HBR Guide to Changing Your Career

You're well into your career and yet you're not where you want to be. Perhaps you've done everything you need to do to be named a partner, but your firm has encountered a crisis that's put all promotions on hold. Or perhaps the dream company everyone said you'd be perfect for hasn't been such a perfect match after all. How do you envision possible new professional selves, explore your options, and embark on a dramatic career makeover when you have a mortgage to pay, college funds to feed, and you're quickly approaching retirement age? Can you really set aside the years you've invested in your education and current industry? How can you make a radical change when there are so many demands on you? This guide will help you:

- Get an accurate picture of the skills and abilities you bring to the table

- Break free of what your career is now to consider what it could be

- Create experiments that won't sabotage your current job

- Develop a compelling way to tell your story--even if the job you want seems unrelated to the jobs you've had

- Build expertise in a new field

- Land a new role