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If you’re like most people faced with a job search or career transition, you’re suffering from metathesiophobia. Simply put, that’s fear of change. If you give in to this fear and let it affect your planning and actions, then you’re not only battling external economic and workplace conditions, you’re also battling yourself.

Whether we’re working with men and women considering buying an FPC executive recruiting franchise and becoming employers, or we’re counseling job seekers on how to land their next career we often see fearfulness. After all, it is a natural response to any feeling of threat. And change can certainly seem threatening.

It’s part of our job as both franchisors and recruiters to empower the potential franchisees and job candidates who come to us. In both situations we provide tools and training designed to help them to overcome fear of change and move forward with confidence.

To clarify, we’re not saying that change is easy and that it doesn’t have its ups and downs. Successful change requires realistic expectations. Almost certainly, it will not happen overnight. However, change is totally do-able and, with the right mindset, always leads to personal growth.

Here are four things to consider:

1. Be your own best friend. Spend some time reflecting on where you’ve been, where you are, and where you’d like to go. Focus on your strengths, both professional and personal. Acknowledge your weaknesses.

This process will help you to create realistic goals and a workable plan for reaching them. Most important, it will help you to identify and emphasize what you like and admire about yourself and make you likeable and admirable to others. Get passionate about who you are and what you have to offer.

2. Identify possible destinations. What do you do when you’re planning a vacation? You think about what you’d like to experience, whether you want rest and relaxation or a fast-paced, exciting tour. You think about the places you’ve always wanted to see. You look at your budget and the amount of time you can be away. Then you pick a few possible destinations for further exploration.

All in all we plan vacations with enthusiasm, curiosity and a positive attitude. There’s no reason why we can’t think of changing careers the same way.

When we work with job candidates we tell them, “Don’t pick a job. Pick a company.” If you explore the possible destination, determine its desirability and can picture yourself there – productive and happy – you can then build a plan for getting there.

Many of our franchise owners have had business ownership as one of their possible destinations. They may not have known exactly what kind of business, but it was an option open to exploration – and it led them to our door and a successful new career.

3. Find and use proven techniques. A sign of confidence is knowing when it’s smart to find help. One way to dispel fear of change is to enlist those who can help you minimize risks and smooth the transition into new territory.

For example, as recruiters we coach job candidates on proven techniques for every step of their job search and give them inside tracks to their destination companies.

As franchisors, we offer owners who have never been in recruiting a proven process for success. Recently our newest franchisee, who’d been in business for less than a month, reported how excited he was that the training he received was already opening doors for him.

4. Kill fear with action. Set your daily, weekly and monthly goals and do what it takes to reach them. Ten calls a day? Make them without fail. Research five new companies a week? Don’t settle for four. Visit with four business or franchise owners each month to benefit from their experience? Why not make it five or six and reach your goal even faster.

We see these steps work time and time again. We hope this information and the examples in this post will give you confidence in changing careers.

Thanks for sharing your tips for giving fear of change the boot!

If one of your possible destinations is to buy a franchise, please download a free recording of our popular webinar, “A Great Career Opportunity You May Never Have Considered.”

You’ll learn how to take some of the fear out of your career change by leveraging your experience and professional contacts.

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