The Essentials

If you're contemplating whether to make a change in your career, but are feeling completely stuck and lacking ideas or courage, then I hope you’ll find some inspiration and ideas in this guide.

To be completely honest, this has been a difficult book to write. Over the past few months I’ve started, stopped, changed direction, trashed content and started all over again. It is a huge topic. How does one change career, know if it’s the right choice, know what to do and how to go about it? The possibilities are infinite. Every client I’ve met has created their own unique solutions to suit their own unique situation, personality, interests, values and skills, which doesn’t help you - my reader – much!

Unfortunately it really is complex and I’ve been scratching my brain on how to tackle this in a way that’ll be the most useful for you, as you are sitting at home or at your desk and wondering if this is it for your life for the next 20 years... and trying not to get too upset, frustrated or depressed about that thought.

The biggest message I want to convey is that you do have options. Many of my clients feel stuck, lost, confused and discouraged. They feel they have no options or too many options and can’t figure out the “right” path forward. But these things are not true, and most of my clients come to this realisation and it gives them courage and inspiration. I wish the same for you.

Your action steps

Read this guide.
Do something with your ideas. For example:
- Talk to someone about your ideas
- Write stuff down (hugely helpful for clarifying thinking)
- Go see a study provider (like a University or Tech) or visit their website to find out about study options
- Contact recruiters
- Refresh your CV and LinkedIn profile - for CVs and Resumes, here’s an easy way to start: https://novoresume.com/
- Do your own job search

Your essential starting point for making a career (or job) change

At a simple level you need only two things:

1. Clarity about what you want your next role/path to look like.

To get clarity about what you want you could:

Draw or note what you want in whatever way you can key ideas such as job titles, industry, location, income, type of work, way of working, seniority – and so on.
Do the above for your next role and for your 5 (or 2, 1, or 20) year role.
Write down your checklist of “Career Satisfaction Factors” - what are your 5-10 essential criteria? (you may derive from your earlier activity).
Identify your “why” – what's your purpose, your core motivators, in terms of the contribution, the impact you want to be making in your world?

Tip - some clients find benefit in Dan Pink's work, Simon Sinek's work, or David Rock's Scarf model in understanding key needs/wants in a next move.

2. Clarity about your gaps. What will it take for you to successfully make the move?

To get clarity on your gaps consider the following factors:

Skills & Experience – do you have required skills and if not, how could you gain those skills, such as re-train, a lower level role, or project work?
Networks – working on your relationships to help you get from A to B.
You – your thinking, self-sabotage? What are your support networks?
Job Search know-how – what's your Job Search Strategy?

Tip - check out my Job Search guide.

About career change

What is a career change?

Career change or job change? Are you aspiring to make a major change, a smaller development step or just a change of employer? Big changes often mean less pay or investment in re-training (or in a business), and it may be hard to get a break into the industry. In general, the more of a change you make, the harder it is. It takes research, support and a leap of faith, but maybe that’s exactly what you want/need to do in order to build your sense of satisfaction and fulfillment.

Here’s a little matrix that some of my clients find helpful in understanding just how big a change they want to make. Degree of change ranges from 1, which is usually the “easiest” change to 4, usually the most “difficult”.

How many times do people “change careers” in a lifetime?

Who knows?

A simple Google search throws up numbers anywhere between five and 15 times. It’s a tough question partly because of what I was talking about above – it depends how you define “career change”.

However, it seems generally agreed that career (or job) change is on the rise because we’re living in an increasingly VUCA world:

Volatility
Uncertainty
Complexity
Ambiguity

New Zealand is no different. Statistics NZ looked at “jobs” rather than “careers”. Here's what they found:

New Zealanders – a nation of job hoppers?
New Zealanders change jobs often. Out of those of us who earn wages and salaries, half have been employed in our present job for less than 18 months.

http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/snapshots-of-nz/yearbook/people/employment/job-change.aspx

What are some of the common motivations for making a career change?

