At 25, you’ve most of your life ahead of you and can figure out which path to take. 25 is a great age to decide what you really want to do. You’re still young enough to go in any direction, and old enough to have the maturity you didn’t have at 20. In that sense, you now have the opportunity to become anything you want.
25 Is a Great Age for a Career Change!
You’re still young enough to go for a big career change, still have plenty of energy, and the likelihood of employers accepting you increases. If all goes well and your career change pays off, you can improve your life in ways that are decades in the future. And even if it doesn’t pay off right away (or at all), it’s still early enough in your life that it won’t affect your financial situation too much.
You’re also still writing the story of your life: What kind of person do others think they know when they hear how old you were when certain things happened? At 25, people may be surprised that someone so young has already accomplished so much – which can be good or bad, depending on how they see “you”!
Reasons You Might Want to Make a Major Career Change
Maybe You’re Bored With Your Current Job
If you’re bored with your current career and want to do something different, that’s a good reason to think about changing careers. Ask yourself why you’re not satisfied with your current job.
- Is it because you don’t feel fulfilled?
- Do you think you’d feel more fulfilled by doing something else?
- Do you just want to try something new and exciting, even if it doesn’t pay you as much as your current job?
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to leave the field where you’ve been making money for years – especially if those years have left a mark on your soul. Career transition is neither easy nor quick, but neither is life. And if a career change helps fulfill one of life’s great goals – finding happiness in our lives -then it may be worth every minute of the effort!
You May Have Realized in Your Early 20s That Your Potential Is Much Greater Than You Thought
If you’re in your early 20s and have been working at a single job for a while, especially if you’ve been doing it since college or high school, it’s normal to feel like you’ve nothing left to learn. At some point, though, you may realize that there are many different ways to approach your work and that if you haven’t explored those options – or even tried them out in small ways – you can’t even know what they might mean for your career.
If you haven’t felt that way before, maybe it’s time to take another look at what you’re good at, what interests you in life, and how that might lead to new career paths.
Maybe You Want to Become an Entrepreneur
If you’re thinking about becoming an entrepreneur, your age is no barrier. People of all ages become entrepreneurs every day and succeed at it.
It may seem like you’ve to start from scratch and reinvent everything as an entrepreneur, but in reality, you can benefit a lot from working for someone else before starting your own business. This way you can find out if entrepreneurship is really what you want to do in your life, or if there are other careers that interest you more.
Entrepreneurship doesn’t necessarily mean starting the next Apple or Microsoft; there are many types of businesses you can run on your own or with partners, including small retail stores and service providers (like plumbers). Some entrepreneurs even start their business as a side project alongside their regular job – for example, writing e-books on the side while working full-time in an office job.
When We’re Young, We Underestimate Ourselves
When we’re young, we underestimate ourselves. We imagine our future selves as people who’ve already achieved their goals and are older and wiser than the version of us living now. But if you’re 25 years old, you haven’t even begun to realize your true potential.
Maybe you’re more ambitious and confident than ever – maybe not! Either way, this is the best time to make career changes, because you know that if you don’t try something new now, it’s always possible in the future that it won’t work as well as it could’ve.
For example, maybe writing has always interested you, but you never considered journalism as an option until you started working (and loving it) as an editor at your local newspaper when you were 25. In this case, you’ve realized you used to underestimate yourself, and it’s time to climb the career ladder!
Priorities Change
If you want to make a career change, it’s easy to get caught up in the idea of making a big change. But you don’t have to turn your whole life around – and if you do, it can be an intimidating prospect.
Instead of asking yourself if now is the right time for a career change, ask yourself what you’d need to do to make your current job or career feel like enough.
If you feel like your current path isn’t taking you where you want to go, maybe it’s time for something new.
It’s Great to Be Ambitious
It’s good to be ambitious. It’s good to have higher goals, to have a vision for your future, and to be ambitious. If you’re not ambitious, there’s no reason not to be!
Ambition is the fuel for passion, and ambition is what drives us to achieve our dreams. Without ambition, we wouldn’t be where we’re today; we wouldn’t have achieved what we’ve achieved so far. Ambition makes us stronger, it makes us work harder and go further than we ever thought possible. It helps us achieve our goals by giving us something more concrete to work toward than just “someday.”
Sometimes We’ve to Take Risks to Know What’s on the Other Side
This is an important question and probably one of the most common questions I hear from people thinking about changing careers. The first part can feel overwhelming: How do you know what kind of job you want? How do you know there’s something else out there besides the one you’re currently in?
The second part can feel daunting:
- What if it doesn’t work out?
- What if I’m not good enough for this new career path?
- Is it too late to start over at 25, or will I be at 30, 40 or 60 with no options?
I believe these questions are rooted in fear – fear that we won’t find our true calling; fear that we won’t have time to figure out where we belong; fear that if we try something new now, our lives will be worse (or better!) than they already are. But life isn’t meant to be lived in fear! If anything, taking risks takes us to more meaningful places than if we stayed put.
You Know Yourself Better at 25 Than You Did in Your Early 20s
The best thing about turning 25 is that you know yourself better than you did in your early 20s. You have a sense of who you’re and what you want out of life. Here’s why:
- You’ve more work and life experience.
- You’ve more knowledge and transferable skills.
- You’ve more confidence.
- You’ve more motivation.
- You’ve more energy.
Time is on your side in this case, so you can afford to change careers without having to take on financial obligations (like loans or rent).
