Are you ready to make a career change?

• by Roxana Nicoleta Vintila
• in Tools of the trade
• posted January 19, 2022

We live in “The Great Resignation” period, and statistics say that many people have thought about new jobs, changed employers, moved on to a different collaboration type (freelance), or started their own company in the last two years. US News says that “according to a study conducted by Adobe, the exodus is being driven by Millennials and Generation Z, who are more likely to be dissatisfied with their work. More than half of Gen Z reported planning to seek a new job within the next year.” So, for those in doubt about staying with the current employer or making a career change, I would suggest analyzing things from 2 perspectives: one focused on your current job and the other focused on yourself.

So, here are the two things that you should do before letting your thirst for new and exciting opportunities get to you:

1. Analyze your current working situation

Some create lists with pros and cons; others think about achievements vs. frustrations, or things they love vs. stuff they would change about their job. It doesn’t matter which method you use; the idea is to analyze the situation and realistically understand your current status.

You might ask yourself questions like:

• Culture: How would you describe the culture in your organization? What about the work environment and the colleagues, including your manager?
• Role: Do you see growth opportunities inside the organization? Do you have clarity regarding your next role and what you need to do to level up?
• Compensation: Do you feel happy about your current compensation package? Is it comparable to the labor market you’re in?
• Change trigger: Did you do everything you could to create the changes you wish for? Did you share feedback with your colleagues? Did you discuss results, frustrations, and career wishes with your manager?

2. Analyze your feelings

Many of our reactions at work stem from our personal life. Due to the pandemic, it’s even more complicated than before to achieve a healthy work-life balance. Remote work has basically concentrated most of our activities in only one central space. Our home has become the place where we work, school children, take care of pets, do chores, etc., and where we express all our feelings, be it face-to-face or over the phone with the family or online with colleagues. It’s thus harder not to mix feelings or transfer them from one realm to another (e.g., being angry at your neighbor for noisily renovating his apartment might reflect in your attitude during work meetings).

So, it’s important to take time and reflect to understand the real causes of our reactions. 

You might ask yourself questions like:

• How do you feel about your job? Are those frustrations generated by something or someone at work?
• Do you feel appreciated at work? Can you identify things to be grateful for?
• What are your strong skills? How about your saboteurs?  (You will take them with you to your next adventure. Be sure of that!)
• How do you see your next career step? Do you feel prepared to take it? Do you have an action plan?

In the last two years, I saw people leaving jobs because they thought their unhappiness came from the job, but they also became unhappy with the next employer. So, analyzing your emotions is essential before making decisions because the solution wasn’t the career change in these cases.

If you still feel the wind of change after the two analyses, you are ready for a new adventure. I wish you the best of luck!