Changing Careers Successfully Requires Considerable Time, Research, Patience
It is possible that most people know or have met someone who clearly loves their chosen career and who is not shy to express that sentiment during conversation; that individual will often apply such terms as personal fulfillment, job satisfaction, making contributions, and opportunities for training/advancement as some of the reasons for their happiness.
However, it is also likely that someone might know or encounter one or more friends and family who are dissatisfied with their present careers, to the point where the latter have openly expressed a desire or even the intent to make a change. These people will often cite frustration with one or more of the following as their reasons for changing careers:
- Compensation
- The type of work
- Management style
- Limited responsibilities
- Repetitiveness/tediousness
- Medical and/or other benefits
And while it is commendable when an individual wishes to improve their respective lot in life, so to speak, there are inherent risks in permitting emotion and frustration to be the motivating factors behind changing careers. To the contrary, one should invest the time and effort to consider several important dynamics including their age, financial situation, family responsibilities, and skill set before making such a significant change; this critical assessment can be prepared through consultation with a job placement specialist from a professional staffing agency like Winters Technical Staffing in Toronto.
By skipping such an elementary step, people who might be asking themselves, “Should I change careers?” run the risk of making one/more of the following common and possibly disastrous mistakes:
- Decision is made too hastily
- Not clarifying what and/or who is causing the dissatisfaction
- Not separating unhappiness with a career vs a job/company
- Attracted solely to a higher salary
- Omitting such factors as personal values, interests, strengths
- Incorrect choice of a new field
- Not sufficiently researching growth potential, market stability
- Leaving a job without new employment in place
- Creates holes in a resume; causes high strain (money, health)
- Resume not sufficiently effective
- Content and format might be outdated for today’s employers
- Going back to school unnecessarily
- Might not improve career prospects or lead to a higher salary
- Can lead to debt accumulation, lost time, missed opportunities
- Making choices based on the experience or advice of others
- Career changes that suit/appeal to one may not be right for all
It should be evident that time, research, and patience are integral to one’s success when they are contemplating changing careers; the goal, of course, is to find happiness, not to just transfer dissatisfaction and disillusionment from one career path to the next. There are far too many stories already in circulation about people who have allowed emotion to affect their judgement and who ultimately regretted decisions and actions pertaining to changing their careers.
Qualified Placement Specialists Can Guide Your Efforts When Changing Careers
When individuals are planning to make a career change, there will likely be no shortage of advice on ‘what they should do’ from family members or friends in whom they confide. And while those confidants might have good intentions, any guidance/recommendations they offer can be tainted, for want of a better word, by their own subjective opinions and personal experiences.
To avoid such circumstances, and to perhaps protect those friendships or relationships, it might be advisable to speak with an independent party in order to obtain more practical and objective insight and direction on how best to proceed; as mentioned previously, an unbiased third party would be a placement professional from Winters Technical Staffing.
The qualified consultants at Winters Technical Staffing can be valuable resources for any candidates who may be wondering “Should I change careers?” by helping them to assess the following:
- Source(s) of their unhappiness
- True reasons for changing careers
- Target industry sectors and employers
- Skills – strengths, areas for improvement
- Financial implications (short- and long-term)
- Networking capabilities (in person and online)
- Training requirements and learning opportunities
By aligning one’s career change aspirations with the insight and guidance available from the placement specialists at Winters Technical Staffing, that person can receive unbiased advice and support on how, when, and where to pursue their plan.
Contact Winters Today
Thinking about changing careers and looking for professional advice and support to help achieve your goal? Call the placement specialists from Winters Technical Staffing today at 416-495-7422 or contact us to book a complimentary discussion and assessment with one of our knowledgeable consultants.
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