How to realign your career

Mulling over a career change?

It's interesting to see that a lot of the advice I see is of the 'grass isn't always greener' ilk.

I certainly understand that - a pressure to change can sometimes lead to knee-jerk reactions, and push us to change the wrong thing (how many projects have I seen where a new shiny system supposedly cures all ills....)

Here, the grass really is greener

But that pressure to change is there for a reason. The pandemic has transformed our working envronment, in some ways permanently, with new benefits and disbenefits for everyone.

The job you have today isn't the one you had 18 months ago - and that's the same for people who have changed roles/companies and those who have not.

In some cases, this may have just served to highlight something that was never quite right, that was hidden below the surface.

In others, the job, your role and your career may have undergone a fundamental shift from somewhere you were content to somewhere you no longer feel at ease.

But, whichever is true, that feeling of unease points to a misalignment between your job, role and/or career and your core values and beliefs.

Perhaps your employer has acted in a way that grinds against your fundamental principles.

Perhaps you now have extra responsibilities that you believe have no value, that you can't do, or you feel you shouldn't be doing. Resent doing even.

Perhaps you've realised that your career was never your true calling, and there's something else you want to do which is totally in alignment with you, your skills and your passions.

So, don't just ignore the feeling. Don't push it down. Don't keep climbing the ladder, if it is against the wrong wall.

Take some time to work out what it is that isn't quite right.

What is eating away at you.

It might just need a tweak, a conversation with a manger, a change in environment, a shift in responsibilities.

Or it might need you to rip up your career book, and build something new, that you believe in and are passionate about, from all the good stuff you've learned over the years.

Then make a positive, informed decision, with eyes open.