There are many reasons people choose to leave a job/change their career path. Many times the first reason is an “away” factor. They want to get away from their boss, co-workers, environment or stress.

The more challenging question is, what do you want to move towards? Some sense of your desired direction is key to success.

People want to continue to develop. Boredom (26%) and lack of career progression (16%) were the two biggest reasons NZ professionals gave for leaving their last role.[1]

On the flip side, in the same research, better salary and work-life balance were the two biggest reasons for choosing a new role. In other words, boredom, money and leadership matters.[2]

1, 2 https://nz.hudson.com/portals/nz/documents/TheHudsonReport_ForwardFocus2016_NewZealand.pdf

What stops people making change?

The biggest killer to change is self-doubt, self-criticism and self-sabotage.

Change is hard. Our brains are hardwired to prefer certainty and so whether we realise it or not, we have a natural inclination to be cautious around change. It’s risky.

Part of the resistance comes in the form of negative self-talk and self-doubt. Some degree of caution is prudent because it’s useful to do a little research before you make a leap, but too much caution can became the brick wall.

Instead, we need to open our thinking to allow exploration.

Have you heard about “growth versus fixed mind-set”?

If you haven’t, it’s a very cool concept. Basically it just means that we all have the capability to grow and learn, in anything. “Yet” is the magic word. I can’t speak Spanish... yet. I can’t understand a certain concept... yet. It’s not that I “can’t” because it’s impossible for me to learn. My capability is not fixed in stone.

The same idea applies to change. You/we all can change and can learn. In fact, lifelong learning is now essential for ongoing career success. You/we just need to decide that’s what we want to do.

What if I make the wrong decision (again) and fail?

And what if you don't make a decision? Or what if your decision turns out great? Or what if you never try?

Contrary to the American Dream, it's true that it is perfectly possible to try and try and try harder and still fail. We typically don't hear these stories. We hear the stories from the 0.0001% who never gave up on their dreams, kept trying and eventually became that A Lister, novelist, gold medalist (or whatever). Knowing when to throw in the towel, change direction, when you've tried for long enough and you've tried hard enough is a positive step.

So - consider this question: in 20 years will you regret not giving it your best shot? Perhaps the learning, life and beauty comes from having the courage to try.

Is now the right time to change jobs or careers?

Only you can decide that and there will always be factors outside your control. Is it luck? My view is that successful people tend to overstate their personal effort as the largely predominant factor in their success, and understate luck, timing and other factors outside their control including all sorts of social and environmental factors (where you are born, income, ethnicity, gender, genetic make-up and so on).

However there is also an argument that you make your own luck and while I agree partly, I also believe there are things we can't control nor predict.

There's a wonderful careers theory called “planned happenstance” by a careers educator called Kromboltz [1]. Planned happenstance [2] (luck) just says that chance events, out of the blue stuff will happen and what's most important is not the event but how we respond. Planned happenstance advocates personal mindsets such as optimism, adaptability, curiosity and persistence. If you develop such mindsets (and it is possible to do so), then you are more likely to build a favourable foundation for career success.

1 https://www.careers.govt.nz/resources/career-practice/career-theory-models/krumboltzs-theory/

2 https://ed.stanford.edu/faculty/jdk

Career change examples

You probably know people who’ve made small changes, stepped up, moved into a related field or taken a big leap. Below are just a few examples, because, really, the list is infinite. You’ll see that up- skilling, retraining or going back to University is a requirement for many - but not all. Some people bridge the gap by using on-the-job training, transferable skills, previous experience, networking or by buying or starting a business.

Do many people make big career changes?

My gut sense is that while many people explore making a truly transformational change, the majority end up making a change that’s somewhat related to their previous role or choose to remain in their role (which is a positive thing too).

People daydream about making big changes, but quite often when they really dig in and research and contemplate the realities, the sparkle wanes. Selling it all, building a yacht and sailing around the world, helping children in need, starting your own business – all are possibilities, but a relatively small percentage of people actually take the steps.

Starting or buying a business is a little different. This has long time been a realistic option but still only relatively few people carry it through.

