When is the right time to make your career change?

You're unhappy in your job but the time isn’t right to make a change. Or is it?

You may already be thinking “this lady’s mad! Does she not see what’s going on in the world right now? Jobs are not exactly easy to come by!” Uncertainty and redundancies are sadly a fact of life right now. It is therefore understandable to think it is a terrible time to consider a change in job or career. However when is the right time? Is there ever a right time for such things?

The Covid-19 global pandemic is having a huge impact on the economy right now, but even before this, and no doubt after, we could likely find a reason why it was/ won’t be the right time to make changes in our careers – waiting until the next bonus to be paid, the next promotion, when the kids are at school, when the house sale goes through etc etc.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating throwing caution to the wind, resigning on a whim with no job to go to, or any plan in place. However, what I am suggesting – advising even - is to start the process, to stop considering and planning but actually doing, taking action - even if you may not quite feel ready.

I speak to many people who share their stories of unhappiness, of feeling stuck, going round in circles trying to work out what career move will get them back to feeling happy and satisfied again. They can’t work it out easily and so put off doing what they need to do to figure it out. In their own words they “ just don’t feel ready to make a change” – which, in truth, means they don’t know how to figure it out and so carry on hoping things will improve. The merry-go-round carries on turning and there never seems to be a “right” time. Fast forward one, two, three maybe even five years and nothing has changed – other than being in an even worse place career-happiness wise.

If you constantly land back at feeling things are not getting better in your career, your job is not making you happy at all – in fact it’s consistently making you feel quite the opposite, you are not going to wake up, one fine day, suddenly finding all is well again in your work or spontaneously feeling “today is the day I feel ready!”. This is why waiting for the right time to start taking action will not work – the right time is now.

Here’s why:

 Planning or procrastination?

Most people I coach really enjoy the reflection and planning stages. When we move towards action, it isn’t unusual for clients to suddenly clam up and revert back to being unsure now is the right time. The planning of change – working out who to contact (but not actually doing it), courses to investigate (but not actually apply to), networking and other events to go to (but not actually attend yet) is a critical step in career change, but it cant go on forever – it can be procrastination in disguise. This is why, during my coaching programmes accountability is so important – doing what you say you will, not just planning to at some point.

Change is scary.

Inevitably, you will feel some level of fear around making the career changes you want, which may result in getting stuck in the planning phase. Striving for perfection when fear kicks in is likely – finding yourself saying things like “when I’ve done a bit more to my CV I will start getting it out to there”, or “I just need to do a bit more research before I decide (on my next career move)”, or “It will be easier to focus on my career change when I have a bit more time (which may never come)”. This fear will stop you in your tracks so acknowledge it, but get on with it any way!

If you have been waiting for the right time, not doing anything to move you out of your unhappy career situation, even if you have done some preparation or research, but not actually done anything with it, I encourage you to think about what are you doing really? Are you preparing for career change or delaying? You will know!

Ultimately, “I’m not ready yet” most likely means “I’m not sure yet” or “Although I am unhappy, I am in my comfort zone right now, so taking action is too scary”, or “I don’t really know what I need to do, so I’m avoiding figuring it out”.

Missed Opportunities

The reality is you will never find a perfect time. You will never have everything lined up and ready to go. The only way to guarantee failing is to not do anything.

As you spend time waiting for the “right time”, opportunities will be missed. Jobs will be advertised and filled, networking and other events will come and go, chances to speak to others doing the job you may wish to move into, may slip by.

Getting started is the only way to stand a chance of getting to a place of career happiness again. The reality is, nobody truly knows what they are doing most of the time. When we think about work projects – in most scenarios, you begin with an idea, map out some immediate and longer-term tasks and goals and then tweak and do different things along the way, as they crop up. You don’t have one linear path from A to B. Your career is no different, so stop waiting for a clear straight path to follow to make changes.

 Just get started!

Once you begin taking action things will snowball, so those first few steps are the hardest yet most important. It is much harder to get going and create your own push when there is nothing pulling you towards action. However, once your plan is in place and you get started doing the all you know you need to do, each of your actions will result in further activity - people to follow up with, deadlines to meet for job applications, new people to connect with etc.

Turning your plan into activity may be a slow burn, but each move you make is a move forward. Each step builds on the one before. It won’t be a straight line to your final destination, but you will keep progressing towards it.

Of course it may be you simply just don’t know what action you need to take, in which case seek support. Talk to people you can trust, consider engaging in professional support from someone like me – a Career Coach. The key really is to stop trying to find an answer that doesn’t exist in your head and stop waiting for the right time - just do something. The right time to begin is always now!

If you would like further support, or to find out more about my coaching programmes, book a free consultation call by clicking here: My Diary

Rebecca Amin is a Career Coach, helping parents who feel stuck in their careers, figure out their route back to career happiness. Rebecca also runs the Facebook group Career Happy Mums

www.rebeccaamincoaching.co.uk