3 pillars of your job
Geography, Industry and Role
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When you change your job, you are changing one or more of its pillars- Geography, Industry or Role.
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One way to describe your role is by using its 3 pillars. For example, you are a data analyst(role) in a hospital(industry) in the US(geography). Those 3 pillars provide a good framework to plan, prepare and strategize for a change from your current job1. That may be you getting promoted to a new role, moving to a faster growing industry or emigrating a new geography2. Researching on the internet and talking to people with jobs that you are changing into are great places to start. You can use the below framework to focus your research and networking efforts.
Geography
Talking about changing geography, let us look at emigrating to a different country first. That is a good starting point because it is the most difficult pillar to change3. Moving to a new country and looking for a job will require you to be familiar with the country’s culture. Culture influences all your experiences in the new country. After all, culture is nothing but a collection of acceptable behaviors whether in a social or professional setting.
Job search
Familiarity with the culture is not only useful in making small talk but also in understanding how to go about with your job hunting. For example, back in India, I had a dormant LinkedIn account. After moving to the US, I realized that LinkedIn is one of the primary tools that can help you with in your job search. Informational interview is another useful tool if you are job hunting in North America.
Other countries will have similar differences.
Local job experience
Even if you are looking for the exact same role in the same industry, to successfully land a job in a new country, you have to show that you can perform in the new setting. That is one reason why recruiters value experience working in the same country/culture. One way to put their concerns to rest is by showing that you have worked with multinational teams and is therefore familiar with different work cultures. Another option is to find volunteering opportunities in the new country.4
Aside from work culture, there will be many other differences including technologies used, protocols followed and standards practised5 for which you will have to plan ahead.
Network
Apparently, 70% of the job market is informal. Meaning they get filled before they hit job portals like Indeed, Glassdoor or LinkedIn. Irrespective of the accuracy of that number, a lot of jobs get filled through referrals. This is another handicap that you have in a new country. You may not know a lot of professionals in the new country.
Thanks to Reid Hoffman and other LinkedIn founders, you can use its filtering function to identify professionals that are in your network and start solving the problem.
In the real world, you can attend meetups and conferences to bolster your network.
Moving to a different city within the same country is relatively simpler. That said, you may have to put some effort into building your network.
Industry
Industry experience can make you more effective in your job. For example, if you are a domain expert in the energy industry, you are going to be more effective as a data scientist in the energy industry as opposed to say in healthcare.
First off, learn more about the industry. Read public filings from companies in that sector6 and focus on the key goals of the industry. If you are a data analyst in the healthcare industry, privacy and data security could be primary considerations. But once you move into an electric vehicle company, it may be optimizing battery usage.
Do things that explicitly show your interest in the new industry. This could be doing a couple of projects relevant to the industry and adding to your portfolio. For example, if you are a data analyst targeting to break into electric vehicle industry, you can do a project using electric vehicle related data on Kaggle.
Role
Role may be the easiest of the pillar to change.
Start by understanding the skills required for the role. Take a bootcamp or self learn. Do a couple of projects that showcase the necessary skills and add them to your portfolio.
Your current company is the best place for you to look for your new role. The hiring manager of the new team will be comfortable giving you an opportunity as long as you can demonstrate the necessary skills for the new role. You can also actively look for opportunities to collaborate with the new team on any cross team projects. Some companies even have explicit policies put in place to support internal candidates.
Good luck with your move.
Front end developer to UX designer is a role change. UX designer in a software company to Interior decorator is an industry change. Interior decorator moves to NY from Texas is a geography change. Front end developer in Texas becomes an interior decorator in NY after a 3 pillar pivot.
I did it twice. Would recommend for the opportunities, challenges and adrenaline rush. Would not recommend for the challenges and adrenaline rush.
There are organizations like catchafire(in the US) where you can explore available options.
For many professions - healthcare, legal, aviation etc - you have to fulfill the necessary requirements to legally practice.
US based companies file 10K which is a summary of a company's financial performance. ‘Business’ and ‘Risk Factor’ sections will tell you a lot about the industry.