13 Feb A Career Change in 2023: 11 Reasons to Change & 4 Places to Begin
Are you the kind of person to take the beginning of a new year to make big changes in your life? Don’t fret, many are. But if you’re not, have you been considering changing your career in recent months? Whether you have been thinking about this for a long time or just discovered this desire with the new year, it might be time to make a career change. And what better time than now?
Should You Make a Career Change?
Whether you’re seriously thinking about making a career change or not, there are a few things you need to ask yourself first. To start, you should decide if you want to change your entire career or just the job/location you work now. There is a big difference between being unhappy in your career field and being unhappy at your current job/location.
Which one is it for you?
Reasons to do a Full Career Change: Different Industry, Different Responsibilities, & a Different Life
A career change is scary; it’s like wandering into a foreign country with no maps to get around and no knowledge of the language to communicate with anyone. When you change your career, you have experience in another industry that won’t help much in a new one. So, it’s almost like going back to square one.
However scary it may be, a career change still might be a journey you want to embark on. Here are a few reasons you would want to change your entire career:
1. Your Job Seems Pointless
A big tell for changing your career comes from how you actually feel about the work you’re doing. Not the way you feel about your boss or your coworkers, but the actual responsibilities and tasks you do every day. Regardless of where you work or who you work for, these responsibilities won’t change too much.
If, over the past few months or years, you have stopped seeing a point to the work you’re doing, it might be because you’ve exhausted your resources in that industry. Maybe you have given it your all and no longer see the point of climbing higher. A career change is exactly what you need to bring back a bit of meaning to your day-to-day life.
2. You Only Go through the Motions at Work
When you truly enjoy the work you’re doing, you tend to do more than what is expected or asked. You work harder, look for more opportunities, take chances, and keep trying to do more. Passion will drive you to new heights and make things exciting.
However, if you find yourself completing your tasks with the bare minimum effort, you might need to consider a career change. Simply going through the motions each day won’t account for growth—for your career or the company. Sure, you are still technically getting your work done, but you are no longer reaching to improve. Changing your career can help you get your drive back as opposed to just getting through.
3. You Feel Disconnected from Work & Your Passions
Losing motivation for work can affect far more than just your performance at work. In fact, staying in a job or industry that you no longer enjoy can push you into losing your drive and passion for things outside of work.
Primarily, you might find yourself feeling disconnected and discouraged both at and outside of work. Your personal passions might begin to seem meaningless or become something you feel no longer fits with you. Though we all try to keep our work lives and personal lives separate, they still have one common thing. You. If you’re not happy with work, it will eventually start to trickle into the other points of your life. Consider making a career change before this happens too intensely.
4. Work is Boring Now—You Dread the Mere Idea of Going to Work Every Day
Further than just a lack of motivation, if you find yourself thinking more of excuses to not go to work every day, then you might need to think about a career change.
Work is not always supposed to be fun. Many consider work to be boring inherently. But ask someone who enjoys their job if it’s boring all of the time. Most likely, they won’t tell you it is. They would find more situations or tasks at work that they enjoy—from something as simple as their great coworkers or an enjoyable filing system to the complexity of solving difficult problems or traveling the country/world.
If work is just boring to you every day, it’s time to start looking for something else.
5. Only for the Money
The world we live in today revolves around working to make money in order to survive. We all need an income to pay for our daily expenses.
A career change is on the horizon if you’ve stopped thinking about your job as more than just a way to earn money. Of course, there is nothing wrong with working just to earn money. But alongside any number of these other reasons, it’s quite telling about your drive for work. To enjoy your work more and make it less about financial security, it could be better to take that leap into changing your career.
6. Your Self-Esteem & Mental Health is Deteriorating
Though some like to make it seem as if it’s dramatic or not something everyone can experience, your work can have negative impacts on your self-esteem and overall mental health.
Think about it this way:
If you were consistently subjected to someone poking your arm—in the same spot, every few minutes—then you would eventually bruise there. It doesn’t matter how soft or how hard the person is poking you, what matters is the repetition of something unpleasant. Of course, you would also eventually build up the muscle there to combat the poking and no longer bruise.
Working in an industry that doesn’t fulfill you anymore is like that. Your self-esteem and mental health will bruise over time if you stay.
7. Physically Worn Out—Your Body is Telling You It has had Enough
It’s well known that constant stress and mental fatigue have physical effects on your body. It can cause headaches/migraines, aching muscles, trouble sleeping, digestive problems, dizziness, and more.
