The Ultimate Career Change FAQ
At Caroline Adams Coaching, we specialize in career change and money mindset coaching for professionals who are accomplished in their fields but ready for something more.
Many of our clients feel pigeonholed, sensing that traditional roles and definitions of success no longer fit.
This FAQ answers the most common questions about changing careers with confidence and purpose — including how to pivot without starting over, avoid pay cuts, and shift your money mindset to support your next chapter (and beyond).
Career Change FAQ: Table of Contents
How can I change careers without starting over?
The fear of starting over is just that: an incorrect assumption rooted in fear.
Successful people use their career moves to increase their sphere of influence, impact, and pay.
You just have to tell the story and connect the dots.
Read more: How To Change Careers Without Starting Over
Can I change careers without taking a pay cut?
Yes! Starting something new is not the same as starting over.
Everything is transferrable: You bring the benefit of your strengths, experience, and knowledge to every new thing.
Even your “gaps” are an asset: there’s value in the beginner’s mindset.
Read more: How To Change Careers Without Starting Over
What’s the best way to plan my career if I feel stuck or unsure?
Forget chasing job titles or squeezing yourself into a box that doesn’t fit.
The real move is bottom-up: defining who are you at your best, what’s most important, and what you truly want—and then finding the options that align with that.
Read more: 6 Ways to Explore Career Options Without Boxing Yourself In
What mindset do I need for a successful career change?
There are 3 essential ingredients of a successful career change mindset:
1) Believing you can exponentially improve your life, 2) Trusting this even when you don’t believe, 3) Loving your life as it is in the meantime
Read more: Career Change Mindset: Success Tips For High Achievers
Why is career change an “inside job”?
It’s not about your resume or traditional job search tactics!
If you want just another job, fine. But if you want a career that fits you, that is not the way.
Finding career fulfillment is deep work—getting clear, getting honest with yourself, then getting out of your own damn way.
Read more: Why Career Change Is an Inside Job
What is “money mindset” and why does it matter?
Money mindset is the set of beliefs you hold about money. And they impact more than just earnings.
Your limiting money beliefs reveal your limiting career beliefs. They form an invisible roadmap for the actions you take—or don’t—in your career.
What’s your money mindset saying?
Read more: What Is Money Mindset? (And Why It Matters For Your Career)
What habits help people change careers successfully?
I’m not talking about productivity habits.
Successful career changes cultivate mindsets and approaches to stay the course in the most challenging of times: when your gremlins tell you your dream job doesn’t exist, that your current job ain’t so bad, that you’re not [blank] enough anyway, and you should just quit trying already.
Read more: 7 Habits of Highly Effective Career Changers
How do I know if it’s time to leave my corporate job?
On the fence about quitting your corporate job?
Here are 4 pieces of advice I’d give myself if I were making the transition again.
Read more: 4 Things You Need To Know Before Quitting Your Corporate Job
What if I hate networking — do I still have to do it to change careers?
No need for awkward, superficial small talk. Blech.
You don’t to “work the room” or collect business cards to make a big career move.
In this post (with video), I share a simple shift for easy, authentic conversations that get better results.
Read more: The Simple Shift That Will Transform Your Networking Conversations
Do I need an elevator pitch to network?
Heck no.
Elevator pitches are awkward, sales-y, and forgettable.
Instead, use this simple formula for powerful, authentic conversations: You Don’t Need an Elevator Pitch To Network
What does a career transition coach do?
A real career coach will help you:
1) Clear practical and mental clutter,
2) Get clarity on the right opportunities,
3) Create a roadmap that feels good to you, and
4) Help you take the right steps to build confidence and momentum way before you’ve figured out the full picture of where you want to go.
This is not action for action’s sake: I often help my clients do less.
Read more: How a Career Transition Coach Can Help You Make a Leap
What’s the first step to designing a career with purpose?
The first step is to uncover where you're creating barriers and holding yourself back. We’re all our own worst enemies.
Ready to find the right options and create opportunities you didn't even know were possible? Grab my free 4-step career roadmap
Author Bio:
Before becoming a coach, Caroline worked in management consulting and financial services. She's made it her mission to help people grow, contribute, and get wherever they want to go.
She’s also a tennis fanatic, aspiring Minimalist, FIRE (Financial Independence and Retire Early) enthusiast, and Aloha Spirit seeker 🤙. She loves to share stories from her unconventional life and career focused on freedom, creativity, fun, health, family, and community. If she can do it, you can, too.
The life and career you want is truly possible once you have the roadmap. Take the first step by downloading her free guide.
