Want to Change Careers but Don't Know Where to Start?

You've researched different careers. Trawled through job descriptions. Explored retraining. Talked to friends. Made lists of things you're good at and things you enjoy.

Perhaps you've even made a spreadsheet. Hello 🤓

You've probably got a reasonable idea of what's possible. What you haven't got is a clear sense of which option, if any, is right for you.

And the more you investigate, the more questions you seem to have.

Would you actually enjoy doing something completely different? Could you afford to earn less, at least initially? Would all those years of experience still count for something? What if you made the move and regretted it?

So you keep researching, hoping that eventually you'll feel confident enough to make a decision.

But what if more thinking isn't going to give you the answer?

What if some of the information you need can only come from trying something different?

Why thinking harder doesn't always bring career clarity

When you're used to solving problems using logic and analysis, it's natural to approach a career change in the same way.

Gather the information. Compare the options. Assess the risks. Make a decision. And there's a lot to be said for that approach.

If you're considering retraining, you need to understand the time and financial commitment. If you're thinking about moving into another industry, it's sensible to investigate what opportunities exist and how your experience might transfer.

But there are limits to what research can tell you.

You can find out what a particular job pays, what qualifications you need and what the typical career path looks like. What you can't necessarily discover is whether you'd actually enjoy doing it. Or whether the reality would match the version you've created in your head.

And when you've spent 15 or 20 years building a career, there's more at stake than simply finding something interesting.

You have experience people value. A professional identity. Perhaps a salary that supports your family, the mortgage, a way of life you're not prepared to give up.

You don't want to throw all that away on something that might turn out to be a mistake. And you want to understand the risks. But you can't research your way to certainty about something you've never experienced.

Sometimes more research just gives you more possibilities to analyse.

You don't have to decide before you start exploring

This is something organisational psychologist Herminia Ibarra explores in her book Working Identity, based on her research into how people make career transitions.

She challenges the conventional assumption that we need to work out exactly what we want to do before we start making changes.

Instead, she found that people often develop a clearer sense of their future direction through experience - by trying different activities, meeting people outside their usual professional circles and exploring possible versions of themselves.

In other words, doing can come before knowing.

I find this a useful way of looking at career change, particularly for people who have already spent a great deal of time thinking about their options.

Because you're not necessarily going to discover whether you'd enjoy being a teacher, a consultant or a business owner by imagining what it might be like.

You need some contact with the reality.

That doesn't mean handing in your notice or signing up for a two-year qualification. It means finding ways to investigate possibilities without committing to them.

And perhaps this is the most useful shift: instead of asking yourself which career you should choose, ask what you still need to find out.

How to explore a career change without leaving your job

I think the word experiment is helpful here. An experiment isn't a commitment to a particular outcome. It's a way of testing an idea and seeing what you learn.

But before deciding what to try, I'd start by getting curious about what it is you're actually hoping to find.

Perhaps you're attracted to the idea of becoming self-employed. What is it that appeals to you? The freedom to manage your own time? The possibility of choosing your clients? The opportunity to build something yourself?

Or perhaps it's simply the thought of not having a boss. Those are quite different things.

If it's greater autonomy you're looking for, you might be able to find that in a different role or organisation. If you're excited by the idea of building a business, you could explore a small project alongside your existing work, without immediately giving up your salary.

The experiment depends on what you're trying to discover.

Perhaps you've started thinking about retraining in an entirely different field. Before committing thousands of euros and several years of your life, could you find a way to experience a little of what you'd actually be learning to do?

That's something I did when I was exploring coaching. I attended a free Barefoot coaching taster session, without having to commit to training or make any significant changes to my existing work. It became one of the experiences that helped me decide to pursue coaching more seriously.

Of course, one workshop couldn't tell me everything about being a coach. But it gave me something I couldn't have got from reading course descriptions.

And that's worth remembering. You're not trying to establish whether an alternative career is definitely right for you. You're trying to learn enough to decide whether it's worth exploring further.

Sometimes the most useful experiment might not involve doing anything new at all. It might involve looking more closely at something you're already doing.

Perhaps you enjoy mentoring junior colleagues but find managing a team exhausting. What is it about those two experiences that feels different? Is it the individual conversations you enjoy? The opportunity to help someone develop? Or the absence of responsibility for their performance?

