You don’t Know Where You’re Going but You Can’t Stay Here

Working from home has either reinforced how much you love what you do or how much you really need to be doing something different… and soon! Many of my clients are telling me: “I am not happy with what I am doing, but I don’t know what I want to do instead!

Welcome to “The Great Resignation,” where so many employees are leaving their jobs for new ones.

How employees were treated by their companies during Covid brought about a heightened awareness of what is possible and what doesn’t work anymore. As employees are being asked to go back into the office, they are realizing not only that they don’t want to go back, but also they don’t want to go back to that same old job.

Does this resonate with you?

If so, the one thing I caution you against is taking on another job without making sure that it is absolutely going to be the right one for you. Let’s make sure you aren’t jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire!

To avoid that, let’s work together and make a plan.

Here are the steps that you can take to start understanding what's next for you:

Step 1: Get clear on why you are leaving your current job. Is it the responsibilities? The people? The lack of a challenge? The culture? Does it not match what you envision for yourself… or something else?

Step 2: Look back at your career and see if it can guide you towards what to do next. What skills have you gained along the way? What problems have you had success in solving? Look back at least five years to find your answers. You will have an easier time going forward if you can build on and draw from where you’ve already been.

Step 3: Create a hybrid format resume pulling the accomplishments from your chronological resume where you have demonstrated the skills from step 2. This format highlights your skills and accomplishments and deprioritizes your previous job titles.

Step 4: Research roles that require the use of your skills starting in your industry or parallel ones. Note: Changing industries are more challenging than changing jobs within your existing industry.

Step 5: Find people who work in the jobs you’ve identified and connect with them.  Try to learn about the role, responsibilities, the type of problems they are solving, the skills needed to do the job well, and the challenges you can anticipate.

These 5 steps will help you get started in the right direction of finding what you want to do next.

The key to success in changing roles is in the relationships you build with people you meet along the way

There’s a lot to do here, and it’s not hard to get frustrated or feel lost. If you truly want to make a change, consider working with a Career Coach to help guide you through the process and keep you on the right track!

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This article was originally published here at JayneMattson.com.