For at least the last 50 years most of us have been encouraged to ‘get good exam results at school, go to university and get a great job’. Many of us dutifully follow that path until, suddenly, we wake up one day and realise we don’t like what we are getting paid to do.
It could be the job itself that isn’t ticking all your boxes or maybe it’s the company you work for and/or your colleagues. It could even be the realisation that you made the wrong career choice way back when you were 18 and applying for that university course.
The current UK education system tends to maintain a focus on learning traditional subjects and has struggled to adapt to the changing industrial environment. If you have never been exposed to the full spectrum of possibilities for learning and future career paths it can be difficult to pick the right approach, especially aged 16, 18 or 21.
The world has changed and we are now described as entering the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ – a time when robotics and automation are going to transform the way we work. This means new opportunities in new fields of work and many of the jobs that once existed are now disappearing. Arguably there has never been a better time to switch careers.
Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
Mark Twain
What is a Career?
Is a job a career, or is a career just a job?
That depends on an individual’s perception: while you might not like your job – no, let’s be fair: while you may not be satisfied with your job – one person’s job is another person’s career. Not all jobs are bad, it’s just we all have different perspectives, interests and expectations at different stages of our lives.
We could say a ‘career’ is a role with a defined path of advancement requiring ongoing training and commitment whereas a ‘job’ is simply paid employment that may require little knowledge or training and has little prospect of advancement. At the end of the day though, a career (or job) is what it means to you.
A career or job – work – has a huge impact on our lives. It gives us fulfilment, a social environment, and remuneration to go about our lives. We spend so much time at work it follows it has to be satisfying, and that satisfaction has huge repercussions on our wellbeing as individual people.
Look at it this way: a 40 hour working week multiplied by 48 working weeks per year and at least 40 years working life, equates to 76,800 hours! If you spend most of those nearly 77,000 hours miserable in your occupation, think how that may affect the rest of your life!
Jack Ma, co-founder of Alibaba, and Joanna Coles in the videos below share great career advice.
When you consider the amount of time we spend working you would think that we would all take the time to research our career options, however research by Glassdoor in 2014 showed that on average we spend six times longer (24 hrs) researching our annual holidays than we devote to finding out about a new employer when we are job hunting! Maybe it’s time to reassess priorities!
Times have changed and indeed change is accelerating as far as work is concerned. More and more people are opting to take the plunge and become freelance and it is increasingly likely that people will have multiple roles/careers over the course of their working life.
You’re lucky if you know exactly what you want to do in life (or as a career) at an early age. Most people don’t.
If you aren’t one of the lucky few who always knew what they wanted to be when they were young and single-mindedly pursued the end goal, it is highly probable you drifted into an occupation.
It is also (unless you were very lucky!) likely that the work you do is simply a means of paying your bills, something you do for the requisite number of hours per week and that you ‘live for the weekends’.
Does that sound like you? If it does, how does this affect the remainder of your life? What impact does it have on your self-esteem, your wellbeing, your mental health? Do you ever think back and wonder what it might have been only if you’d …
Some people can happily carry on working a job they don’t much care for (but don’t actually hate) for their entire working lives. If you fall into that category there is absolutely nothing wrong with it – after all, we should aim for a work life balance and ‘work to live not live to work’ is a good mantra.
Many of us though trudge through the working week, dissatisfied, feeling undervalued, feeling our ‘talents’ are being wasted – in short feeling miserable – and at the same time misery loves company. So, without meaning to, all these negative emotions spill over into the rest of our lives and affect our nearest and dearest too!
Whilst it may not be necessary to be completely fulfilled by what you do to earn money, not feeling actively miserable for 40 hours per week must be something to aim for, mustn’t it?
Changing careers is becoming increasingly common: the average person will change careers 5-7 times during their working life according to career change statistics and approximately 30% of the total workforce will now change jobs every 12 months.
You may fin interesting the article we wrote recently on How to change careers at 40. Be flexible here. Whether you’re 35 or 45 is not the issue. The point is that you’re mid-career and are looking for growth, change and options.
Gone, in the main, are the jobs for life which previous generations perhaps expected. So, if you personally are feeling the need to change, look at these stats and know you aren’t on your own!
Why Do You Want to Change Career?
This is the key. This has to be the very first question to ask as the answer will determine key areas you need to address.
As we touched upon just now, for most people today some sort of career (and the term is used loosely) is essential to one’s wellbeing. It gives you a sense of purpose and meaning and contributes to many, many areas of our lives from friendships and support, to earning enough money to buy a decent car, to nice clothes for your children, treating the wife, and also treating yourself.
Take the scenario of not working. Have you ever been unemployed? It’s not fun and it’s certainly no holiday watching your finances and self-esteem wither away after weeks or months of application after application, not knowing when you’ll even get a job let alone an inspiring one.
For the fortunate few who have sufficient resources not to work they are often incredibly bored. Some of the most restless and dissatisfied people are entrepreneurs who’ve made their £ millions only to be bored stiff after they’ve sold the business: few people have more than one great idea they can make a massive success of. They literally do just potter around most days.
Conversely, some people are workaholics. That’s what they enjoy and their wellbeing lies in their being busy.
Where you find your strength and happiness is something only you know but the impact your career has on your wellbeing must be central for a fulfilling and prosperous life however that’s defined.
