There are many reasons why people after working for a few years decide that they want to do something else. Why would you want a change? Possibly because of one of the following reasons:
- You are bored with what you are doing.
- There are limited opportunities for career enhancement in your field. You are likely to retire doing what you were doing when you joined the company.
- The job you do is so specialized and has such limited application that the chances of you getting a similar job in some other organization are limited.
- You feel like you are wasting the best years of your life in a mundane job doing mundane work every day of the week. You want to do something different and more meaningful.
- New careers and job opportunities which did not exist when you started working have opened up. You feel that one such career might be the one or you.
- Your personal situation has changed since the time you started working. As a twenty-three year old marketing executive you were ready to pick up a bag and travel at a day's notice. Twelve years hence, with three children, traveling is a difficult option for you. Hence you want to change your career.
- A similar situation might arise because of health problems. If your job entailed long hours spent standing but a recent injury means that you need to sit down as much as possible, your situation might require you to consider alternate career options.
What Should You Do?
Though you might believe that the only thing which will make you happy is a change in your career, in reality that may not be true. You must therefore dispassionately analyze your situation. Keep the following in mind while doing so:
- Are you bored with the job or with your organization? Do you think you will be happy doing the same or similar job in a different company? If yes, then what you need to do is change your job, and not change your career.
- Have you done adequate research and put in enough thought on the amount of retraining a new career will entail? It will also mean that you lose out on the benefits of your many years of experience in your current job.
- Choose a career where some of your existing skills will be of use. For instance, if you have a couple of years of experience in client interface this might be of use in a new career as well. If you change your career in such a manner that you can leverage your existing skills, you will be better off.
When you decide to change your career, it can be a momentous moment in your life; therefore do your homework well before taking the plunge.