Becoming an independent consultant, freelancer, solopreneur or creating a portfolio career are all options that are growing in popularity, and it’s interesting to see the young people taking this bona fide career track. For example, a young local woman, only mid-20s, is building her career and works as a marriage celebrant, yoga teacher/master, journalist and retail assistant. What a wonderful bundle of jobs, which all wrapped together creates a fulfilling and sustainable career path.

What makes a “successful” career?

This is a huge question. Here is one of the formulas I sometimes use with clients.

This is based on research by a couple of blokes at 80000hours.[3]

And it’ll go all the better if you continue to learn and build skills, work on your emotional intelligence and resilience and bring a positive, growth mindset.[4] This formula is obviously very simplified and I spend hours with clients helping them to figure out exactly what this looks like for them (which usually requires discussion, reflection and insight). But that said, I’m hoping it may spark an idea or two for you too.

3 https://80000hours.org/
4 https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve

Common Client Dilemmas

I have no idea what else I could do?

The average age of my clients is 41-years-old. By that time, a person has had a decent amount of work experience, perhaps climbed a ladder, specialised in some area and got to know people in their industry. But, it’s hard - and scary! - to imagine what else one could do.

Friends and family tend to either be supportive (“You can do anything!”) or risk averse (“Are you mad?! You’ve got a good secure job and everyone has things they don’t like about their work”).

On top of that, my clients have their own sabotaging voice and that’s probably the biggest barrier of all.

Most of you do know what else you could do. I estimate a good 90% of clients have ideas about this.

I’m lost, stuck, confused…

People do make changes. Quite often the scariest part, and the biggest brick wall, is just letting yourself think about it positively.

Give yourself permission to be positive. You are not an idiot for contemplating change and lots of people do this, successfully.

Be cautious when listening to other’s opinions. People have their own agendas and own perceptions. Clients often say their family or friends try to listen and provide advice, but it just isn’t that helpful and it’s difficult to be objective.

Take a 20 year perspective: imagine it is 20 years from now and it’s worked out well. What would you have done? What do you not want to regret?

End of life regrets? The “Wait by Why” [5] website says:

Psychologists believe that people at the end of their lives are most likely to regret living by inertia: a commonly voiced regret is “I wish I had quit earlier” and the most common advice of the elderly is, “Don’t stay in a job you dislike.”

5 A well written website full of excellent advice https://waitbutwhy.com/2018/04/picking-career.html

It’s too late to change - I’m too old/been out of the workforce too long.

The statistics may have changed somewhat, but a few years ago roughly 50% of tertiary students were “adult” students. Granted, that only means over 20-years-old, (is the typical 20-year-old an adult?!) but it also means many older adults go back to study. They may not be very visible around campus, because they probably have busy lives with home commitments and perhaps even full- time jobs.

When is it too late? When are you too old? Only you can answer that, but I’d say there’s always opportunities to change. Lots of people make changes in their 30s, 40s, 50s. I’ve seen pictures of people in their 60s and 70s studying - and loving it. Your motivation and goals for studying likely changes as you age, but as long as you’re reasonably clear about why you’re doing it, I say go for it. The less desirable scenario is looking back in 20 years with regret.

I just want to mow lawns.

Or pump petrol, make coffee, type, lie on a beach, go bush...

If this is you, I’d be asking you about your stress levels. Of course, there are a few people who choose to mow lawns for a living and that’s great! But for most others, “I just want to mow lawns” could be a sign of stress or burn out.

Maybe you’d benefit from taking a really good holiday away or talking to someone, such as a professional coach, counsellor or psychologist. Awareness is our number one tool. Once we’re aware there may be an issue, we can start to deal with it.

Is it possible to follow your dreams and passions?

Yes.

Yes, I know, we need to be “realistic”. We have bills to pay, mortgages to support, children to feed. I just don’t necessarily believe that the two things are mutually exclusive.