How Do You Identify a Possible Alternative Career?
Get some assistance!
That is the first and foremost thing you need to do. Ask a friend, family member or seek external, professional advice. You will struggle to sort through this by yourself.
Socrates is quoted as saying ‘To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom’ and that’s exactly where you should begin – take some time to really assess yourself. Talk to us at Success Stream as sometimes it is difficult to be objective about yourself!
The next step should be to try to identify what it is about your current role/career that isn’t ticking your personal boxes:
- Do you enjoy the type of work but have issues with either the people you are working with and/or the company you work for?
- If you enjoy the type of work you are doing but are having issues with colleagues, is this something that could be brought to the attention of your managers and tackled?
- If the company itself is a problem, are there other places you could move to offering the same kind of roles?
- Is your pay level the main problem?
- Could you ask about a pay rise?
- Is the commute too long?
- How about asking if your employers have any work from home schemes or compressed hours arrangements in order to minimise the number of days you need to travel
- Do really dislike the work you’re doing but don’t have a clue what you would like to do instead? Sit down and start to make some lists – this is an ideal time to bring a personal development coach onto your team, they will listen objectively and help steer you through the minefield – often coming up with things you would never have thought of on your own
- Identify what you enjoy doing and have a real passion for.
- Could you make a living out of pursuing this passion?
- If not full-time could you follow this passion as a side-line to see how it develops?
- Would you need training in order to develop a paid career in whatever field it is?
- Research the market – who else is doing it and how well are they doing?
- But what if you don’t have a passion which could be turned into a paid opportunity and no clue to what sort of work would best fit your personality? As we said, a personal development coach could really help bring clarity and inspiration so reach out to us if you’re feeling lost
Work Through Your Career Ideas
Are your expectations realistic? What are your expectations of salary, promotion and free time? Poetry recitals won’t make you a millionaire unfortunately though it might be fun.
There are a few steps you can take yourself to bring more clarity to your ideas:
- Take a personality profile test, there are lots of them, Myers Briggs being perhaps the best known. There is a free analysis at 16Personalities (based on Myers Briggs principles) which will identify which of the four main personality groups you fall under (Analyst/Diplomat/Explorer/Sentinels) and offers some suggestions as to suitable careers for each type
- List your interests and then look to see if there any roles out there which include them
- Consider shadowing people in other roles – try to aim for very different types of positions, including ones which you wouldn’t have thought a match!
- Try asking your friends and family if they have any ideas about what a good career match would be for you (often they can see what you can’t!)
There are also personal development coaches just like us who help you find your mojo. Call them trainers, coaches or mentors. Even the best of the best like Usain Bolt, Mark Zuckerberg and Richard Branson have had mentors. Help is at hand to help you achieve.
How Thinking “Outside the Box” Could Help
So, you’ve done your self-reflection, maybe worked with a coach, taken the tests etc. and finally figured out the field you should be looking to work in … let’s say, for arguments sake, that in the 16Personalities test your result was Diplomat with the sub group Mediator.
This type of personality group is drawn strongly towards writing – being an author – a notoriously difficult (and usually not well paid) career.
Within the writing field however falls copy writing, blogging, PR for small companies/social enterprises, writing case studies, even researching. So, once you identify a key personality trait/need you can widen your career options by thinking just a little differently.
Another example of this kind of non-linear thinking could be that you could be great at maths. The obvious choice might be to go into academia or teaching but maths is at the core of many sciences such as computing, software development, engineering and astronomy, or creating crosswords – the key is you have an analytical mind.
Never be afraid to try something different – until you explore the possibilities you won’t know if it will work for you.
Making the Change
Change is something many of us fear: the old, the familiar, the routine, are comfortable – even if unfulfilling and unchallenging – and it can be all too easy to resist taking the steps towards something new.
Try to remember this quote “Feel the fear and do it anyway’ – it’s the title of a book by Dr Susan Jeffers (add it to your ‘to read’ list) in which she shows how you can change passivity into assertiveness and make those changes you need but are afraid to do.
Once you are committed to the career change – even if the change is more of a gentle course correction than a full-blown change of direction – make sure you take the necessary actions, these could include:
- Booking coaching sessions
- Updating your CV
- Shadowing people in their roles
- Taking the necessary training to upskill yourself
- Joining networking or peer groups (it’s often not just ‘what’ you know but ‘who’!)
Bear in mind that all the soul searching, idea seeking and planning in the world won’t make the slightest bit of difference to you if you DON’T TAKE ACTION.
You May Not Find Your Ideal Career First Time
If it doesn’t work out and the change you make still doesn’t feel right, then don’t be afraid to try again! Remember, Edison famously tried 1,000 times to create the light bulb.
How many times do people change careers? Between five and seven. Switching jobs/careers is no longer seen in a negative way so don’t let old paradigms colour the way you approach your working life. Many of the current workforce can expect to still be working age 70 and 40 to 50 years is a long time to keep doing just one thing, especially if it doesn’t make you happy.
Remember Mark Twain’s quote above. This should be your aim! You will of course be working but if you truly enjoy what you are doing, it fulfils you and you feel you are living a life of purpose you will be a happier person and this will reflect in your personal life and relationships.
It’s rarely too late to change either!
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking “I’m 45, it’s too late”. If you expect to be working until your 70s there is plenty of time for not one but multiple careers.
