Picking a career path is a serious decision that deserves a lot of thought. Most of the time, people do not put as much time into this choice as they should and they find themselves with a bad career fit. This can be a daunting situation to find oneself in but, rest assured, switching career paths is always a viable option.
The most important aspect of switching careers is, first and foremost, identifying the signs that you are in the wrong career. Ignoring these common signs, or just not seeing them, can lead one to become disillusioned with their career path. Experiencing a mid-career crisis months into your budding career is obviously not an ideal situation, so any of the following signs should be influential when reflecting on your career.
You Have No Energy in the Office
Nobody is immune to the Monday morning blues. With that being said, if you happen to notice that you are never lively at work and can’t get excited about anything you do, it may be time to acknowledge that you chose the wrong career path.
Perhaps more important than realizing the significance of not having any energy at work is identifying what is draining your energy. Doing so can help you to identify what part of your job is not a good fit for your personality. Forbes discussed some research that indicated the number one cause of boredom at work is monotony and, unfortunately, most traditional jobs have some level of this.
Tech-based jobs are on the rise, however, and offer far more interesting career paths to skilled employees. Career paths such as becoming a UX designer offer day-to-day tasks that are never the same. As the person who builds the aesthetics and makes design choices for the websites companies use, no two tasks are the same. There’s a number of tech-based jobs that offer the same variability in the work offered that should be considered if a monotonous career saps your energy.
Hearing about Another Career Makes You Jealous
Has someone ever told you about what they do for a living and it has made you seriously question your own job? Maybe every time you read about a certain field your eyes light up. Whether it’s big or small, jealousy of another career path can be indicative of the fact that you are in the wrong career.
You may not love every minute of your job, but you did choose that career path for a reason. If you find yourself constantly wishing you were in the fields your friends work in, then it’s possible the wrong career choice was made.
Try to narrow down what about their careers is so interesting to you, as there are both good and bad reasons for leaving a job. Most of the time, jealousy may be stemming from the idea of their job rather than actually the path to get that job. Ensure you are willing to do the work they do daily when considering switching a career due to some level of jealousy.
You Feel Underpaid or Underutilized
There’s a difference between feeling underpaid and being greedy when it comes to a salary. Make sure that you aren’t falling into the latter category. That being said, working in a career that does not offer a comparable salary for the work you do is a potential reason to switch up your path.
For example, if you’re proficient in many programming languages but working in the financial field, it is entirely possible that you may feel unsatisfied with your career. This can also lead you to feel underpaid because you have an impressive skillset yet none of those skills are ever being used.
It’s best not to stress out over the salary you are receiving unless it is substantially less than comparable jobs or less than your coworkers who do the same job. If you are indeed heavily underpaid and your skills aren’t being used to their full extent, however, then there is nothing wrong with considering a new career.
Conclusion
Switching to an alternative career path is a big decision that should not be taken lightly. Try to really identify if a career switch is what you need by narrowing down what about your current job bothers you. If it is a fixable issue, then it might be better to just address that issue. Should the problem be irreparable, however, then entering into a new career may be in your future.