Imagine it’s 20 years from now, and you are your older, wiser self, looking back on your life. What advice would you give yourself? Imagine things had gone well over the last 20 years. What would have happened and what would you have done? No regrets, right?

Following dreams and passions does not equal easy. It equals hard work, where you’ll face many challenges and much self-doubt. But if you’re motivated and clear about why you’re doing it and the difference you are making, feel fulfilling and like the right choice.

I’m over 50 - If I study something new, will anyone give me a job?

Here are my thoughts on this:

Yes it is probably harder to transition into a new career when you’re older, and especially 50 plus. Employers are likely to be cautious.

But if you are changing to something where you will be using your natural strengths and you change the way you job search (e.g. use your networks to access roles not advertised - the hidden job market), then age may not be a barrier. That’s because you’ll be intrinsically motivated, you'll have made a personal contact with the employer and you’ll have presented who you are, what you bring and how you can add value to the business.

The bottom line is if you really want to follow a new path because it ignites your interest and you’ve worked out how you can make it happen (pay for study or whatever), then I say go for it. “Success” and landing a related job is largely the result of your motivation and commitment. Job search is a numbers game and nearly everyone receives some rejections.

I’ve been a {fill in the blank} for years and I don’t know if there’s anything else I can do?

Regardless of your current situation and your background, we all have transferable skills that are relevant for other jobs.

What are my options?

You do have options. Everyone has transferable skills. Everyone has their own unique blend of interests and strengths to bring to a new venture. See the following checklist for how to explore your opportunities and clarify your options.

Checklist of activities for exploring opportunities

Brain dump for clarity:

Get a big blank piece of paper and “drain dump” all your ideas onto one sheet. This really helps create clarity. Then:

Prioritise your top picks (e.g. might be your top 3, 5 or 6).
Against each job you’ve listed, on a scale of 1-10 note down how interested you are (1 = not very and 10 = very).
And then again for each job, on a scale of 1 to 10, note down how well matched you are for the job in terms of your skills, experience and required qualifications. (1 = not at all and 10 = great match).

Here’s a short two minute video to see how this could be done: https://youtu.be/chFhDNdsEYU

Ask yourself these questions:

If you could do anything at all, putting practicalities aside, what might you like to do?
What are your natural strengths? What do people come to you for? Your natural strengths could be your guide. Are you the go-to person for help with social media strategies? Or the person called upon for interior design advice, or to help with personal problems?
What does your gut say? Gut sense is often right. Many times a client will verbalise with me an idea they’ve had for awhile, but perhaps haven’t expressed out loud. Maybe they’ve been scared to make it real, or maybe it’s felt murky and hard to put into words.

This gut sense or intuition is a gem. This is where many people find their solutions.

“Window shopping”: This means browsing job sites but in a different or broader way to how you might usually. Look at jobs that you wouldn’t normally consider. Notice what interests you – what strikes a chord? Even if it’s jobs you couldn’t apply for straight away because you don’t have certain skills or qualifications or because it’s in a different location. Steps:

Make a list of jobs of interest.
Against each job you’ve listed, on a scale of 1-10 note down how interested you are (1 = not very and 10 = very).
And then again for each job, on a scale of 1 to 10, note down how well matched you are for the job in terms of your skills, experience and required qualifications. (1 = not at all and 10 = great match).

Check at least one job information site to learn more about jobs of interest. (See next page for list of sites).

Reflect on businesses of interest in your area, or the area you are looking at. Visit websites for those organisations to learn more. Many organisations include “work for us” or “careers” information on their websites.

Talk to trusted friends and family about your thoughts and ideas. Bounce around ideas and ask for ideas. (Caution – this activity can be very helpful if you have trusted people to talk with – but be very careful not to take on board negativity! Nor other people’s unhelpful opinions of you).

Consider if you know people in your network who work in similar roles, or send out a message asking your network if they know anyone. If so, talk with them about their jobs to find out more about what the job is like and opportunities. Your “network” could include friends, family, friends of friends, neighbours, professionals (e.g. your dentist, insurance agent, banker), parents of children’s friends or community and sports contacts – e.g. local clubs, schools, interest groups.

