Top Tips for a Career Change: 10 questions before you quit
When you’re stuck in a rut and dreading each day of work, a change of career seems to be the answer. The grass looks greener and the sky bluer. But is it? These ten crucial questions, answered honestly, will help you to think it through, evaluate your position and view the prospect with a steady gaze. If, after answering all these questions, you still want to change your career you will know you are making a positive choice and not a knee jerk reaction…
Why do you want to change?
Be clear about why you want to leave so that you don’t jump out of the frying pan and into the fire. In my experience as a career and life coach, the most common reasons are:
- You’ve been there too long and you’re bored and stuck
- You’re no longer interested in the subject or the work
- You’re undervalued
- Reorganisation and restructuring have changed your role
- You’re making no progress
- You’re too young to sit it out until you retire
- You don’t get on with your co-workers or your manager
- A general need for change (some people need the stimulus of change in their lives more than others).
Do you really want to change career?
Think about whether it really is your career that you want to change. Be very specific about what you do and don’t like about your current work – it may be your role, your boss, the working environment or your terms and conditions. Think about exactly what would make your working life more enjoyable. Make sure you explore all your options and don’t rush the process. You may find that you can make a change in a less drastic way, for example:
- Finding another job in the same sector (i.e. at another University or College if you are an academic)
- Change sector (for example, move from the academic to the private sector/industrial research, the charity sector)
- Modify your existing job (by going part-time and pursuing another interest, moving sideways, finding a secondment opportunity or getting involved in another project).
What kind of work do you want to do?
You may already have a good idea of what you want to do. Answering the first two questions may have helped clarify your needs. Now think about what your ideal job would entail on a day-to-day basis, for example:
- less paperwork and admin
- working with different kinds of people, fewer people or in a team rather than on your own
- more or less direction, micro-management or support
- more outdoor work, more or less travelling
- working from home
- working more flexibly
You may be able to negotiate these changes within your role at present. Your boss or manager may be able to help you with your problem, but you could make it easier for both of you if you already have some realistic and practical ideas. If you have an idea, write it down and approach your boss with it. Don’t forget to include any benefits for your manager or the institution/organisation.
What are your skills and capabilities?
Think about your transferable skills and capabilities, aside from the specific subject or job area, for example:
- organisational skills
- teaching/lecturing
- detailed research work
- fundraising knowledge and ability
- people skills
- ideas and getting initiatives off the ground.
Do you want to use your existing skills and capabilities?
You may be thinking that you want a complete change, away from everything, but be sensible. Think about other roles or jobs where you can use the knowledge, skills and capabilities that you have built up. Talk to the people you work with to find out if there are opportunities associated with your work: suppliers, fellow project members or members of a professional association, if you belong to one, may give you ideas to explore. Sideways moves, consultancies and poacher-turned-gamekeeper jobs may be suitable.
What are you interested in?
When you’re thinking about a new career, be sure that it is something you really are interested in. It may be that although your reasons for moving are financial, a fat salary may not be enough to keep you interested. The money may be right but remember that you will be doing this job day in day out. Does the remuneration offer enough of an incentive?
What are your values?
Even if you don’t think that you have particularly hard-held values, you may be surprised – a disconnect between your everyday activity and what you believe in can be very uncomfortable. For instance, an academic who moves into a fast-paced commercial environment may find the bottom-line, profit-making approach and the way it affects every part of the work unacceptable. On the other hand, someone moving into academic life from the commercial sector may have difficulty with the gentler, less targeted approach of institutional life. Explore your values. Examples are:
- doing good
- making a difference
- recognition for hard work and enterprise
- status and importance
- being free to work without commercial constraints.
Are you prepared to retrain or start from the bottom again?
Of course, if you are already committed to a complete change, you will need to think of the impact for you and, if relevant, your dependants. You may have to start from square one again so be sure you have considered the potential implications of a reduced salary.
How much money do you need to make?
