If you're thinking about changing careers, you need to start looking into what your passions are and make those passions your job. You should be able to go to work everyday knowing that not only are you earning a living for yourself and your family, but that you feel like you're making a difference in something that you love to do.
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Plenty of people are stuck in jobs that they don't like doing, but you don't have to be that way if you don't want to, and that's the key. Realizing that you can make changes if you want to, and sometimes those changes can take time.
If you're stuck in a job right now in an industry you don't want to work in, maybe you are writing. When you want to be in medicine, you have to find the pathway to get where you want to go and go there.
Climbing the corporate ladder, if that's what's for you, is easy to do if you have a pathway to get there and you have support to do it. If you are hating your current career, then you need to do what you can to get out of it and find something that makes you feel good every day.
If it's time for a change of job or a change of career, then you're in the right place. So let's take a look at how you can see that a career change is the right one for you.
Signs It's Time for a Career Change
New job or a new career that you need?
Now there is a distinct difference. All you have to do to know that is to take a look at the executive resume templates available; they’re starkly different to regular resumes! You need to establish whether or not it's the job itself that you're hating, or if it's the place that you're working.
People don't leave bad jobs, but they do leave bad work situations and bad bosses. If you're working for somebody who really makes you drink coming into work, then it's probably the job and not the work itself.
Could you be happy doing your current job but somewhere else? Or are you unhappy in the industry and the job itself anyway? You need to think about making a career change sooner than later, whichever the case may be, because you need to be happy and nobody wants to spend their entire life stuck somewhere that they hate. Maybe it's time to do a career strengths test which will help you see what you're good at doing.
Your body is telling you that it's time.
Sunday night scaries are a real thing. If you are starting to feel that way on a Sunday night before you wake up for a Monday morning work day, then it's time to think about getting out of your job and even out of your career.
It's not a coincidence that Sunday night anxiety comes on. When it does, your body's telling you it knows what Monday brings and is not happy about it. Those tension lines in your jaw, the migraines and the headaches are all signs through your body that you're in the wrong job.
Your self esteem is taking a hit.
If you're beginning to doubt yourself and the work that you do, then you need to make a dramatic change. Staying in a career or a job that makes you feel bad about yourself as a person is never going to be worth it, and it doesn't matter what the pay may be or what the perks are.
No perk is worth feeling down on yourself. And while you may need to explore it further as to what's making you feel so low, if it does turn out to be your job, then you need to think about moving on and finding something better.
That doesn't necessarily mean finding something with a bigger paycheck either. It just means you need to find something that makes you feel good. It's all about the money. When you go to work every day, you should be feeling excited about what you're going to achieve.
If you're only going for the money, then that's a problem. Your heart should be in your job, and having enough money to live on and be content is as important as anything else. If you're earning lots of money but you're sacrificing your happiness, then really the payoff is not worth it.
You can always reconcile good money with a reason for not leaving your job, but why can't you find a career that offers you similar in terms of perks and salary? Material things are never really going to help you to love your job more.
You are always dreaming of a different career. If you've been spending your time sitting at your desk Googling jobs, bookmarking interesting courses to make a switch, and feeling wistful about all of that, then it's a good sign that you're ready for a career change.
You need to get out of your job and into a career that makes you feel happy and interested in what you're doing. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” and never a truer saying ever existed.
You are lacking energy.
That eternal day-to-day boredom is really starting to get under your skin and it's causing your energy levels to drop. No one expects eternal fascination and nobody expects everybody to have a perfect day, even if they are in the perfect job.
Sometimes work can be frustrating even if you love what you're doing. This shouldn't be your everyday however. You can always find a particular task or a particular coworker annoying of course, but you shouldn't feel like that every single day when you go to work.
If your energy levels really are dipping, then it is a sign that something is not right and your variables really do need a shake up.
You no longer feel connected to your passions.
You feel disconnected from the reason that you started out. Why did you get this job in the first place? What was it that drove you to it? If it was the money, and you've realized that money isn't actually everything for you, then it's a good sign that you're ready for a change.
There's nothing wrong with job hunting and speaking to recruiters and asking somebody to clean up your CV for you. Finding a job is difficult, especially in an era of AI where AI scanners are reading CVS and not people.
You are jealous of what your friends are doing.
If you're feeling jealous towards the careers or work cultures that friends and family have, then you need to think about whether you should be doing something else, somewhere else with new people.
You shouldn't dismiss jealousy as a bad thing. However, sometimes it can kick you into gear and make you feel like you have somewhere you can go when you're thinking about it.
Try and be as honest with yourself as you can, because it can be a very practical way to pinpoint where you want to go with your career and where you got stuck in the first place. This way you won't make the same mistakes.
You've become apathetic about changing.
You might function perfectly well at your job, but if you're lucky in the desire to bring forward new ideas or instigate any innovation in your role or at the company, then there's every chance you just don't want to be there anymore.
What's the point in pushing and pushing if nobody is paying attention to what you're saying, right? If you are used to being ignored or straight out rejected, then you're not going to want to work any harder.
Nobody wants to work for a company or a boss that makes them feel less than, and if that's how you're feeling then you're in the right frame of mind to start looking elsewhere. You deserve to feel appreciated in your career, and even if that's just a small acknowledgement that you are doing a good job, you need that sometimes.
Would you leave right now if you could?
Ask yourself, if you could leave your job right this second and not have any consequences on that, would you leave? If the answer is yes, then of course you're going to not want to go to work tomorrow and you should be looking somewhere else.
You deserve to feel excited about going to work every day, and working isn't exactly the dream for most people. Everybody wants to feel like they have a place and a purpose. They want to feel like they are able to give back in some way and that sometimes can be to themselves.
If your job is taking its toll on you and it's not making you happy anymore, it's time to take some stock and start thinking about the person you want to be and the person you don't want to be. Sometimes a career change is going to make that difference.