You Know What You Want and What You Don’t Want Anymore
You know what you want to achieve in life. You’ve figured out where your passions lie and have a plan to achieve them. That’s a great first step. But as you probably know, that alone isn’t enough to get from point A (wherever that may be) to point B (wherever that may be). The next step is to get clear on what things are helping us get closer to our vision – and what things are preventing us from reaching our goals!
At this point, it’s important to look at our personalities and figure out what works best for each of us as we think about whether a career change might be right for me/us at this stage of my/our life cycle.”
You Know What You Can Do and Where Your Limits Are
You know what you can do and what your limitations are. Your age shouldn’t be a barrier in and of itself, but it’ll obviously depend on the nature of your career change. If you plan to enter a field that requires physical strength or endurance, then your age might be an issue. However, if it’s something like graphic design or programming that doesn’t require too much physical exertion, it shouldn’t be a problem!
At 25, you know your strengths and weaknesses better. You know what drives you and what keeps you up at night.
- What’re your goals in life?
- What drives you?
Your strengths are what make you unique and valuable as a person, it’s time you recognize them! And the weaknesses? Well, no one is perfect, but we should all do our best to improve!
You Still Have a Lot of Energy
You’re still young and energetic, so you still have plenty of potential to develop. You’re not even close to the end of your career. If you believe in yourself, why would you stop now? If you can keep learning and growing, there’s no reason why your career should end.
It’s important to remember that the best part about being a young adult is that there are so many opportunities and experiences ahead of you! If you stay in your current job or career field until retirement age, you may miss out on these experiences forever – especially if they’re not vital to your personal growth.
You Can Go Back to College if You Need To
If you don’t have a college degree and need to catch up on your degree or masters degree, you’ve many options.
You Can Go to School Full-Time, Part-Time, or Online
You can also choose from a variety of colleges and universities that offer degree programs in all disciplines, like digital skills or computer science, or you may even choose to go to law or medical school.
There are also vocational schools for teachers, health care workers, and many other professions that don’t require a college degree; technical schools offer training for certain professions, such as carpenters or auto mechanics; some employers offer tuition reimbursement if their employees earn a degree.
In addition to attending classes on a traditional college campus, many students now have access to distance learning programs offered by accredited institutions over the Internet (also known as eLearning). Most web-based courses are asynchronous, meaning they don’t require students to be present at specific times when instructors are lecturing or assigning homework, and often allow them 24-hour access, seven days a week, with no more effort than logging in at some point during the day when it’s convenient (and sometimes even then).
Do an Apprenticeship
Apprenticeships aren’t for everyone. The pay isn’t great and you’ll have to do a lot of hard work for it.
If you’re looking for an alternative path into the workforce that will give you the skills and experience you need for an entry-level position, then an apprenticeship should be at the top of your list.
It offers you a great opportunity to learn valuable new skills while earning money and gaining access to some great benefits:
- Possibly a job upon completion of your apprenticeship (usually in your chosen profession).
- Grants from government agencies (depending on the country) to help repay loans taken out during training.
When You Know Why You’re Doing Something, You Have More Motivation
When you know why you’re doing something, you’re more motivated. You know why it’s important to go to class and study hard. You know how much time and effort it takes to graduate. Therefore, you find it easier to fully commit to the task at hand – making sacrifices if necessary, or even doing things that others find difficult (like studying), and putting a smile on your face.
You’re Still Young Enough for the Job Market
There are many reasons why employers like to hire young people.
For a potential employer, a young person is often less costly than an older worker. They’re often more energetic and enthusiastic about their work, which can be a big help when they need extra effort from their employees.
They usually prefer someone who’s willing to learn more new transferable skills and adapt to new challenges, so they’ll often prove invaluable to their business over time.
Younger people are less likely to have families or be sick, which might require paid time off or other compensation. Workers in their late 20s are also less likely to have health problems that lead to frequent absenteeism – something that can be costly to employers later in life.
An older worker may not be as flexible in his work schedule or as willing to travel as younger workers who’ve yet to settle in one place.
The Work Experience You’ve Gained Will Also Be Useful in Your Future Career
You may have gone into the internship with a specific goal in mind, but you may have gained other skills as well. Even if you enter a completely different profession, some of the skills you gained in your previous job will still be useful to you, such as a positive attitude, organizational skills, and communication skills. There are many skills that are applicable in other professions, even if they aren’t in the job ad.
If you’re looking for a job in a completely different field, experience is still relevant.
For example, if you interned in marketing and now want to work in sales, that experience is still valuable to employers because it shows that you’re interested in sales and marketing and can outline how your previous experience fits into the new job.
It’s Likely That Your Digital Skills Are Transferable to Your New Career Choice
The work experience you’ve gained will also help you when you apply to graduate jobs, as they often require both work experience and a degree. So if you can show both in your CV, it’ll make your application more attractive to employers.
It’s Never Too Late to Aim for Your Dream Job
It’s never too late to aim for your dream job. You can never learn too many skills or languages, and you’ll always be able to adapt to new circumstances if you’re willing to work hard (or smart). As long as there’s something that inspires you, there’s no reason not to pursue it.
You’re still writing the story of your life, so you’ve time to learn new skills and take risks. You can make mistakes and change your mind. You can find your passion and make a difference in the world. You can be happy right now, even if it’s not exactly what you imagined when you were 25.
Bottom line, you’re still young enough to start a new career, but the sooner you start, the better. When it comes to making big life changes, it’s never too late. But if you want to avoid regretting it later (and who doesn’t?), now is the time to act!