Consider related jobs and industries

Many times clients will shift into jobs that are related to their current role. Perhaps not exactly, but there’s often a link. For example a physiotherapist who wants to make a difference in health promotion to general communities.

One way to do this is by looking at roles in the organisation in which you currently work. All of the roles are related in terms of working in the same industry. Another way is by looking at roles in your suppliers or services organisations, or training providers. For example, a café worker could look for work as a coffee sales representative.

Identify your skills

Jot down your key skills from the following lists. Note these lists are not exhaustive! You will likely have many more job specific, technical or “soft” (people) skills than I’ve listed here. Please note those down as well.

Another great way to clarify your key skills and strengths is by writing your CV. It forces you to get specific and make some decisions about how you can and want to present yourself, succinctly (in three pages of a CV)!

General skills list

Transferable skills examples

A lot of skills are transferable. “Portable” is another word for this. You can take these skills wherever you go, and they’re useful in different career and life settings.

Organising is an example of a transferable skill. Organising often involves bringing people and resources together to make something happen. Other examples of transferable skills are leadership, communication, customer service and project management.

You have likely developed skills from work and life activities. For example, if you’ve arranged a sporting event, planned a community fund raiser or organised a display or exhibition.
Here’s a few more examples of highly regarded transferable skills.

Could an online career test give me the answers I seek?

Onine tests may give you some ideas, but they probably won’t give you answers.

Lots of people try out doing tests but without much satisfaction. You need to take the test results and talk it over with someone skilled in career coaching.

Some clients say things like, “I did the test, but it gave me all sorts of random answers that didn’t really resonate with me”. I suspect that the test results will show a pattern and offer some ideas, it’s just not always easy to decipher in a useful way.

Here are some of the free online tests I sometimes use with clients:

https://www.careers.govt.nz/tools/careerquest/
https://www.123test.com/career-test/index.php
https://www.truity.com/test/holland-code-career-test
https://www.16personalities.com/
https://www.mynextmove.org/explore/ip
- On the same site they have created a whole stack of great short videos explaining what each job is. While it’s American information and so is not directly applicable, it does provide a bit more information about what each job involves, and the videos make easy watching: https://www.mynextmove.org/find/videos

I could do lots of things. How do I know what’s the right choice?

Well may I just say firstly, and I hope I don’t sound patronising because I am being genuine, congratulations on knowing you have options! Many people don’t start at this point.

I’ve worked with clients who feel overwhelmed with options and end up in analysis paralysis going around and around on the same thinking pattern, trying to figure out what they want to do and what’s best/right.

Some clients struggle with perfectionism, others with anxiety. It’s impossible to know anything with 100% certainty until we try it. All we can do is make the best decision we can at the time with the information and insight we’ve obtained.

Obvious steps include doing your research on your top career ideas and talking to people in the field.

Another step is about getting clarity on your core values and what you really need from your career in order to feel satisfied and fulfilled in the long term.

Many of my clients create a simple little checklist, identifying their core values and deal breakers, and then use this list to evaluate each job idea by putting a tick or cross against each item.

Here’s an example. Please use your own list and the things that are truly most important for you. I suggest identifying 5-10 items and then total your lists.

See this two min video example to see how it works: https://youtu.be/elKBAcc_PNM

Will I get a job in my new career field?

If you re-train or step into a new direction, the uncomfortable issue is that there is no guarantee on how quickly you’ll find a good job in your new field. You may have to invest time and money into training and experience, with no certainty you’ll like it or if you’ll find work.

There are many variables including:

The job market – surplus or shortage of workers? Growing or retrenching industry
Geography – makes a difference. If you are restricted to an area, and especially a smaller community or business area, this will likely have significant impact on job availability.
Your attitude (self-explanatory – are you positive, reliable and do you bring skills and a learning mind-set?).

