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Thinking about switching careers? How to know if you’re making the right decision
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Clients often approach career consultant Angela Burke with a common problem – career dissatisfaction. But how do you know if it's a situational issue or if it's time to take the plunge into a new role entirely? Angela has all the answers below...
What are a few signs we can watch out for that may indicate it’s time for a career change?
If you’re sitting with a level of career dissatisfaction that can’t be addressed through some tweaks to your current situation, it’s typically time to look further afield. Particular signs I see quite frequently are a lack of motivation to go above and beyond, just doing enough to get by, an imbalance between what you give and get from your career, reoccurring Sunday night fear, a feeling that there’s something else you’re meant to be doing with your life, irritability, frustration, your professional growth has stalled, and a lack of career development and progression opportunities.
The one thing all my clients have had in common after making a change is their sense of relief and a wish that they took action sooner.
For those of us dissatisfied with our current role, it could be down to a poor employer, outgrowing that role, etc… how do we know if we’re experiencing one of these scenarios or if it’s time for a complete career change?
This is what clients turn up to me really confused about and the first question I’ll always ask them is what is causing their dissatisfaction. It’s often something they won’t have spent the time really pinpointing. We tend to know we’re unhappy, but rarely do we dive into the details to ascertain exactly what’s causing it, when it started, etc.
I’ll take them through a series of questions to really figure out what’s going on for them and what would resolve their issue, and quite quickly it will be really clear whether they can gain the career satisfaction they are missing by tweaking a few things in their current situation or whether they need to change jobs or even careers. A lot of the time I’m able to help the client find the satisfaction they’re missing without needing a complete career change! Spend some time figuring out when you started to become dissatisfied, what that dissatisfaction is stemming from and what would resolve this for you.
Stay tuned for Angela Burke’s episode on The Wellness Project Podcast
When we decide it’s time to make the switch, how do we find the best career for us?
When supporting clients to find a new opportunity, I always emphasise that in order to decipher which path is best for them, they first need to become aware of what ‘best for them’ actually looks like. We work together to identify what their desired outcome looks and feels like, explore a variety of options and figure out what they have in their ‘career toolkit’ that will help them secure that opportunity or indeed what gaps they may need to bridge first.
Women in particular tend to write themselves off and hold back from applying for a position they don’t meet all the requirements for. In these situations, I always remind them that the employer has written an advert for the ‘perfect’ candidate, but as with everything else in life, perfection doesn’t exist and often they will end up hiring someone who doesn’t tick every single box, but instead is a really good fit for the team and the opportunity.
We can fall into the trap of settling for a one-sided assessment during the recruitment process where we see the employer as the one justified to assess whether we’re the right fit for them, but what about our assessment of their fit for our career? The majority of us spend over 40 hours a week at work so that’s a pretty good reason to use every interaction throughout the recruitment process to suss out whether the work, the culture and the reward are a match for what you’re looking for.
What are some ways we can help ensure success in this new role?
As the saying goes, start as you mean to go on! A new job brings an opportunity for a fresh start to show up as who you want to be in your career. Set healthy boundaries that enable you to prioritise what matters most to you inside and outside of work. Spend your first few weeks listening, understanding and questioning to give yourself a solid understanding of the work, the people, the challenge and the opportunity. Don’t underestimate the power of building relationships during your first 30 days in your new job. They will stand to you 30 days later when you make your first mistake or run into your first problem. On those days you start to doubt yourself, remember that they hired you for a reason – you are more capable than you will ever let yourself believe!
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Changing careers can be a nerve-wracking process. What do you often tell your clients to reassure them before they take the plunge?
The changes you make in your career are not life-or-death decisions. While we might not be happy with a decision we make at any point in our career, it’s never a wasted opportunity as there is so much learning in the career decisions that don’t work out as expected. They steer us further away from what’s not for us and towards what is for us.
Of course, it’s not easy leaning into change, particularly from our 30s onwards as we generally have more responsibilities, mortgages and families to consider. We’re humans, we don’t like to step into discomfort or change as it doesn’t feel familiar – I totally get it and I experience this in my own life too.
But what if I reminded you that retirement is a good while away, and you can continue to feel exactly how you feel today in life until you retire, or you can make a decision today that may bring some short-term discomfort, but will ultimately lead to you feeling and experiencing life the way you want to for the next twenty or thirty years until you retire.
The IMAGE Wellness Project is powered by Meaghers Pharmacy and in association with Activia, its4women, Irish Life Health and KIND. Visit our Wellness Hub to follow weekly updates including interviews, videos and podcast episodes with our leading wellbeing experts.
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