Activity: Career Planning

Career Change? Evaluate Your Options

For those making a career change, take the time to evaluate your circumstances and options before taking the leap. Here are some questions to ponder:

• What is prompting this need to make a change? 
• Have you considered that your current employer or organization could be contributing to your discontentment, not your current occupation?
• Have you been self employed and you want to shift the weight of responsibilities?
• Are you feeling bored and unfulfilled with your current role and/or duties?
• Is this time - manageable - to make a change?
• Can you make a small change now?
• Can you manage financially while you acquire new knowledge, experience, and skills?
• Can you accept working for someone younger than you?
• Are you energized by working with or for people who are different than you?

Sometimes it can be that slight shift to another industry or a new organization is needed. Sometimes learning new skill sets can make a difference. One of the strategies that will be proposed later in this module is the notion of freelance work, which could be another option to ponder.

Next, choose a vision or a 'now' direction (which can evolve as you go) that you would like to cultivate and write it in the worksheet in the following section.

Note: If you do not have a vision or direction, please review the Strategies For Creating Your Vision preceding this page. 

Remember, realizing your vision and career is a continual process that takes patience and perseverance. Discovering what you dislike is crucial information as well. You need to keep moving forward, keep trying, and keep reevaluating.