Is Now the Time for you to be Making a Career Change?

If you have been thinking about a career change for quite some time, or if you feel as though working from home has piqued your interest about changing your path, then this is the guide for you. Starting a new career comes with a lot of uncertainty and it is certainly not a decision that you should be making overnight. There are a lot of factors that you have to consider, such as your finances, stability, personal hardship and stress. If you want to make sure that the decision for career change you are making is the right one, then this is the guide for you.

Are you Rushing Things?

If you are in a bad situation right now or if you are just not happy with your life, then this alone can make the most non-reactive person, be a bit more impulsive. It may be that you are experiencing a higher level of stress and if this is the case then you may find that you make hastier decisions and that these are based solely on emotions and nothing else. You may also feel desperate to escape the situation that you are in right now and you may not see a way out other than to change careers entirely. If you want to make sure that you are not making a decision out of desperation then you have to take a step back and you need to think about your job when you first joined the company.

Do you feel as though the frustrations that you have now, are the same as what you felt back then? What has changed in the last few months? Emotions can certainly play a role when it comes to your decision-making but at the end of the day, they should not be the driving force behind your career change. You need to make sure that you have enough rational reasons to support the career change you intend to make. If you want to help yourself then it is wise for you to try and write down all of the reasons why you want to change, so that you can analyze whether you are working from emotion alone or whether you are acting rationally and logically.

Why do you Want a New Job?

It is imperative that you dig deep and that you consider all of the questions that you have. Every day for a week, think about the thoughts you are having and think about why you want to make a change. You need to think about your job change when you are happy, sad, angry, frustrated and also bored. If you can do this, then you will be able to make sure that you have a good overview of the way that you feel and you may also find that it gives you the answers you are looking for when it comes to your career change.

What are you Looking For in your New Career?

It is very easy for you to identify what you don’t want, but it is not easy to figure out what you do want. It is so important that you use this to your advantage so that you can avoid being in this situation again in the future. This will help you to decide what is important when it comes to your new career and it will also help you to make sure that the choices you are making are logical, and as mentioned above, not being driven by your emotions. You want to be both broad and specific when you do this. Make a list of things such as your skills, your responsibilities, and the impact that your job has on you.

You may feel as though you are not making a big enough difference in your job now and you want to do something that impacts people, for example. If you work in a hospital for example, then you may want to go out and start your own medical service so that you can expand the services offered to the local community. You may also have an interest in the Thermo Fisher antibiotic stewardship program, but your current place of work does not support this. Either way, lack of opportunity is not a bad reason for you to quit the job that you have now.

Can you Afford to Make a Change

Changing jobs doesn’t come with a guarantee when it comes to stability. You may even find that it comes with a loss of income or that you experience a salary reduction. Either way, it is so important that you prepare for this if possible. The more you can try and prepare for anything expected, the smoother transition you will have if you do decide to change your career. If possible, you need to try and take into account what you are getting from your job beyond the salary that you have. Think about it.

Do you get health insurance? Are you covered for any work meals? Do you have other business expenses covered, such as your internet or even company laptop?  If you have a company hire car now, then you have to remember that you will lose this if you change jobs. Would that be a serious disruption to your life? Then you have to make sure that you take this into account when the time comes for you to change employers as it could influence your decision. If you are aware of the perks that you are going to be losing then this is great, but you do still need to make sure that you budget for them with your new salary.

Speaking of salary, it is wise for you to think about the financial impact that comes with changing careers. You also need to think about if there is any kind of economic instability as well. You may not know for sure what your new salary is going to be until you have a job offer that is in writing, so it is a good idea for you to get it in writing so you can take a look at your finances to see what kind of position you are going to be in.

If you intend to move for your job then this may sound like a good idea. But even then, you need to take into account the cost of living into account for your new location. If you don’t then you may find that you end up struggling and that your minimum salary doesn’t cover what you need. If it doesn’t then you will need to find a way to work with this until the time does come for you to fully change jobs.

What does the Industry Future Look Like?

At the end of the day, different industries have different risks. Some of them are far more stable when compared to others so it is vital that you take this into account. If you know that the industry is more stable than the one you are working in right now, then this is great. If you suspect that it is less stable, then you won’t just be increasing the risk. You will be doubling it.

You have the instability of the industry you are in now, but you will also have the reality that the people who have been hired recently tend to be the ones who are the first to go. It isn’t hard to see how this could put you in a bad situation, so it is imperative that you take the time to make sure that you are not putting yourself and your family at too much risk.

Don’t Be Hasty

There is absolutely no question about it, you are making a very important decision when it comes to the future of your business. You should take at least two weeks to decide whether or not the move is wise, and you should also make sure that it is a good option for your family too. if you can sit down with the idea when you are angry, stressed, frustrated, happy and bored, then this will stop you from making decisions that could have severe consequences. It will also give you the chance to sit and really think things through, so it is very important for you to take things like this into consideration, if possible,

When you have been able to walk through all of these questions, you will then have a far better understanding of what is making you want to change careers and you can also find out if now is in fact the right time for you to be acting on it. If you don’t think now is the right time for you to be making a career change, then there is nothing wrong with that. Just take a step back and try to find ways to get more satisfaction with the job that you have now. This will help you far more than you realize in the future, so keep that in mind.