can help you lay out the next steps in your job hunt.

To find networking opportunities, you can look to social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook Events. The simpler alternative is to reach out to your friends and connections to ask if they know anyone in the field you wish to work in and set up a coffee chat for you.

Upskills and Breakthrough in the Tech Industry with VI

Dive into a transformative learning experience with Vertical Institute. Sharpen your skills, be future-ready! Gain industry-specific insights from our seasoned professionals. Be part of our community, connect with like-minded learners and industry experts. With our practical approach, apply your knowledge directly to the real-world. Join us, your journey to upskilling has never been this exciting. Here’s what our students have to say.

I attended Vertical Institute’s bootcamp to learn about SQL and Tableau. The bootcamp is very well organised and we are well supported by the coach and his team of Teaching assistants. At the end of the bootcamp, we are able to complete the capstone project which I recaps all the skillsets that was taught in class. The class is interactive and I love that the classes were recorded. So it allows me to revisit the lessons when I needed clarification to complete the Capstone. I will recommend this to anyone interested to learn a skill on data analytics.

Li Chuin Ong

About Vertical Institute

Vertical Institute prepares individuals for the jobs of tomorrow. We specialise in teaching in-demand skills, building the next generation of changemakers and inventors through our world-class tech courses and certifications. 

Singaporeans and PRs can receive up to 70% IBF Subsidy off their course fees with Vertical Institute. The remaining fees can be claimable with SkillsFuture Credits or NTUC UTAP.