You can be grateful for your career and still want something different.
Perhaps you have built a solid reputation, earned a comfortable salary, and become the person everyone relies on. Yet you find yourself wondering: Do I really want to keep doing this for another ten years?
Then the practical concerns arrive. Switzerland is expensive. Your responsibilities are real. And changing direction in a market that can feel conservative may seem like asking employers to take a risk they would rather avoid.
My advice is to make your next move easier to understand. Identify what you want, connect your experience to a specific business need, and build evidence that you can contribute.
These 90 days are a structure for doing that work. They are not a promise of a new job within three months. All these steps needs to be consistent.
Key Takeaways
- Choose a specific direction before investing heavily in applications or training.
- Translate your experience into evidence that matters to your target employer.
- Use conversations and small projects to test your assumptions.
- Address language, qualifications, and practical constraints early.
- Measure progress through what you learn and the opportunities you develop.
Understand the Swiss market without letting it decide your future
Calling Switzerland a conservative job market captures a frustration, but it does not describe every employer. A local SME, an international organization, and a growing technology company may approach recruitment very differently.
Still, when your background does not match the advertised profile, you need to help the reader connect the dots.
A hiring manager may wonder: Does this person understand our work? Why this move? Which skills transfer? How much support would they need?
Make the connection visible. Enthusiasm matters, but specific examples give someone a reason to keep the conversation going.
My career began in an entry-level sales-secretary role at Reuters and grew through customer administration, management, and global responsibilities. Later, redundancy brought another transition, and I chose to build InnKick.
I carried experience with me through those changes. You will, too. The work is recognizing which parts of that experience belong in your next chapter.
Create your own skill-saving bank account.
Days 1–30: Choose a direction you can investigate
Separate the work from the circumstances
Before deciding to leave your profession, ask what you want to change.
Is it the work itself? Your manager? The culture? The pace? A lack of development? Exhaustion can make every alternative look attractive. Be intentional and cautious as well.
Create three lists:
- Keep: activities, strengths and conditions you want in your next role.
- Change: responsibilities or circumstances you want to move away from.
- Protect: income, location, working hours and family commitments.
Be specific. “Something more meaningful” is difficult to investigate. “A role where I develop people and spend less time managing operational escalations” gives you a starting point.
And the above are only examples. Make it your own.
Select one primary direction.
Choose one target role and one alternative to explore.
Consider an adjacent move: a different function in your current sector, or a familiar function in a new sector. This can help you use established knowledge while learning something new.
For example, an operations manager exploring project management can investigate how their experience of coordinating teams, deadlines and process improvements fits the target role.
Review ten relevant vacancies. Record recurring requirements, language expectations, qualifications and the problems employers need someone to solve.
Then write a working hypothesis:
“I want to explore project management roles in healthcare organizations, where my experience coordinating complex operations could be relevant.”
It is a hypothesis. You are allowed to revise it.
Check practical requirements early.
Look at the language requirements in actual vacancies in your target region. An English-speaking role in Geneva may have different expectations from a client-facing position in a German-speaking SME.
If your move involves a regulated profession or foreign qualifications, use recognition. Swiss to identify the relevant recognition requirements and responsible authority.
For information about adult learning, retraining and cantonal career guidance, explore the adult career resources on orientation.ch.
By day 30: aim to have a target direction, a realistic view of the requirements and three questions you still need answered.
Days 31–60: Test the direction and build evidence
Have conversations before making expensive commitments
Before enrolling in a lengthy program, speak to people doing the work.
Aim for six useful conversations over the month. Start with former colleagues, professional associations, alum contacts, or people you meet at relevant events.
A simple message is enough:
“I’m exploring a move from operations into project management in healthcare. Your experience caught my attention. Would you be open to a 20-minute conversation about the work and what employers value?”
During the conversation, ask:
- What does a typical week involve?
- What is hardest about this role?
- Which parts of my background would be useful?
- What would make you hesitate to hire someone with my experience?
- Which qualification or practical experience would address that concern?
Listen carefully to the uncomfortable answers. They may save you months of effort.
Create one relevant piece of evidence.
Choose a small project that lets you test the work and demonstrate a capability.
You could lead an improvement initiative in your current organization, contribute to an association project, or develop a sample using public information.
Keep the scope manageable. A project with a clear problem, your contribution and an observable outcome is useful material for an interview.
If you are considering formal study, check whether target employers actually request or value that qualification. A course should close an identified gap.
Translate your experience
“Strong communication skills” tells a recruiter very little.
A concrete example tells them more: you coordinated colleagues across locations, resolved conflicting priorities, or explained a complex change to customers.
Build five short examples using:
Situation → Your action → Result → Relevance to the new role
Use accurate figures where available. Where you cannot quantify an outcome, describe what improved.
If you are employed, consider whether an internal project or move could offer a first step. My article on building visibility at work offers further ideas for making your contribution more visible.
By day 60: aim to have tested your assumptions, identified the most important gap, and developed evidence you can discuss confidently.
Days 61–90: Position yourself and take focused action
Explain your move clearly
Your career story needs a clear connection between your past and your intended contribution.
For example:
“My background is in customer operations, where I have coordinated teams and improved complex processes. I am now focusing on project management roles where those capabilities are relevant. I have tested this direction through an internal project and conversations with people in the sector.”
Adapt this to your own experience. Do not claim expertise you are still developing.
Update your CV and LinkedIn profile so the relevant experience is easy to find. Keep your previous job titles accurate, and explain the responsibilities that support your move.
Apply with a sustainable weekly rhythm.
Set aside three focused sessions each week: one for research and conversations, one for applications, and one for learning or project work.
Start with two or three carefully selected applications weekly, adjusting to the opportunities available and your capacity.
Prepare the documents requested by each employer. Keep relevant diplomas and employment certificates ready, and agree with referees before sharing their details.
Track responses and feedback. If suitable applications repeatedly lead nowhere, review your positioning and target. Sending more of the same may not resolve the problem.
Review the financial reality.
Calculate your essential monthly costs, available savings, possible training expenses, and the income change you could manage.
If work authorization or unemployment benefits affect your options, check your circumstances with the relevant authority before committing.
A career transition is easier to sustain when your plan includes your actual life.
What should you have achieved after 90 days?
You may have interviews, an internal opportunity, or an offer. You may have discovered that the direction needs adjusting.
Useful progress also means knowing which role you are targeting, why it fits, what evidence you bring, and what you still need to learn.
As I put it on my Career Clarity & Momentum Diagnostic page:
“Your next move doesn’t need to be perfect. It needs to be clear.”
Start this week with one target role, three examples of relevant experience, and one conversation.
If you would value a structured thinking partner, I would be happy to help you explore your direction and turn it into practical next steps.
What is missing from the above list?
Networking! Yes, go, attend, and explore what people are discussing and what they share in the relevant industry or outside the target industry. Because you never know who is in the room who can open the door for you.
