Time For A Career Change?
Over the past year economists and politicians have been divided as to the eventual timing and pace at which we will recover from recession. Some have feted 2010 as a year of rapid growth leading to a return to normality in 2011, others have been far more cautious. However, as we near the end of the second months in 2010 it appears that caution ought to be the watchword; there is little chance of a speedy economic recovery. And this has profound implications for those of us who would like to change jobs, or career.
In 2008 and 2009 most people who were fortunate enough to have jobs adopted a wait and see attitude to their career progression. The attitude was, I am lucky enough to be in work; my job may not be everything I wanted it to be but I am not going to rock the boat by looking for another one.
But if we are now in for a long, slow, painful recovery, this attitude may no longer be enough. Put simply, the question we all need to ask ourselves is: Am I happy to make do with what I have, however mediocre, or do I want to be the best I can be? Because when we are the latter we are more productive, and are of greatest benefit to ourselves, our employers and the overall economy.
The only way to effectively decide whether or not it is now time to explore a career or job change is to evaluate the work we do against our own personal strengths, beliefs and ambitions. In other words, before making a decision to re-enter the job market or explore a career change, we need to go back to basics and take a good hard look at ourselves and our goals.
This requires, at very least, a thorough skills and values audit. Are we using our top skills; do we have skills which would allow us to be far more successful if only we could incorporate them in our work? Does our work allow us to feel that we are achieving things that matter to us, can we say that our job is adding value to our life, that we find it worthwhile?
It is only by taking a step back and re-evaluating our careers, our goals, and indeed our lives that we can determine whether or not we should use the slow economic recovery as an opportunity to reposition ourselves. Or whether we should sit tight and wait for better times ahead.
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Tags: Career Goals, job search, Skills Audit, Values Audit
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