Career Change…maybe..?
No matter what age you are or what career experiences you have had, there may come a time when you are ready for a career change. This could be through choice or circumstance, either way it can be a very confusing time with lots of questions running through your mind.
‘What else am I good at?’, ‘If I move in a certain direction, how do I know it’s the right one?’ ‘I have some ideas, if only there was a way of validating which one was right for me’. This quest to find answers can lead to you feeling stuck and unsure where to find the pearls of wisdom you need. This uncertainty may tempt you into staying with the familiar and you end up not striving for something new.
If you are in this position and feel a little stuck with your career, these are the top 10 questions you need to ask yourself:
Write down all your strengths (where your natural talents are). Using strengthsfinder will help.
- 1. Do you use these strengths every day at work?
- 2. What are your skills (things you have learned). Do your skills compliment your strengths?
- 3. Are you able to be yourself at work?
- 4. Do you feel work is an enjoyable challenge?
- 5. Is your personal life rarely affected by your work?
- 6. Do you have good working relationships?
- 7. Do you feel you can influence and shape things?
- 8. Do you feel there’s room to grow/promotion etc?
- 9. Are you proud of the work you do?
- 10. Does your work energise you?
If you answer mostly NO to the above questions, then it’s probably time for a career change. If you are unable to use your strengths and skills in the job you’re in then maybe a career change is the right track for you.
Ask yourself how long you have been saying NO to the above questions and what will be the cost to you if you don’t turn the NOs into a YES.
What you need now is self-belief, passion and commitment to move forward to a new phase of your career.
Please let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.