Things you could do:

Talk to people working in your area of interest about prospects. This will also help you get a sense
of whether it’s something you genuinely want to do.
Talk to recruiters about prospects and scan online job sites.
Review online labour market information – see table for suggestions.

Job information and employment prospects

New Zealand

CareersNZ - A huge array of career information. Includes employment prospects indicator and a list of jobs in skills shortage - https://www.careers.govt.nz/
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment - Occupation Outlook reports – covers wide range of occupations

Prospective Student Information

Future in Tech - Career information about wide range of “tech”, science, engineering type jobs - https://nztech.org.nz/resources/technology-careers/
Health Careers - Joint initiative between NZ DHBs - https://www.kiwihealthjobs.com/careers-in-health
University career site for students - Joint university career resources (must be a current student of a member university to access) - https://nzunicareerhub.ac.nz/
Videos - There are many video clips about jobs of interest or “a day in the life” of... mostly you’ll need to do a google search to find clips on specific jobs because there are too many jobs and links to cover here.

Most universities also have some information about study areas and prospects. Plus some report on graduate destinations. Check each University's page to find out more or call their careers office. For example (please note this is just one example).

Victoria University - A collection of employment publications covering a number of the major career pathways - https://www.victoria.ac.nz/careers?ref=/resources/career_publications/career_view/index

International

US labour information site - Massive job information database (USA based). You can browse job information, by interests or skills. - http://www.onetonline.org/
Career planning resources - https://www.mynextmove.org/
Career information and resources - Graduate prospects site – with lots of career resources and information (UK based) - https://www.prospects.ac.uk/

Could I work for myself?

Yes. Of course you could.

Increasing numbers of people are making their own way. They’re freelancing, launching as independent consultants or contractors and/or creating portfolio careers (a mix of several things).

The upsides are many. You’re your own boss and you choose what you do, don’t do and how you want. You could be your own boss and create your own security through your networks, marketing and efforts. Plus you directly benefit from your hard work and income.

Many people at all age levels are choosing this option, and for different reasons. Autonomy, flexibility and the desire to work in the area that inspires and allows them to contribute, do meaningful work and make a difference.

The downsides are there too. Insecurity and instability of income is a problem for many, and while online sites like upwork.com (and many others) have exploded, it’s quite hard to make a living when you’re competing with thousands of other international freelancers, some of whom are working for very small fees.

Other potential downsides include:

Lack of sense of belonging and lack of communication - Freelancers/contractors are often seen as outsiders and not included. I personally think this is a mistake for organisations, because humans need connections and freelancers/contractors are human too! But I understand people are busy and they may not perceive the value in using time to include contractors (and they may not know how).
Administrative - You have to manage your own affairs, accounts, taxes.
Learning and Development - You probably have to pay for your own learning and development, and association or networking fees. These are all essential for staying relevant and marketable.

Could you accept the downsides? Which outweighs which? That’s for you to decide and I suggest having a heart-to-heart with a couple of people in your network who are “living the dream” (I’m only half kidding) as independent consultants/freelancers.

Career change: The little uncomfortable secret

The uncomfortable truth is that changing careers may not always solve our career problems. Problems with bosses and co-workers? Problems with performance? Problems with stress, pressure, overwhelm? We are still the same person wherever we go. Are you willing to look in the mirror and be honest about how you may be contributing to the issues you face?

I get this is a very uncomfortable and perhaps confronting idea. We naturally get defensive that we, our thinking and behaviours, may somehow be part of the problem. I get defensive too about my own experience in different jobs!

Yes, of course other people create problems. Most people leave their boss - not their job - and I totally accept that. So, it may be that your boss, your workplace, the systems or your team are creating a world of untenable problems, and the best thing for you is to leave. For many of my clients this has been true. And of course for some, it’s not been entirely their choice; instead it’s been a “mutual agreement” or a decision when they’ve felt they’ve had no other choice (e.g. from restructuring, redundancy, poor performance or other complaints).

For some it’s a more positive motivation. They’ve outgrown the role and there’s no development pathway, nor anything that really inspires them anymore.

