How Do You Know When It’s Time For a Career Change?

“How much longer can I keep doing this?”

You’ve caught yourself wondering that a lot lately. As you log on after supper to do your actual job after another day packed with meetings. As your team turns to you to solve another problem and you wonder how many more years you want to be the person with all the answers. As another work trip goes into your diary and you realise you used to look forward to these.

Then other thoughts arrive. “I need the income.” “No job is perfect.” “I can’t think about this now.”

So you crack on. 

On paper, your job ticks a LOT of boxes. Salary. Status. Flexibility. The people. There are things you’d genuinely miss if you left.

But the appeal has faded. You’re good at what you do. You’re less sure you want to keep doing it.

Perhaps it’s the workload. A promotion that keeps being pushed back. Or the prospect of another few years doing much the same thing. 

You find yourself asking: “Is it time for a change or is this just a tough patch?”

Then you have a better week and wonder whether you were making too much of it.

There isn’t one feeling or set of signs that can settle that question for you. But you can look more closely at what keeps bothering you, what’s still working and what you might want to change.

These four questions can help.

1. Is this a difficult patch or something more significant?

We all have tough periods at work. But if you keep questioning your job, it can help to notice when those thoughts come up.

Open a new note on your phone. Whenever the question returns over the next few weeks, jot down how you felt, what was happening and what you were questioning. Notice, too, whether the doubts ease once a deadline passes or return even on a good day.

The point is to spot patterns that help you understand what needs attention.

In my coaching practice, I work with people reconsidering their careers for all sorts of reasons. Some have reached a position they spent years working towards, only to find it isn’t what they’d hoped for. Others have lost interest in work they once enjoyed. Or their circumstances have changed, perhaps with caring responsibilities taking up more of their time and energy.

Sometimes nothing dramatic has happened. The work simply fits less well than it used to and the energy or drive they once felt has faded.

2. Do you need a rest, a different job or a different career?

If you’re exhausted, almost any alternative can look appealing. You may need some relief before you can think clearly about a bigger change.

Notice what happens when you have more energy. Does your interest in the work return? Or do you feel better in yourself while still questioning what you're spending your days doing?

Rest and change can both be needed. A break isn’t a definitive test, but neither is tiredness proof that your career is wrong.

To become more specific, imagine your current job disappeared tomorrow. Once the initial shock had passed, ask yourself two questions:

• What would you genuinely miss?
• What would you be relieved never to have to do again?
  

Include everything. The salary, colleagues, flexibility and satisfaction of being good at something all count. So do the meetings, politics, tasks and pressure you may happily put down.

Look at the two lists together and reflect on what your answers suggest.

If you’d miss the work but happily leave the management, workload or culture behind, a different job or changes to your current role may be worth exploring. If the work itself dominates your second list, a change of career may deserve closer attention.

Your values matter here too. All work involves compromises, but there’s a difference between a job that doesn’t provide everything you want and one that regularly asks you to act against what matters to you. You might happily find creativity outside work. Being expected to behave in ways you consider unfair or unethical is a different matter.

A role can be objectively good and still no longer suit you. It’s worth taking that seriously, even if other people would love to have your job.

3. What’s keeping you where you are?

When someone tells me why they can’t make a change, I sometimes ask: “Could that be an excuse?”

It can be an uncomfortable question. It can also be useful.

“I need a certain income to support my family” may be a concrete constraint. “Now's just not the right time” needs a little more exploration. What would make it the right time? What would have to change? If the answer keeps moving, what are you postponing?

There may well be good reasons to stay. The income, flexibility and parts of the work you still enjoy all matter. Fear deserves a fair hearing too, but it helps to understand what you’re afraid of: losing income, starting over, disappointing someone or discovering that another direction doesn’t suit you either.

Years of experience can also make you feel pigeonholed. You know what you’re qualified to do and other people keep suggesting more of it. That doesn’t settle what you want to do.

And if someone else’s career appeals, I'd encourage you to ask what you actually envy. Their autonomy? Their variety? Or the fact that they were brave (or reckless) enough to make a change?

Their working life may offer clues about what you want more of. It won’t show you all the compromises.

4. What could you test before deciding to change career?

You may have thought about this for months. Or even years. Made lists. Spoken to friends. Gone round the same arguments in your mind again and again.

If you’re still going round in circles, pick one thing you could find out by talking to someone or trying it yourself.

Is it the work or the setting? Speak to someone doing similar work in a different organisation. Ask them to talk you through an ordinary working day: the tasks, pressures, frustrations and decisions. Would you want their version of your job? 

Would you enjoy the work behind an appealing job title? Try a small piece of it. If writing attracts you, for example, produce something to another person’s brief, with a deadline and feedback. Do the revisions too. Afterwards, ask yourself what you enjoyed, what you found frustrating and whether you want to do more.

You won’t get a complete answer from either of these. But you’ll have something more to go on than how you imagine another working life might feel. It’s easy to idealise what you haven’t tried. 

You may decide to change career. You may want a different role, fewer hours, more responsibility or clearer boundaries. You may choose to stay.

For now, try replacing “Should I change career?” with “What do I need to find out before I decide?”

Coaching for professionals at a career crossroads

I’m Carmel Drake, an ICF-certified Executive Coach based in Madrid, working in English and Spanish, online and in person.

I help experienced professionals work out what they want to change and how to make it happen. If you’d like to explore what’s going on in your own career and whether coaching could help, book a free 30-minute discovery call with me.