You might discover that what appeals to you isn't an entirely different profession, but a different way of using skills you already have.

And there's no need to test everything at once.

If you've got a demanding job, a family and financial commitments, you may only have room to explore one possibility at a time. That's fine. 

You might decide to explore one option per month, for example. Not as another target to meet, but as a manageable way to keep moving forward, with enough space between experiments to reflect on what you've learnt.

Choose something that interests you, identify what you'd like to find out and look for a manageable way to investigate it.

The aim isn't to collect as many experiences as possible. It's to give yourself something new - and useful - to think about.

Why a small career experiment can still feel like a big step

There's something else worth acknowledging. A small experiment might involve very little financial risk and still feel surprisingly uncomfortable. Especially if you're used to being good at what you do.

After years in your profession, you're probably accustomed to knowing your stuff. People ask for your opinion. They trust your judgement. You know how things work.

Now imagine walking into a room where you're a complete beginner.

You don't know the terminology. You might ask questions that seem obvious to everyone else. You may discover that something you thought you'd be naturally good at is actually quite difficult.

That can be unsettling.

And there's the question of how other people might react.

What will your colleagues think if you start exploring something completely different? Will your partner worry that you're about to give up a secure career? Will people wonder why you'd want to move away from something you've spent so long building?

You might not even be ready to explain your interest to yourself, let alone to anyone else.

I think this is one reason career experiments can be harder than they sound. It's not always the practical commitment that feels risky. Sometimes it's allowing yourself to imagine a professional future that looks very different from the one you've spent years building. Which is also why I think it can help to keep your initial exploration relatively private.

You don't have to announce that you're changing careers simply because you're curious about another possibility.

You can be interested in something without yet knowing what you want to do about it.

What did you learn? And what might you try next?

Of course, there's not much point trying lots of different things if you never stop to consider what you've learnt.

And I don't think the most useful question afterwards is necessarily, "Did I enjoy it?"

You might enjoy a workshop because the people were interesting or the facilitator was excellent. That doesn't automatically mean you'd enjoy doing the work professionally.

Equally, you might find something difficult or uncomfortable because you're new to it. That doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong for you.

I'd be curious about a few things:

• What surprised you?
• Which parts interested you, and which left you cold?
• Did the experience change any assumptions you'd been making?
• Has this possibility become more attractive, less attractive or simply more realistic?
• What would you need to find out next?

Sometimes the most valuable thing you learn is that something isn't for you.

Perhaps you've been attracted to the idea of working for yourself, but after talking to people who've made that move, you realise how much you value having colleagues, sharing responsibility and knowing what you'll earn each month.

Or perhaps you've been considering teaching, only to discover that what really interests you is explaining complicated ideas and helping people understand them. Something you might be able to do without leaving your current profession.

That might feel disappointing, particularly if you'd been excited about the possibility.

But it's useful information. You're getting clearer about what matters to you, rather than simply deciding whether one particular career is right or wrong.

And sometimes what you discover opens up possibilities you hadn't previously considered.

Perhaps you don't need to leave your profession after all. You just want to use different parts of your experience. Or perhaps something you initially considered a vague interest starts to look like a possibility worth exploring further.

The point isn't to force every experience into a decision.

It's to notice what you're learning and use that information to decide what might be worth investigating next.

A smaller question to start with

If you're unhappy with your current career but can't work out what you want instead, it's easy to feel that you need an answer before you can make any progress.

After all, a career change can affect your income, your family, your identity and the way you spend a significant part of your life. Of course you want to make a thoughtful decision.

But perhaps you're asking yourself a question that's too big to answer right now: What do I want to do for the rest of my career?

So perhaps start with something smaller. What's one possibility I'm curious enough to explore - and what would help me find out whether it's worth pursuing?

You don't have to decide where it's going to lead. You just need to be open to what you might learn.

Through my Career Clarity & Transitions coaching, I help experienced professionals explore their options, question assumptions and work out what makes sense for them - without assuming that changing careers is necessarily the answer.

You can find out more about how I work or book a free 30-minute discovery call.

If you're still wondering whether it's time for a career change in the first place, I've explored that question in my previous article: How do you know when it's time for a career change?