Career Change Options

Bird's eye view

Rather than just talk about the usual list of career change options, let's look at the bigger picture of career change.

The first idea to consider involves what to do when you change career. Lots of the career change advice suggests that you work out what skills you have, what you're good at and what you like doing. The idea is to continue using these and to pick a career where you can make best use of them.

Another option is to put your attention firmly on the thing that you love doing and do that. This may mean that you have to build a new skill set, do online courses, or study some more because you're starting from the beginning in this field.

 

Familiarity

The first of these career change options tends to be the most popular, because it means that people can hang onto something that's comfortable and familiar. And we tend to like things that are familiar because it gives us a sense of safety and security. The 'if in doubt, do what you know' scenario.

But it may actually hold people back. It may keep them in the same situation they were trying to get out of. And, of course, there are any number of rational, logical, justifiable reasons for doing it. And this advice may still be holding some people back.

The why of career change

Because the second category of career change options involves the reason for a career change. The question is whether somebody decides they want a career change because they want to find something more suitable to them, something that will allow them more satisfaction or fulfillment. An opportunity to find and express themselves, if you like.

Or whether somebody already has a strong internal sense of who they are and they want to change career to something that is more aligned with this.

 

Different directions

The first group are trying to find what they should be doing in order to be happy or be content. The second group have already established their being and the things they are doing are simply a manifestation of this. They are moving in the direction of 'be-do-have'.

Being held back

This explains why doing the same things in the career change options above may be holding people back. By continuing to do similar things, which are not aligned with who the person is, it actually prevents them from expressing who they really are. Because potentially, the person they really are would not be doing those activities.

The net result is that the person finds that the career change hasn't made much impact on their lives. They may be doing different things but their life is no different.

And they believe they haven't found the right thing to do. The answer, of course, is another career change!

A different kind of movement

Those who are in the 'be-do-have' career change options category, may also change career later. However, the career change is often a gradual and effortless process. Whereby a movement from one thing to the next makes sense, based on who the person is.

And for them, there is never any question about whether the movement is right or not. They know for certain that they are making good decisions and moving in the right direction...

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