If you’re experiencing physical ailments such as these constantly, it should raise a few red flags. Staying in an industry that you don’t enjoy will put a strain on your body just as much as your mind. A career change will help combat these issues by bringing back enjoyment to your work day.
8. You Constantly Think of Other Careers & Other Places Your Skills will Match
Probably one of the most telling signs that you should make a career change is when you think about other industries often. If you enjoy discussing various industries with your friends or think about skills that are more transferable, then you have already started the process of changing your career. You just didn’t know it.
A Career Change or Just a Job/Location Change?
If you’re not sure a career change is what you really want, but perhaps just a change in job responsibilities or locations, here are a few questions to ask yourself:
1. Is it the idea of doing the tasks at work or the idea of going to work that bothers you?
There is a big difference between not wanting to physically go to work and not wanting to do the tasks assigned to you at work. Ask yourself this: if your job was possible to do from home, would you still do it? Or: if the people you work with suddenly changed, would you find work more enjoyable?
If you answered yes to either of those, you should not be considering a career change. Instead, you should start looking for a job at another location or with a different department. Because, at that point, it’s not that you dislike your entire career or industry, it’s just the environment in which you do it.
2. Do you like the industry you’re in & just want to hold different responsibilities?
No matter the industry you are in, there are multiple different kinds of jobs within that industry. Take a look at the financial industry. Within that industry alone, you can have underwriters, bankers, account managers, and even more. Companies oftentimes have multiple different departments to clearly define the different responsibilities of each.
From the HR department to the sales department, you can find a ton of jobs within the same industry. If you enjoy the industry you work in, it might just be that you want to work from a different angle within it. Do some research into the various opportunities available in your industry before deciding to make a full career change.
3. Do you not see yourself in higher positions in your career?
Being in a high, important position is pretty satisfying. Many try to strive for high positions and teach others to do the same. However, being a leader in that sense isn’t for everyone. Not everyone will thrive in such intense and responsibility-heavy jobs.
If it’s not something you see yourself doing later on in your career, then you might not need a career change. There’s nothing wrong with staying at a level you find most fulfilling, even if it’s not a particularly high position.
How to Make a Career Change
Now that you’ve gone through the article and weighed your options, have you decided on a career change? If so, you might be a bit confused about where to start. There are a few different places you can begin, but here are four steps you should take to ensure a successful career change.
1. Rediscover Your Dreams/Passions alongside Your Goals for Work
To start your transition to a new career, you should consider aligning it with something you find more enjoyable. Take a moment to understand who you are at this point in your life; what things do you enjoy doing, which things make you excited throughout the day, and is there a way for you to expand upon those things? You should also take a moment to figure out where you want to go in your career. Do you want to reach a higher position, find a more creative career, or work from home?
If you understand your passions and goals for work, it will be much easier to leap into a career change.
2. Research Possible Career Paths
Research, research, research. Remember that analogy earlier about a career change being equivalent to going to a foreign country? If you’ve decided to change your career, then you need to prepare yourself beforehand.
Research various industries you’re interested in and look into ones that your skills might transfer over to easier. Between it all, you might find a career path that grabs your attention.
3. Rebrand Yourself
As you move into a new career, you’ll need to present yourself in a different way. Depending on how big of a career change you make, you could need to readjust quite a few things.
However, the three main areas you might need to adjust include:
Your Resume
LinkedIn Account & Connections
The Experiences/Responsibilities You Have
If you can, you should start small by taking on different jobs or responsibilities within the new industry you’re looking to change into. By starting small and making these shifts throughout, you will already be one step ahead. It can help put you on the right track to a career change and get your foot in the door.
4. Choose a Path & Stick To It—Don’t Give Up Halfway
Career change is scary. Stepping off the train when you’ve already gone so far and then having to start all over again? It can be intimidating and difficult to get through. But you can’t give up halfway through just because it’s not easy.
When things start to get tough, remember that you decided on a career change for a reason. Stick to your plans and follow through. It will be tough, but beyond worth it when you reach your goals.
Get a Professional to Help You Through Your Career Change
If you’re looking to change your career completely, you don’t have to go through it alone. Career service professionals can help you throughout your journey by providing tips, talking through your career goals, assisting with job applications, and more.
At The Jonus Group, we have a team of dedicated career professionals that can assist you with any of your career services needs. From resume rewrites and interview prep to career conversations and coaching needs, we can help get you on the right path to starting your new career.
You can check out the career services we offer on our website here or sign up for a free, 15-minute consultation here.