Jobs can be a funny thing. You can be cruising along doing the same thing day after day, and suddenly you wake up and say, “I can do better.” After some job searches on Indeed and LinkedIn, you find the same job, or a similar one, at a different company, and after a few interviews, you land it.
All seems good in your new position over the next few months or so, maybe even a year, you know, the honeymoon period, but soon that same sinking feeling comes back again. Another job search, another company jump, another honeymoon period, and the feeling is back.
Does this cyclical job change remind you of anyone? Maybe yourself? Have you found yourself changing jobs every few years thinking it was the company, only to eventually wake up and realize it’s not the company. It’s you?
Job Change or Career Change?
If you’ve been going through the cyclical motions above, i.e., changing jobs every few years, thinking that the next company will be different, this may be the ideal time to ask yourself if it is time for a career change.
According to Northeastern University (Joubert, 2020), five signs to understanding if a career change, instead of a job change, include:
- You are Apathetic and Complacent in your current job
- You’re struggling to feel as though you are Making a Difference
- You Dread getting up in the morning and Going to Work
- Even if you are making good money, you’re Salary Doesn’t even Satisfy you
- You Complain about Work at social events with family and friends
Taking the Next Step Toward your New Career
If you’re at this pinnacle in your life, embrace it! Don’t hide or shy away from it. According to CNBC, 53% of Americans started a new career in 2022 (Fox, 2022). If the pandemic had any silver linings it was our desire to shake the same old same old and do something new with ourselves – do something new with our career.
Columbia University (“Four Steps to Make a Career Change”, n.d.) suggests these four steps when it comes to deciding whether to change careers:
- Clarify your interests, skills, and values
- Research and develop a plan
- Get Connected
- Gain experience
Get Started
Starting over is not easy. But if you are at this stage of reading about starting over in your career, you are taking the initial steps.
References:
Joubert, S. (2022, March 9). 6 signs it’s time to change careers (and what to do about it). Northeastern University Graduate Programs. Retrieved from https://www.northeastern.edu/graduate/blog/6-signs-time-change-careers/
Four steps to make a career change. Four Steps to Make a Career Change | Columbia CCE. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.careereducation.columbia.edu/resources/four-steps-make-career-change
Fox, M. (2022, March 9). Half of Americans who quit their jobs last year made a career change. here are 5 steps to take to do the same. CNBC. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/09/53-percent-of-americans-quit-jobs-last-year-to-make-a-career-change-heres-how-to-do-the-same.html
Onward 