Changing Careers When You Don’t Know What to Do
So, you hate your job. You don’t find it fulfilling and you really can’t see yourself doing it for the rest of your life. You need a career change. However, you simply do not know what kind of work you want to do.
Relax. That is not an uncommon position to be in, and there are a lot of things you can do to successfully change careers and find your calling, as you will see below.
Write down everything you hate about your job
Writing down everything you hate about your current job will help you to work out exactly what you don’t want to do in the future, so you can start researching jobs where you will not be required to do so much of the stuff you do not enjoy doing.
Take a Strong-Interest Inventory test
Taking a strong-interest inventory test will help you to work out what you like and dislike and what you may have an aptitude for. It will help you to narrow down your options for a career change even further and throw up a few possibilities that you had not even thoughts bot before, and it is a really simple test to take, so there is no reason not to give it a go.
List your skills
Of course, it’s easier to transition into a new career if it is a role in which you can use your pre-existing skills. Think about what you are really good at and make a list of all the skills you have. You can then use this list to further cross-reference possible roles that are likely to work out well for you.
Read about other people’s careers
Whether you read up on what your friends are doing on LinkedIn or you read biographies of successful people, if you want to find a fulfilling career, you need to know what jobs are available, and what it is like to work in them. Reading as much as you can is a really good way to get this information, but of course, talking to people who seem to have fulfilling careers can really help you to nail a choice down too.
Do some voluntary work
Volunteering in a range of roles is a good way to get a feel for various jobs and how much you might enjoy them, while also giving back. It can be a good way to build up a network that will help you with your new career, when you finally decide what you want to do, too.
Never give up
It might seem impossible, but if you keep exploring your options and trying out new career options, you will eventually find out what it is that you want to do for the rest of your life and life will be so much sweeter as a result.
Now knowing what you want to do should not stop you from making a career change is you are not happy in your job because, after all, we spend so much of our lives working that it is foolish to keep doing something you hate forever!
