Are you satisfied with your career? Stress at work can account for a lot of dissatisfaction in your life. After all, you are at work some 8 hours a day or more. That could easily be 1/3 of your day if you don’t count sleep. That’s a very long time to be unhappy.
Now, if you emphatically feel you’re trapped at your current job, here are great tips to find a new one:
Brainstorm on a notebook – I’ve talked about this before and it’s a strategy I use all the time. Take a pencil and a notebook to jot down your objective in question form. And then next, just list as many answers as you can. For example, you could write “What should I be doing with my time and life?” Then after that spend the next hour or so writing down answers . You can easily do over and over again until you find the right answer (at least on paper).
Talk to people who know you – From time to time our friends and relatives know us as compared to ourselves. While meeting with one of your friends, let them know that you’re in a crossroad in your life or career. Ask them for what they think you’d love to be doing. There’s a good chance that they can zero in to your strengths and abilities and report a perfect job area.
Talk to people at work – Sometimes, just like friends, people you work with have a unique view of you. In fact, they are likely most familiar with your strengths and weaknesses in the work environment. Look at the list of answers and look for a pattern.
Call a headhunter – Most professionals, like you, maintain resumes, sometimes, up-to-date. From time to time you can catch up with a headhunter or recruiter during downtimes and meet with them to pick through what you might be good at. I’ve done this a few times before and they didn’t mind speaking to me. The advice they’ve given me are useful.
Take a career assessment test – Keep this in mind: each professional discipline have its requirement. Easy to illustrate, nursing career options need a different set of skills from a firefighter. In the age of the Internet, there are websites with services where you might be able to take one of these tests for a fee. But using my ‘headhunter’ tip above, a lot of job placement agencies where headhunters work own a career testing program and will most likely let you complete the test in their facility. I’ve taken these tests two times in my life and they usually take an hour or two, but they are thorough. They ask you to answer a series of questions about what you are good at, what you like to do, what you prefer doing over what you don’t. If you take one, you will likely see some new exciting areas to explore in your life.
Jot down ideas, like in a journal – Do you keep a journal? If so, read through, looking for what you liked doing or what made your day. Keep your eyes peeled for common themes. In fact, finding examples of what you don’t like and what frustrates you is almost as important as finding what you do like. For example, if you’re averse to an overbearing supervisor, you’d probably like a self-directed position.
Understanding your career goals is the most important decision you can make. After all, we spend a big portion of waking hours working. Hence, its worthwhile to figure it out.