5 questions to ask yourself when considering a career change

During my 15 years of experience helping people to change their careers, I have noticed some clear trends emerging. Most of the career jumps that my clients made were not driven by need for more money or power. Instead, they were driven by either the desire to have a job that matched their core values or the need for a lifestyle and/or location change.

A new career or just a new workplace?

Often career changes are driven by the need for a career that aligns with one’s purpose and passion. People tend to transition towards fields such as sustainability, social impact or personal development areas such as coaching and training.

However, many of my clients also wanted to move towards careers and organisations where they could have more flexibility and exhibit more autonomy. The sad conclusion that I have to take from this is that many career transitions could have been prevented, and were caused by a toxic workplace.

Irrespective of the reason, a career jump doesn’t happen by chance. It is the result of hard and thoughtful preparations. A good start for that preparation is answering and reflecting on the below questions. Are you considering a career change? Make sure to take the time to really think about these questions before you make a life-changing decision.

1. Do I need a career change or just a new job?

Before you decide on a career change, you need to be clear on what specifically is not working for you in your current job. Is the mismatch between you and the role OR between you and the organisation? That is the really important question to dig into.

To explore if there is alignment between you and your role, you need to ask yourself the following: is my role aligned with my values, skills, passions and purpose? Misalignment in any of those shows that, potentially, you might be in the wrong role or industry for you.

However, if you come to the conclusion you and your role do align, you will need to look further into the fit between you and your employer. Consider the following: the leadership-style, the opportunities for growth, the salary and other perks, if there is a cultural and linguistic fit and a type of organisation fit.

If you find your role is a good fit, but your employer is not, consider changing jobs, rather than career.

2. How long will it take me to get there?

Some career transitions sound very exciting, but once the time that it may take to make the change is taken into account, the enthusiasm can fade away. If you want to move from being a HR Manager into a mindset coach, for example, you need at least couple of months to complete the coaching training.

If you want to break into a completely different profession for which new studies are required, it will take you time to get there. Of course (almost) everything can be done, it is just a matter of patience, determination and often hard work. Ask yourself: how long am I willing to "wait" in order to transition.

3. Does my partner support my decision?

This is an important element to take into consideration. Some partners can be very supportive of the idea of career change, others are more resistant to it. It is crucial to have open communication about your plans early on and to see if your feelings align. If not, why not and what can be done about that?

From my experience, I often see that partners may worry about stability of the income brought in by the other partner and block the decision. So if you are in a relationship, you need to have a conversation with your partner before making a decision.

4. Do I have enough savings?

As just mentioned, you do have to think about money. Some career transitions require you to invest not only time but also money. On top of any training costs you might incur, you could potentially be busy with studying, starting up a business or taking a lower paying job.

In order for you to make sure that your career change is achievable, you need to tackle your financial planning head-on and have an honest conversation.

Questions you may need to ask yourself include: How much money do I need per month to pay the bills? How much do I have in savings? How much do I need in savings to keep myself afloat for 6-12 months?

Keep in mind that money, or a lack of, is not to be seen as an obstacle but as one of the (very important) aspects to take into account when moving forward.

5. Am I resilient and dedicated enough to make this change?

That is probably the most important question to ask yourself, especially when a career change is not merely about changing an employer or even industry, but about changing your country, lifestyle and whole professional identity.

When I look and reflect on my clients who were successful in changing their career, I see that their mindset and determination were fundamental to their success. I often say to my clients “You won’t go where your mind doesn’t take you”.

Change is possible

Below I want to share with you some examples of my clients, and the various career changes that they made, to serve as inspiration to see what IS possible.

• From a senior marketing manager in the energy sector to running a hotel in Egypt for kite surfers and divers.
• From a project engineer in the gas & oil sector to a policy advisor in the public sector.
• From a senior account manager in the footwear industry to a gender equality professional.
• From the head of business development in an NGO to a successful social entrepreneur.
• From a scientist in the pharmaceutical industry to a senior manager in a sustainable food scale-up.
• From a project manager in the chemical industry to a part-time project manager and small business owner in the creative sector.
• From the chief marketing officer in an NGO to a PR freelancer in venture capital & private equity.

Some changes are big and some are smaller, but the extent of the change doesn’t matter as long as it will make you happy and fulfilled.

Have you ever considered a career change? Share in the comments below.