Sometimes, you simply run into a dead end in your career. Whether it’s because of stress, salary, a desire for a different structure or a time to start something new, there are many reasons you might run into a wall with your current job.
However, it can be daunting to consider beginning something different, or even changing careers altogether. Do I have enough savings to take the risk? What if it doesn’t work out? Should I stick through it and keep trying instead? What is the best way to take care of myself and my family?
If you’re not sure where to start, read on for a few things to consider when you feel like throwing in the towel.
Introduction
When it comes to a potential career change, there is lots of information available from a variety of valuable sources.
Researchers of Career Transitions Across the Lifespan recommend aiming for self-regulation, and focusing on areas such as knowing your desires and opportunities, job search intentions, potential distress and anxiety, and exploration of alternatives.
Many professionals, too, share their career advice. Developmental psychologist and career coach Sharon Belden Castonguay discusses becoming aware of cultural expectations, and discovering what you want and what has influenced you. Harry Pritchett Career Training talks about getting to know yourself and your goals as part of his program.
You may not have time to sort through every piece of advice or program. But luckily, many of them come down to similar themes. Overall, making important career decisions, like whether or not to give up on your career, boils down to three main factors: identifying your needs, evaluating your goals, and assessing your risk.
Identifying Your Needs
Identifying your needs can be helpful, whether your situation is simple or complex. Even if you already have an idea of what you want from your career, explicitly naming your top (career) priorities can increase your motivation and create a clearer vision of your future.
Ask yourself: What do you want, and why is your current job or career path not meeting it?
Try listing the top 3 things you want from your career, and make sure they are measurable in some way. “I would like to spend one more hour away from work and with my family each day,” rather than “I want a good work-life balance.” Once you know where you would like to be, you can take steps to get there.
Also, this may reveal whether your problem is with the career itself, something internal, or both. If your problem is feeling like a failure at work due to a lifelong low self-confidence, leaving your job may not fix the issue. But if your boss is overly critical and your career provides a poor work-life balance, a new environment could make a huge difference.
Evaluating Your Goals
Once you have chosen a goal, then you can assess if it is realistic.
To make sure your goal is realistic, Timeular recommends setting up smaller sub-goals or milestones along the way. By splitting your overall goal into smaller goals, not only do you gain a clear course of action, but it also becomes obvious if the goal is a bit too far out of reach.
As an extreme example, if you set a goal to quit your job and become a millionaire in the next three months, but you have only a hypothetical business idea that you haven’t started working on, that is probably not a realistic goal. If you set ramping weekly sales goals or even monthly targets, it will become clear early on if you are not on track to reach a million. But if you only keep the single overarching goal, you may spend all three months before assessing that you are off-target.
Even if your initial career goal ends up being unrealistic, that is okay. Since you have multiple points of feedback set throughout the journey, you can reassess as needed, and continue to adjust your goals so that they are achievable. However, since this involves your career, even smaller goals may involve some level of risk. If you decide to leave a job or start a new one, this of course comes with monetary and emotional risk. Continue on for more about risk.
Assess Risk and How You Feel About It
Whether you decide to press through, give up, or realign your career course, each has risks. In order to make the right decision, you will have to research your potential paths and figure out which one you feel confident taking.
Your research depends entirely on your individual situation, but there are a few key areas to pay attention to. According to LinkedIn, you should consider the current job market conditions for your desired field, the financial and personal costs, and your personal readiness to take on the journey.
Then, you can weigh these against the potential benefits you might receive, as well as the risks and benefits of staying where you are. Additionally, take stock of what resources you will have to help in your journey: finances, social support, and available preparation time can all play a role in your potential transition to something new.
Once you have assessed your personal factors and researched the work ones, you can decide whether you are comfortable with the risk-reward trade offs and make your decision accordingly.
Maybe giving up on your job would mean a much greater chance of meeting your goals, but you want to wait a couple months until you feel secure making the full change. Or maybe giving up on your career would help marginally, but not enough to justify uprooting your life. Perhaps everything looks great, and you realize you’re much more ready to dive into something new than you initially anticipated.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, the decision is yours to make. But through the process of identifying what you want, analyzing how well the alternatives would help, and researching and deciding whether you’re ready for that risk; you can rest assured knowing that you made the most informed and best decision for yourself.
Authors Bio
Emma Lovett is a senior at Purdue University Northwest. She is studying English Writing, with a focus on Interactive Media. In addition to writing, Emma is also interested in psychology, painting, and resin crafting.
