Josh over at Career Ramblings has written the following signs for knowing when it is time for a career change:
- You become easily annoyed at both fellow staff and customers. You find yourself having to hold back rude or offensive comments because you are becoming increasingly more agitated and annoyed. Even on a good day, all it takes is one off comment to make you realize just how miserable you are.
If you feel this way, it may be time for a career change.
- You are unhappy at home when you come back from work. The weekends are great, but look out on weeknights. If you are constantly coming home tired, frustrated, annoyed, paranoid, or even upset, you may be in need of a career change.
- You hate your coworkers, your boss, and your customers. If you absolutely loathe coming in to work because of your fellow employees or management, you may need a career change. Changing firms or place of employment is unlikely to yield any significant changes, as all business that are in related markets tend to have the same kind of feel to them.
He goes on to offer the following advice:
Do any of those points raise red flags? If so, perhaps now is the time to give some serious thought into your career and what your objectives are. If you decide that changing careers outright isn’t the answer, sit down with your boss(es) and see if you can work out some type of solution to your dilemma.
Your happiness should be number one, so work to achieve it.
There is something in that for all of us. If you are not enjoying your work, it will show.
You might consider approaching the “time for a career change” to answer one simple question. Do I look forward to going into work every morning? Yes, there will be mornings that the answer is “No,” but if the overwhelming answer is “Yes” maybe a career change is not in the offing.
However, career change and career planning should be in the picture for all of us. Rare today when someone works their entire career in one job, least of all for one employer.
So a low level career action plan should be done all the time. I don’t mean sending out a resume every day, but read an article put in in a file, study a possible new career, talk to someone about the proposed career. This daily career planning action will make the “job from hell” more tolerable.
Hi John,
thank you for your comment and for your advice - it sounds pretty good to me. I know that I feel better after working on my CV - even just opening it and revising it - after a challenging day.
Best regards, Andrew