Do You Need a Job Change or a New Career?

There are many situations in which you might want to explore new job tasks, different employers, or even a whole new career. Spending eight hours a day—at least half your waking hours—doing work that no longer inspires you, or working for a boss or company you don't like, can start to have a negative effect on your life.

Deciding to make a change is less complicated than trying to figure out what kind of change is required to make your work life more pleasant. Do you just need a different job, or are you craving the excitement of a completely different career? When considering those two choices, it is essential to figure out the real source of your dissatisfaction.

Taking a different job may be the right option if you still enjoy your work but not your place of employment. On the other hand, there could be reasons why it makes sense to make a whole career change.

Making the decision to find a new job or new career involves considering a variety of factors, and the following scenarios can help you consider which options are better for you, based on your own situation.

Factors that Affect Your Decision

When analyzing your discontent and how you want to move forward, it helps to do some introspection by journaling or talking to your spouse or a good friend. You can also read up on the subject, or work with a career coach to really identify what's missing and how to make changes to your job or career path. You can start by considering questions such as:

• Would your employer be considered a good company to work at by most people?
• Is your boss invested in your future success?
• Could anything in your personal life be affecting your thoughts about your job?
• Have you seen that others in your company have succeeded in changing their duties, getting promoted, or transferring to other positions within the firm?
• Did you take the job because it was easy and had good benefits, or because you enjoy it?
• Have you already changed jobs and still feel unhappy?

Approaching the situation from many perspectives and asking yourself in-depth questions will help you gain more insight and get much closer to figuring out your next move.

Common Reasons for Wanting a Job Change

Consider these sample scenarios to illustrate whether it makes more sense to change jobs or careers.

You Dislike Your Employer But Enjoy Your Work

If you still like tending to the specific duties of your occupation, consider taking your skills and experience to a new employer. A new job is the better choice when your relationship with your boss is unacceptable or your coworkers are difficult.

If your commute is getting to you, find work closer to home. For example, as a retail salesperson, you may enjoy selling merchandise to customers but don't mesh with the other salespeople, your manager, or the long drive to work.

You Like Your Job, But You've Identified a Problem

If, for the most part, you like your boss and the company, but you have an issue such as feeling bored or apathetic about certain duties, a new job might help. Consider the example of the retail salesperson again.

In your current position, you love interacting with customers but find the products uninspiring. Perhaps if your job involved working in a different type of retail store, for example, a shoe store instead of a home furnishings shop, you would be more interested and inspired.

You Can't Clearly Identify the Problem

When the root of your discontent with your job isn't clear, it's hard to know what to do. Sometimes your problem might be something more subtle, like a company culture that doesn't fit your personality, a boss that is nice yet doesn't support you growing in your position, or a job that you're good at but which doesn't feel meaningful or gratifying.

A career change will be the more arduous of your two choices—it may involve going back to school, for example—so it's worth giving a new job a try before taking more drastic measures. A new environment, new boss or the same job in a different industry may do the trick, but if it doesn't, then you might want to start exploring a career change.

No Chance for Advancement

When the lack of available positions at your current organization is limiting your boss's ability to promote you, it is time to move on. This situation is common in smaller organizations where the only position above yours might be your boss. If your boss recognizes your abilities and understands your need for advancement, ask for a reference to help in your job search.

You Don't Like Your Job Duties

If you don't like your job duties, you may have outgrown your occupation, or it was never right for you to begin with. If you crave new challenges, and you've asked around but there's nothing else for you at your current job, stay with your employer until you're ready to move on, but make good use of that time.

First, do a thorough self-assessment to identify new careers that are a good fit. Then explore the ones that interest you to learn more about them. After deciding which to pursue, take care of getting your required training and education while still at your current job. Since your employer isn't the problem, there's no rush to start a job search, so use this time to retrain for something new and exciting to you.

You're Not Challenged

If your job isn't challenging, it is time to find one where you have greater responsibilities. Read job descriptions for roles that are a step up for yours, and ascertain that you meet all the requirements of a more responsible role. If not, get additional training before starting your job search.

Once you've investigated additional training options, you might decide that it's not worth the time and/or monetary investment to get to a higher level in your current career.

In that case, if there aren't any other issues at your current job, consider staying in your current job while you take the opportunity to investigate other career paths where you can leverage your existing skills, or start in a brand-new career that has more attractive prospects for you.