By Susan Posluszny of OPTIONS for Career & Life Planning LLC

When you are looking to transition from one career field into a totally new career field, you can tend to feel like an outsider looking in.  You send out resumes knowing that you would be able to prove yourself if only someone would give you a chance.  You find yourself wondering just how those insiders got there and sense that all the posted openings go to those who have inside connections.

Well, one wonderful thing about gaining career and life planning skills is that you become empowered with the knowledge that you can break into any career field you choose.  It really is about figuring out where you are relative to where you would like to be and working to ‘bridge the gap’ to your new career interest area.  One way to bridge the gap is through volunteer work.  Through volunteer work in a career area of interest, career transitioners are able to gain knowledge, experience, and connections in industries and work settings where they have no prior work history.  You essentially ‘give and receive’ at the same time.  My own career development offers examples of how I have worked to ‘practice what I preach’ over the years.

When I first graduated from college I worked in advertising for a time (on good old Madison Avenue in New York City).  I quickly realized that this work was not as glamorous as I had envisioned and decided that, for a number of reasons, this work was not for me.  As I worked with a career counselor and explored alternate possibilities I came up with a number of career interest areas including human resource management, corporate outplacement, and career development in a higher education setting.

» Read more: Career Transition: Bridging the Career Gap, Receiving through Giving