Or for others, it’s that they’ve seen a great new opportunity or direction and decided to go for it - that it’s an opportunity to follow a new path.

These are all very valid and common situations. If this is you, that’s great. Go for it!

I’m simply cautioning that sometimes it doesn’t hurt to keep an eye on that mirror of truth and be prepared to hold ourselves accountable too.

Aspects of work

What you do is only one aspect of career satisfaction. Some people start with thinking about where and how they work first because getting this right makes a huge difference. Check out the following activity and see how your current role shapes up.

How much do you like or loathe different aspects of your career?

(You could do this activity thinking about your current, previous, or even your next role.)

Some of the aspects may blend into one another for you. Don’t worry about it, just use your judgement. The point is for you to get some clarity about what you’re enjoying or not.

Is it a cop-out to decide to stay in the same role, or even return to an old role?

No, of course not. It’s all about choices. When we feel we have choices and options, we feel free to make a choice to stay. Staying put is a very valid decision. The grass always seems greener elsewhere, but are we running away without confronting the real issues? Wherever we go, there we are. If our thinking and behaviours are a problem, then it’s quite likely we’ll continue to be unhappy.

If you’re sitting on the fence right now, faced with the dilemma of, “should I quit my job?” here’s a quick quiz that could help you figure out which way you’re leaning.

Should I quit my job?

Each statement uses a scale are from 1-10 in terms of how strongly you agree or disagree. (1 = Strongly disagree; 10 = Strongly agree).

Rate yourself on two timeframes:

Now – this will help to understand how you are feeling about your job right now
12 months from now - How things could be in a year’s time if you and/or your organisation/team made some changes or tweaks.

Then calculate the difference between your “now” and “12 months”’ scores.

Your “Now” score total

12-36 - You are soundly and firmly disaffected in your current role and you should seriously consider leaving or making changes in your work.
37-72 - Look at your individual scores. Do have a mix of problem areas and areas that are going fairly well? Or do you have areas of serious concern? Could these be resolved? Consider your options and how you could contribute to improvements, and review in a couple of months.
73-96 - You seem satisfied. Are you?
97 + - Seems fantastic! Well done you!

(Same scoring applies for your 12 month score total).

Your “Difference” score total

Negative score - Do you expect things to get worse? What are your “now” scores like? Is it time to look elsewhere?
0-24 - You seem pretty content overall. Leaving doesn’t sound a sensible option.
25-60 - There are certainly areas where you would like to see some improvement. How significant are these issues for you? Consider whether these areas can be tolerated or improved. For example, could you have a courageous discuss with your manager? And, have you asked yourself how you could develop yourself and your own performance or mindset?
61+ - There is a significant gap between what you have and what you want and expect. How confident are you that these changes could occur and how can you support these developments? Or are you better off to look for your next step elsewhere?

Questions to consider

What is the (local) job market like currently for someone with my skills and experience?
What are the chances of replacing or bettering my current remuneration package and benefits? And how important is that to me?
What is my current financial and debt situation? Can I afford to leave?
What can I do to improve my current work situation?
What do I know about what work I want to do?
What are my career/life goals or ideas?
Have I discussed options with relevant people within the organisation?
Have I explored options to enrich my current role?
Do I know what options exist for promotion or taking on new responsibilities that would be motivating to me?

What now?

To sum up, here are my suggestions of what you could do now:

Do your research – look at the market and employment prospects for your ideas.
Do your inner research too – think about what’s most important to you, and what you want/need for career satisfaction.
Weigh up your options – use a pros and cons, talk to someone, write down your ideas, listen to your gut.
If you decide you want to make the change, consider what’s in the gap and how to bridge it.
Give yourself a break – these decisions are hard but not impossible – we all have insecurities but you will also bring strengths, skills, experience and natural talents. Don’t forget that.
Believe in yourself – believing that you can and you’re half way there. Even believing that you can just take the next step means you’ll be on your way.
Take action – dreams don’t work unless you do.

Should you change careers?