6 Bad Reasons to Change Careers

Career ChangeThe everyday grind from work has made you think twice about your current career. It’s making you doubt whether this is really the position you want to be in. It’s been years since you really felt any passion for your work. Now, you’re just going through the motions.

 

If you’ve been thinking about changing careers, you should hold that thought until you read through these mistakes that career changers make.

Proceeding without a plan – In anything we do, a plan is vital for success. Having a plan will help you make sure that you don’t forget anything that you need to do. Even a simple visit to the grocery store warrants a plan—you need to have a list of things that you need, or else you might forget to buy something. If you change careers without a plan, it may set you back weeks or even months before you find success.

Changing careers because you hate your job – Being unhappy with your job is different from being unhappy with your career. You need to do a lot of self-reflection to understand what it really is that you don’t like about your situation. Whatever the case may be, don’t do anything drastic before you figure it out.

Changing careers because of money/compensation – The allure of more money is tempting; there is no doubt about that. Still, this shouldn’t cause you jump into something without making an informed decision. Money may make you happy, but if you hate your new career even more than the previous one, you’ll end up spending the money on health- and stress-related expenses.

Changing careers without checking all possibilities – Just because you heard from a friend that his or her career is better than yours, doesn’t mean that you should jump into it immediately. You need to check whether or not this true, check whether you will be good in that industry, and basically check every possibility that you can think of before making a decision.

Changing careers without the necessary skills or experience – Changing careers is not easy. You have to account for many factors, but nothing is more important than your transferable skills and experience. If you’re limited in these areas, it might be better to acquire the needed skills and experience before making a career change.

Changing careers before starting a job search – Before you quit, it might be prudent to start looking for a job in the field you want to transfer to. There are no assurances as to how long it will take before you find someone who will hire you.

In any case, a career change is a big decision. It’s important to think about it carefully before doing anything you will later regret. When you have a plan in place, you have a better shot at achieving your goal without anything going wrong.

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Alan Carniol

Alan is the creator of Interview Success Formula, a training program that has helped more than 80,000 job seekers to ace their interviews and land the jobs they deserve. Interviewers love asking curveball questions to weed out job seekers. But the truth is, most of these questions are asking about a few key areas. Learn more about how to outsmart tough interviewers by watching this video.