Are you prepared to drop your income level? Take a long hard look at your current finances and write it all down: outgoings, income, extra expenses. See where you can make cuts and get a very clear idea of exactly how much money you need to make over a year. Then do the same with any enterprise, new position or job.
Will you regret it if you don’t?
The saying goes that you only regret what you didn’t do. In two years time, five years time or 10 years time, will you regret not having made a change?
I’m 56 and work in retail.
Hate every minute I’m at work.
Lockdown was heaven for me I was home for 12 weeks.
Made me realise how much of my life I’m missing.
I’d love to work from home or outdoors.
But it seems an impossible dream
Oh my goodness my thoughts exactly. I work in retail also and hate it. Lockdown was a dream to me when I got the call to go back to work I felt like crying. I enjoyed the freedom and time to myself. I have been back at work 5 months now and every morning I’m like not this boredom today again. I want a change in career but dont know what or how to go about it.
i love my job but it doesn’t pay enough i want more for me and my children but don’t know where to start or what to do and at aged 43 what are my options??
I am 41 working as an electrician at the college but feel undervalued. I have been offered another job by a friend at an hospital slightly more money, but don’t know if I can do it. I have to decide soon. I feel Lost of what I want to do.
I fell out of University and into the motor industry – that was 21 years ago! I have made my way up the ladder through hard work & application but the job just doesn’t fire me up. I’ve lost motivation, I dread each day and it is starting to affect my health. Feelings of anxiety and wanting to escape overwhelm me daily. Initially when returning from lockdown I had a renewed focus, unfortunately that feeling has long since left me and I’m back to groundhog day. I’m 41 and fear I have spent so long in one industry that I am typecast for the rest of my life – I’m too young to sit and see out retirement doing something I do not enjoy. I want to diversify, but do not know how…..
Heya.
In order to find a new career this is my advice. Try finding new contacts on LinkedIn. Consider all your career options as well. Use the internet as a method of general preparation and read career books too. Ask about careers in every way you can think of. Make some brief summary notes. I used sites like career pilot and prospects to help me to find a new career on my own. There is another good website that contains lots of good useful information in question here. And it is called national career service. Best wishes. You can do this. Pray and breathe.
Practice your skills. All British colleges will have a dedicated advice and guidance team. I find that it helps to have contact information of the hiring person in advance. Your local weekly free newspaper is a good source of information on current vacancies. Often times your local area might even have a career fair. Find out a bit more about who can help you succeed at work. Brush up on your resume and interview skills. It will work out in the long term. Study hard. This is always a good career move to make.
Talk to a few other people. If you have appropriate qualifications then this is the first part of the selection process. Do your own research well. Discuss things face to face in any case. Read beyond the lines of the contract or company that is actively recruiting new people. Learn all about what they do and how. Investigate products and services that are created and sold by that organisation. Borrow free career preparation books at your nearest town library. Be positive. Up date your skills via courses. Read a few different industry publications and so on.
Use your skills and qualifications as the basis of your hiring method. Your hiring technique must be perfect. Your own hiring method needs to include your cv and cover letter. It must also include other things like your own skills and qualifications and references. When at a face to face interview smile from time to time. Lots of people use sites like glass door. Start off on there. Look at career adverts and the like.
You can even post your own reviews on there. Be smart and alluring at the same time. Take a good look at the company website to pick out key details that will help you out at a real hiring interview in the future. Use a pen to make notes. Also note what sort of qualifications are needed by the employer. Discover as much as possible.
List all of your key skills and qualities. Number each one of them for ease of the reader. Call or email to discuss the person specification and review the career information pack. This can be fun to do. You can find a free copy on the website of the actual company. Have very realistic expectations at all stages of the hiring process. Take your time to find a perfect career. Remain positive. Use colour to simplify things when conducting your own search for a ideal new career. Write some notes. Keep up to date on industry events and news etc. For example go to parties if you want to work at a nursery. Also talk to the nursery staff about their roles.