Many people are bored from their jobs. They are ready to make a change, to sacrifice their good salary and position and find something that will bring them joy again. But how to choose the right career to jump to? Where should you start? What should you do?

To find the right career, you firstly have to know what you expect from the change, what you want to achieve with it. Try to answer the following questions honestly.

 

Questions that will help you to decide about your career change

  • Why do I want to change my career? What are my real motives?
  • Do I want to spend more time in the office, or do I want to work outside?
  • Do I want to spend more time in front of my computer screen, or do I want to be with people?
  • Are there any activities I am missing in my present job?
  • Am I looking for a new challenge, or for a new routine?
  • Do I want to do something similar to my present job, or am I ready to start afresh, in a field where I have no knowledge and skills?

Good questions lead us to other questions, and finally they will lead us to the right answers. Understanding why you don’t enjoy your present job anymore, and what you expect from a new role, should help you identify your next career stop.

Most times, however, you will have to sacrifice something for your new career.

 

Sacrifices that come with a career change

Your salary will drop, that’s the biggest sacrifice, or at least the one that is easy to measure. Once you jump into a completely new field, all professional experience you’ve gained up to that point will become insignificant. You will have to start from zero, entry level, and your salary will correspond with that.

What is more, you may have to work on your education and gain new knowledge (investing time and money in the process, getting certification or diploma, if needed for the job).

It is easy to go to college when we are eighteen and our parents pay the tuition and dormitory. But once we have a house, bills to pay, or perhaps even a family, studying becomes more difficult and demanding.

Think twice before you decide for a career change. And if you still consider it worth the sacrifice, have a look at some good ideas below.

A man is gesticulating with his hands, trying to explain a difficult issue to someone else. We can not see the recipient of his message on the picture.

Career change ideas for you

  • If you are tired from the office work, go outside. Do it in a clever way though. Ask your manager for an extensive break, travel somewhere for the summer, work in the fields, try permaculture for a couple of months. Maybe it is exactly what you are looking for, and maybe it is not. Keep the doors open so you can come back to the corporate world, if you eventually decide to do it.
  • You can pick strawberries, collect mushrooms or hoe the fields. Some busy managers changed their career drastically and found inner piece in the woods. However, some other just understood that their office job was not as bad as they felt, and came back once the fruit picking season ended.
  • If you are fed up with other people, stop meeting them, or change the type of people you meet. Learn a programing language. Become a specialist in a niche. Learn to work with a kind software that is difficult to learn, and just few people mastered it in your country. Apply for a job in a software company, and start afresh.
  • Maybe it is the bureaucracy and hierarchical structures that make you feel tired and unhappy. Say goodbye to them, and give a try to the career of a freelancer. Many people around the world make this step each year, and there are countless options for freelancing in the world of information. You can become a professional driver, interpreter, article writer, drive a taxi, or do hundreds of other things. Freelancing career is not easy, but many people who tried it fell in love with their new lifestyle … at least until they had to pay the taxes in March :).

 

May also interest you

  • New career ideas for everyone – Wanting to start afresh? Check the list of careers you can start anytime, regardless of your education or previous experience. You can be on and going from tomorrow!
  • Career planning advice – Learn how to plan your career moves, and what steps you should take to smoothly transit from one career to another.
  • Career networking tips – Learn how to leverage the power of your professional and personal connections to get a new career and to start a new life.
Matthew Chulaw
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