Last Updated on February 19, 2019 by Jessica Adams

When the time comes to launch a career, there’s a lot more than college prepared you for that you’ll need to consider. Whichever career you choose for yourself, make sure that it’s in an industry you find challenging and interesting.

Of course, the process of launching your career – particularly in an industry that is difficult – is not always easy to get into. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible! Some careers are extremely specific to train for, both school-wise and what you should do afterward to gain experience. Like becoming an astronaut for NASA.

You may have noticed that most colleges and universities don’t offer “school of astronauts” as a bachelor’s program. Regardless of how complex doing so may seem, it is possible to break into any industry you choose. It’s just a case of knowing what it takes to do so.

It’s not always straightforward or easy, but it is always possible, at least when you’re young and just starting out. Every year beyond formal schooling that you haven’t made a decision, is another year between you and starting at the beginning. 

Wondering what factors you need to consider when it comes to how to launch a career in a hard-to-get-into industry? Read below for a few crucial areas to focus on.

 

How To Launch A Career In

A Hard-To-Get-Into Industry

 

 

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Gain Some Much Needed Insight 

The key to launching a career in a highly competitive industry is to make sure that you have all the relevant insight and experience needed for success. 

However, just because an industry is difficult to break into doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. It all depends on how much work you’re willing to work, to gain some much-needed insight into the industry of your choice.

But first, what exactly is insight? It is ‘the capacity to gain an accurate and deep intuitive understanding of a person or thing’. So, in this case, gaining insight into the industry of which you wish to launch your career, means the following:

“Since I want to launch a career as an Astronaut, I plan to begin by pursuing a formal education on everything NASA deems worthy. I also plan to gain an exact understanding of the NASA Space Program, through every training they offer in their ‘pre-qualified’ programs.”

The statement above is a perfect example of someone making their intention to gain insight into how to launch a career in a hard-to-get-into-industry.

 

Get Some Hands-On Experience

Whether it’s a hands-on or educational experience, both are vital to absorbing all the necessary information that you’ll need in your new career. The key is making sure that you are able to gain the key experience and industry understanding for success.

Let’s say you’re in an industry that you feel is going to be harder for you personally to succeed in. Perhaps it’s because of your gender? I know, you’re probably shaking your head and thinking ‘but it’s 2019, equality is where it’s at!’

First of all, if you did think that, bless you! No matter how far we’ve come up to 2019 (and we’ve made incredible strides!), breaking into a “boy’s club” as a woman or a “girl’s club” as a man, seems to be just as difficult a task as ever!

While gender legally cannot prevent someone from applying for a role, there are certain roles that tend to go more to one gender than another. Careers such as engineering, which is a predominantly male sector or, wait for it…becoming an astronaut with NASA. 

There are resources, such as the Atkins website for women (specifically) in engineering, which you can use to gain assistance with making a success of your career within a specific industry.

 

Give Yourself a Leg Up

One thing that it’s essential to remember when it comes to making a success of your career is to give yourself a boost – aka, give yourself the best chance of success. How do you do this? Simply by doing everything that you can to make yourself, as a job candidate, seem more appealing.

This means taking the initiative to enhance your experience in any way that you can. Take advantage of every opportunity that you are offered. Make sure that you are smart about how you work, and always take advantage of every chance you have.

That could mean the option to shadow someone in the industry that you want to go into. Or it could mean the opportunity to write an article for your industry of choice. What it is exactly, that doesn’t matter, all that matters is that every opportunity is taken advantage of.

 

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And there you have it. Some sound advice on how to launch a career in a hard-to-get-into industry!

 

Edited by Jessica Rose Adams