New Year… New Start… New Career?

January is well-known for being a period of change. For being a time when we resolve to make changes in our lives. Now whilst for most of us, these resolutions revolve around weight loss, joining the gym, drinking less, etc. many of us also find ourselves reconsidering our lives in other ways.

And this is only natural…

When everyone around you is constantly reviewing their lives, it makes sense that you want to make a change too. But what? What can you change that won’t make a dramatic impact on your current lifestyle?

For instance, is there an activity that you’ve always wanted to try? Or have you to come to realisation that you aren’t 100% satisfied in your career?

No matter what it niggling at you, now is the perfect time to put your life in your review and consider your options.

Take the following questions:

• Do you have any career regrets?

If the answer is yes, you need to sit down and think about where your regrets stem from. Is it because you secretly want to progress in your career, but have been frightened to go for a promotion because you don’t feel qualified enough? Or does it go further than that, and you are simply unhappy in your job.

It is more common than you think to experience moments where you wake up dreading work. However, before you take this as a sign that you need to quit your job, we suggest looking deeper. Often this dissatisfaction stems from the job becoming monotonous and you feeling unchallenged. If that is the case, then we recommend speaking to your boss, and voicing your desire for more responsibilities.

Likewise, if you secretly want that promotion but so far haven’t found the courage to go for it – then it is very easy to boost your qualifications and give yourself a competitive edge.

Online courses for instance, allow you to study at a time, pace and location of you choosing without you having to quit your job. Instead, you can tailor it to fit around your current work commitments so you never feel overstretched.

There are thousands of online courses to choose from, so you can enhance your CV in a number of fascinating ways.

If on the other hand, you really are unhappy in your job and cannot see yourself doing it long term, then you need to have a hard think about what you want to do instead.

• • Review your skills and examine where your strengths lie;
  • Is there something you’ve always wanted to do (jobwise)? If so, do your research first and see if it is still something that you want to pursue.

• Can you see yourself in this job forever?

Carrying on from the question above, there may come a time where you need to stop, be honest and consider whether you can see yourself in this job forever. If you can’t, you need to think about your options. After all, you have spent years in this field and sadly might not be able to smoothly switch into another job at the same level. In fact, you may find changing careers will result in you having to start from scratch.

Likewise, what sounds great in your head may not be so wonderful in reality. For this reason, before you quit your job, do your research first and look into opportunities where you can shadow someone in the job you want to pursue. By watching them in action, and learning about everything you need to achieve in order to get the job – as well as what the job actually entails – you can determine if you really want to make this change.

• What is on your wish list?

This may sound like an odd question, but stick with us and we’ll explain what we mean. You see, this ‘wish list’ can extend to qualifications you wish you’d pursued when you were younger; a hobby that you’d like to try, or the simple desire to escape work and travel.

The important thing is, once you’ve written it, you need to consider if any of them are possible and how you can go about achieving them.

• • Course you want to do? Look into your distance learning/online course options;
  • Hobby? Look for local classes and see if you can fit them into your schedule;
  •  Travel? How easy is it for you to take time off?  Can you afford it?

Quite often this wish list can eliminate any feelings of dissatisfaction, as they will provide you with a separate outlet from your job. In doing so, you may discover that you don’t actually want to change careers, but simply need more of a challenge. Or it may go the other way, and you realise that you’re in entirely the wrong job.

As you can see, New Year’s resolutions are a fantastic way to review your life and implement changes so instead of going for the traditional, why not open your mind to more?

For more information on our online courses, visit our website.