10 tips when you think you need a career change

Is there something telling you it’s time for a change? Whether you’re thinking about changing career paths, starting a new business or going freelance it’s worth taking time to consider a plan of action before taking the leap. 

1 . Assess your position

Before doing anything drastic, take some time to think about what’s causing you to consider a career change. Write down why you want to change careers and consider the reasons behind it. 

Is it the job role itself? If so, could you speak to your manager about how you’re feeling? There may well be opportunities for learning and development, movement within the same team, or within the company in order for you to gain better job satisfaction. 

If you enjoy what you do on a day-to-day basis, but the organisation itself doesn’t exactly light your soul on fire, consider whether changing companies would be a suitable move. For inspiration of awesome organisations to work for, take a look at the Escape 100: Best organisations to escape to.

Does the industry you’re in fulfil you? Our interests evolve as we develop as people, sometimes the industry we chose a few years ago doesn’t align with our values any more. Consider whether you could do a similar job but within a different industry. For example, if you work in banking, perhaps you could look at financial roles within the charity sector. 

Are you just generally a bit bored? Sometimes it’s simply time for a change! 

All of these are valid reasons for wanting to change career, but by taking the time to really think about why you want a change may help you choose the direction you want to go in. 

2 . Chase your curiosities

There’s a myth in life that we need to find our ‘one true passion’, or make a living out of what we love. But the reality is that most people are multi-passionates, or don’t really have a specific passion. By reframing this thinking of finding ‘the one’ into ‘chasing your curiosities’, it releases some of that pressure from ourselves. 

Think about your skills and experience, what you enjoy doing, and whether that could be something which you could legitimately charge for. For example, if you love posting on Instagram and taking great photos, maybe a role in social media would suit you. If you love drawing and painting, could you sell those?

It’s also a good idea to think about the things which are non-negotiable for you, e.g. minimum wage/salary, location or industry, and stick to them so that you’re only going down paths that genuinely meet your needs. Starting a job search with your needs in mind means that you’re more likely to end up in a role that you find more fulfilling. Be clear on what you’re willing to compromise on and what is fundamentally important to you. 

3 . Research what sparks your interest 

Some people find it challenging to discover their interests, especially if you’ve been working for someone else for a long time. If this is the case, try taking yourself on an ‘Artists Date’. The idea of an Artists Date is to ‘woo’ yourself once a week. Ask yourself ‘what sounds fun?’, and give yourself time to explore it. Your mind might be drawn to trying something new: think mischief, curiosity, and fun. Read more about the Artists Date in our article of 3 ideas to help you start your career change.

4 . Research who sparks your interest

If you have a particular industry in mind, do some research on it. Learn about different companies working in this space. Network with people in this industry to get a good picture of what it’s like. 

If you find particular organisations you would love to work for, you can set up alerts to be the first to hear when they have new opportunities available. You can do this easily on their escape profile. If they aren’t on escape, check whether this is something they offer on their own websites. 

5 . Break down the big task into small steps

When it comes to making an escape, all that people see is the big leap. The big decision that lead to a big change. However, underneath all those big decisions is a pile of little decisions and experiments which helped them to get there. 

Explore all of the things you’re interested in trying. Focus on projects and trying new things before making a decision.

Matt Trinetti explains this very well in his article, ‘How Do “Little Decisions” Lead to Big Changes?’:

“Of having burning desires to do something with your time, deliberately and by your choosing, and then actually letting yourself go and do those things. I believe it’s important to make the little decisions now for two reasons;

1. With every little decision, every little bet, every little experiment: you're learning. Learning about yourself, about the things you like, about the things that matter to you, about your strengths, interests, gifts and passions.
2. In the event that the universe reaches out to you and asks you to take a big leap — make a BIG DECISION — you’ll be ready. You’ll be ready and willing to say “Yes” to your adventure because you’ve become more confident in yourself, your abilities, who you are and what you stand for. You’ll be ready because of the little deliberate actions you’ve been making along the way.”

6 . Act upon it 

At one point, however scary it may be, you’ll need to take action. Publish the blog you’ve been working on. Book the one-way ticket. Buy the course you want to take. Apply for the job and rewrite the cover letter. 

It doesn’t matter if you don’t take massive leaps. As long as you’re moving forward (or even sideways) to get to where you want to be, that’s still progression. 

Remember, nothing changes if nothing changes. 

7 . Connect with other career changers

They say we’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with. If you spend all your free time with people who are stuck, you’ll be the sixth. If you spend time with people who dream big and try new things, you’ll be the sixth. 

Put yourself in situations where you can meet other people who are on a similar path to you. By surrounding yourself with people living a life that appeals to you, and surrounding yourself by people on a similar midlife career change path, it will help you normalise a new lifestyle and give you some confidence that a new way of being is possible.

8 . Embrace the ups and downs

It’s normal to feel like your wellbeing is being affected when going through a period of change. And going through applications and experiments with your career is no exception. You may fail a few times. You may feel uncertain. This all normal, and there’s nothing wrong with it.

There are lots of ways you can help to boost your wellbeing when you’re not feeling your bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed-self. You can try meditation, journaling, and exercise as a starting point. For more ideas, check out our article, 6 ways to improve your mental wellbeing when making a career change. 

9 . Get inspired

When striving for something new, it’s important to keep yourself motivated. Get inspired into taking action by following accounts you admire on social media, listening to podcasts such as Squiggly Careers, Happen to Your Career and Switch, Pivot or Quit. Reading books such as The Escape Manifesto (our personal favourite), Designing your life - Bill Burnett & Dave Evans and Pivot - Jenny Blake. As well as hearing from other career changers like our Escape Heroes.

10 . Don’t be afraid to try again

If at first you don’t succeed… Try, try, try again. It’s common to experience setbacks in life, but they do not define you. As cliche as it sounds, you’re on a journey. Thanks to books, films and fairytales we’re made to believe there’s an end point to strive for in our careers/lives: the happy ending. However, in reality there isn’t really an end point, most people have careers that move and change regularly. There’s nothing to say you can’t get up and try again when something doesn’t quite work out the way you hoped. 

There are many famous stories of people who faced setbacks in their careers. At the age of 65, Harland Sanders (more commonly known as Colnel Sanders) was retired and penniless. After coming up with his famous fried chicken recipe, he was rejected 1009 times before someone agreed to sell his chicken. At the age of 73, he sold KFC for $2 million dollars. 

Arianna Huffington was rejected by 36 publishers at the start of her career. Then in 2005 she founded Huffington Post as a ‘last act’, now it’s one of the worlds largest blogging platforms. She’s since written 13 books and has been named in Forbes list of most powerful women.

We hope these tips have given you the inspiration to get moving on your career change journey. If you’re ready to look for new roles, check out our job board.