If you’re struggling with burnout, then the career that you once loved may be what’s dragging you down. A work life balance can often feel unattainable if you are struggling to even motivate yourself to get up and go to work in the morning. If your career isn’t all that bad but you’re bored of it right now, or you feel like you’ve reached a ceiling, then maybe now is the time you should change your career.
Contemplating a career change can bring a lot of different feelings to the surface. In fact, you may have been contemplating burnout, but not really considering that a career change could help. There are a variety of emotions that people go through when they decide they’re going to change careers from hope to feeling very overwhelmed and you may need some help to decide whether you have genuine reasons for change or if you really should stick it out because that’s why your skills lay.
Changing your career from one thing to the next is going to help you to get motivated again to feel good at work. Maybe you want to change to a career that’s more aligned with your passions. Companies like The Fitness Group, for example, can offer you a segue out of your current career so that you’re out of the office and working with people directly. If you’re ready to make a change, we’ve put together the list of reasons why you should say yes today and not wait around any longer.
- You’re sick of your salary. The most common reason that people choose to change careers tends to be because of money. It doesn’t often matter how much you enjoy your actual job, because being underpaid will impact your morale, it will affect your quality of life, and it will make you feel like it’s not worth going to work if you’re not going to get paid enough to live. You need to research the fair market value of your job, and you can also approach your boss to ask them for a pay rise if you feel it’s warranted.
- You don’t feel satisfied with your current career selection. Life changes can very much affect the passions and interests that you have as you get older. What you wanted to be when you were 18 just may not be the case anymore. If you’ve taken on a job thinking you’d be in it for the rest of your life, but you’ve realised that you have different skills that you want to employ elsewhere, then why can’t you change? It doesn’t matter if you have to start from the bottom unless that’s going to affect your family life, but there are ways to figure it out and work around it.
- You’ve reached a career ceiling. What’s next on your radar for promotion in your current job? Do you have limited options? Do you have to learn how to create a career development plan?If you’re at the top of your career options and there is no more growth for you no matter where you move to, then changing careers so that you can take another step up the ladder could help. You could remain in your current industry and learn something new so that you can segue yourself into a new position. Sometimes getting a new education can really help.
- You are dealing with toxic leadership. There are some industries that people just can’t rub shoulders in. High hitting industries where there is a lot of pressure on the job can be difficult for people to manage and honestly if it’s not something for you, you will only figure it out when you’re in it. You are allowed to say no to toxic leadership because dealing with a bad boss can be draining. It can impact every area of your life, and people do not leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses. If you’ve tried to give feedback to your current boss and they’re not having it, then looking elsewhere is just a smart decision.
- You are unhappy. You don’t have to have an apparent cause if you have a general sense of unhappiness where you are right now, it can be a very good sign that a career shift is absolutely needed. You have to, of course, decide this based on your current situation. For example, if you are single with no kids, you might find it easy to segue down into a role that’s below where you want to be, but are happy to work within. Instead, you could learn extra skills on the side and grow in a new industry if you are unhappy where you are.
- You need a new challenge. When was the last time you felt invigorated by what you do? If you can’t recall it, then you need to consider this deeply before you do anything else. Stagnant feelings can cause the shine of any job to wear off after a time. The perfect solution here would be finding something that you want to learn and grow within instead, but it does take extensive. Every industry has its pitfalls and you need to make sure that you’re going to get the challenges that really do push you, rather than you sliding into a new position only to find you feel the exact same.
- The burnout is real. If you’re feeling cynical about work or you’re detached from the people you work with, you’re going to become ineffective in your role. Burnout is more than just a buzzword. There are studies that link job burnout to health concerns that range from insomnia to heart disease. It’s important that you have strategies in place to avoid burnout, but this is something you have to know that can happen regardless if you change your job. If you’re struggling with longer hours or you’re dealing in a high stress environment, switching careers can be needed to prevent any long term damage, but that can still result in burnout, so this is why research is important.
