Help! I want to change my career and do something completely different!
A new start!
A fresh direction!
But … I don’t know what I want to do …
And, I don’t know how to create new career options
Today, let’s try and fix that …
Hello and a very warm welcome to Episode No 45 of ‘Your Bravo Career’
My name is Mark Crossfield, I’m a Professional Career Coach / helping you to love your job and build a great career.
This podcast is about why your career matters
How you can enjoy what you are doing day each day at work
and how to build a great career along the way.
Scene setting
Welcome into to episode 45 where I’m going to be talking about how to create exciting job options outside your current industry or field, how to do it and why it can be liberating.
As a career coach, I often get asked about how to create career ideas that are completely different from the one the person is currently doing. A breakout option.
And the question usually goes something like this.
“How can I find a job or career that is completely different from the one that I’m doing now?”
Or
“How will I know what other careers I might be attracted to?”
Do you often find yourself watching Netflix and depending on the roles and jobs portrayed by the characters, do you sometimes think ‘Maybe I could do that job”, or “that looks like an interesting career?”
Normally, it doesn’t go any further than a bit of idle googling and then it’s back to the TV programme ..
Or do you ever think, “My god, there has to be a better, more enjoyable job than this!”
Maybe you’ve been considering changing your career but aren’t sure how to think about that.
Or you know you might reach a point someday when you’re considering leaving your career.
Today’s podcast is for you. I will discuss how to come up with fresh ideas for your career.
No news today, so, let’s get straight into it …
It sounds so easy, doesn’t it? And yet the seemingly simple task of just knowing what to do next in your career is, in reality, anything but easy.
That’s largely due to the fact that our education system doesn't really prepare us to make effective career choices. As a result, few of us tend to fully think through our options. On top of that, what we think we want and what we actually enjoy don’t always match up. And, finally, we often diminish the importance of our intrinsic work values in favour of extrinsic values such as pay and status.
The result of all this is that we sometimes get stuck in our careers. We think what we’re doing might not be right for us, but we aren’t sure what to do next. It all gets a bit confusing, doesn’t it? Knowing what you don't want is not the same as knowing what you do want.
So let's get started. I want you to begin by thinking about your current role in terms of three key aspects: your role, the organisation you work for, and the industry or job sector you work in.
We are going to be focussing on two of those aspects today. We are talking today about the scenarios where you are in the wrong industry, and along with that, you may or may not be in the wrong role.
So, to be clear, we are looking for a new industry with either a new role or a role that you know you will enjoy.
So, let’s start with your role.
Your role is your primary activity or job. Your role might be as a project manager, an accountant, a service manager, etc.
And in thinking about your role — and I still mean just the role here — I want you to think about the different aspects of it. And I want you to do that by considering the following questions: Do you find the role interesting? Does the role fully utilise your skills? Is there enough challenge in the role to keep you fully engaged? If you moved to another company (or industry), would you want to perform a similar role?
So, there’s no hard and fast rule here, but if you generally answered “yes” to these questions — and that can be a “mostly yes” or a “strongly agree” — it’s likely that you’re happy with your role
However, if you said no to any of these questions, then it is likely that you are not in the right role.
Why is this important? Well, if you are looking for a new career, it’s important to know whether you would enjoy a broadly similar role in a new industry or job sector.
For example, if you love project management, you could leave your job working in IT as a project manager for a role as a wedding planner where you will still be using your project management skills. New industry, similar role.
Now, let’s turn our attention to other job industries or career sectors.
The next thing to do is to get curious about the things you are interested in, your values, and what sort of impact you want your work to have on the world — some of which I’ve talked about on this podcast before.
Episodes 9 and 12 are good episodes to re-listen to here.
In Episode 9 I talk about how to re-connect with the things you once loved doing and Episode 12 is all about your Values.
Of course, there is no 'right' answer when it comes to these factors — only what is right for you. Reflect deeply and be honest with yourself.
What are you interested in? or, What could you enjoy?
See if you can reconnect with the things that you once loved doing it might help you think about the future direction of your career and how you can get some more enjoyment back in there.
We often lose track of who we are, what we are interested in and what we enjoy doing. And this can lead to a disconnect between your career path, the direction you are heading in and what you enjoy doing.
When you lose track of these things, it’s easy to feel adrift and that your career lacks enjoyment and is somehow off-track.
Remember what you loved as a child
Childhood is often when our deep interests and true passions emerge. So, think about what you loved doing long before you had to worry about your career.
What did you enjoy at school or college?
Was there a subject you were particularly interested in? Or an activity that you loved doing.
Also, what were your early ambitions when you were 7, 11 and 14? What things did you want to do when you ‘grow up’?
What about your Hobbies and Interests?
What hobbies and interests did you have? Or maybe still have?
And, next …
What are you drawn towards right now?
What books do you read, what magazines do you look at?
These interests provide an outlet for escape and exploration. But they can also be a pointer towards things you might be interested in pursuing in your career.
Armed with these insights, the next thing to do is to research different industries. The
My Next Move website is a very useful summary of all industries and job sectors. Look through each sector and do further research on those that appeal to you. I’ll put a link to the mynextmove site in the show notes, or just google mynextmove – all one word.
See if you can speak to other people that work in the industry you are interested in. You can do that, again, by connecting with people on LinkedIn or by networking with people that you may already know who work in that industry.
Once you have researched different industries and identified suitable options, you can begin to consider the role.
Now, remember, from earlier on, you might already have a role in mind within one of these new industries. If you enjoy your current role, you may wish to see if you can do this role in the new industry or job sector. Is that possible?
Look at your ideal role, then see what industries offer them - you’ll be able to research companies that might be a good fit for you.
If that’s not possible, don’t worry. The exciting aspect of looking at new career options in new job sectors is that new roles will present themselves to you as you delve into what is on offer.
By the way, I have an exercise on my website which goes through this process in more detail. The Should I Stay of Should I Go Guide can be found at
https://www.bravocoaching.co.uk under the FREE guides section.
Ok, one more thing before I finish off today.
Remember, you can't think your way into making a career change.
One of the biggest reasons people don't get started in their career change is that they wait until they have settled on a destination before taking the first steps.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way; you need to take action first to understand yourself better and then move towards options that seem like they will be a good match for you. Taking action in pursuit of a better career is vital.
So, there are a few things you can do straight away. If you have followed along in this podcast and answered the questions, you will want to look at the Mynextmove website. If you want to go deeper with the analysis of what to do next, my FREE Should I Go or Should I Stay Guide is worth downloading.
Start creating exciting career and job options today and of course, let me know how you get on.
If you are interested in finding out more about career coaching with me, look at my website to see the many ways I can help you in your career.
So, that’s it! We’ve come to the end of another episode.
I hope you enjoyed the show.
I’ll be along in a couple more weeks with another one, so, why not subscribe if you haven’t already, so you don’t miss it.
As usual,
Have a wonderful week and I will speak to you again in a couple of weeks time.
Bye for now.