Career Guidance for Today's Young Professional

8 Ways to Know It's Time to Move On!

Do you find yourself staring at the clock? Counting down the days you've been in your role?  Don't fret you're not alone! A recent GALLUP survey found that only 29% of millennials/young professionals are engaged at work.  That means 70% of millennials/YP are disengaged!  70%!!! That’s ridiculous.  For whatever reason you feel disengaged or unhappy; you are validated.  Your feelings towards a situation are your own to have.  Here are 8 steps to help determine if it's time to move on from your job:

1.    Know you’re not alone.  YPs will change jobs 2-3 times before 30; excluding promotions.  Most YPs find their positions aren't as sexy as they had dreamt in undergrad or graduate school.  Don’t judge yourself by others, most of them are unhappy as well.  There are career coaches like me who can assist you with creating a plan if you’re completely lost.
2. Determine why you’re unhappy. Does it have anything to do with that rude co-worker with the passive aggressive mouth? Do your projects get picked apart by admin? If you answered yes, then you should have a talk with your manager maybe it’s not quite time for you to move on.  Take time to really dig deep and ask, ‘what is bothering me’?  You’ll find really quickly if you if you need to stay or go!
3. Find your strengths.  Take a personality test.  Yes a test to tell you about you!  Tests like Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or DiSC, or TypeFocus are great tools to expose your values, needs, and strengths.  Once you take the assessment, if you realize the results don’t align with your current path, it might be time for a change. 
4. Think about your Big Girl/Boy job.  I always ask people, ‘When you envision your dream career, job or duties, what do you see?’ Through this exercise we can create a list of non-negotiables needed to feel and be successful.  If those non-negotiables are in your current job or can be attained on the path you’re on, then it’s not time to change careers just yet, maybe a job change or increase in responsibilities might help.
5.  Volunteer/Freelance.  This is the easiest way to try jobs out without the fear of leaving a steady paycheck.  Sometimes you need to do a task to really understand if you like it or not.  You might find out, your ‘passion’ is just a hobby not a career.  Plus these are great ways to gain experience in your prospective field making you more marketable increasing your chances of getting a position. 
6. Sometimes passions don’t equal careers.    Yes, there is a career out there for everyone!  Yes there is a way to make money doing anything.  Be honest with yourself, if your ‘passion’ doesn’t afford for you to have the lifestyle you want, it’s not worth it.  If you highly value family, then working a 15 hour day at a big 4 firm might not be worth it.  Or if you value nice expensive items and lots of beach inspired trips, then probably being a daycare teacher isn’t worth it for you.  Not every passion is going to equal a career & lifestyle you want.
7. Get creative.  If you love food, a chef isn’t the only thing you can do.  You could become a food critic, a journalist, a food scientist (yep those exist lol), or a nutritionist!  Expand your mind and be open to new possibilities.  If you think you have a position in mind, visit (O*Net).  There is so much information on skillsets, salaries, and education needed for each position! 
8. Start looking for a job!  You can’t fit a square into a circle.  Sometimes it’s just not going to work out.  It’s ok to look for a new job.  There are times you just can’t make a situation work for you.  Maybe a company and your goals aren’t aligned anymore.  Maybe you aren’t interested in the work you did before.  You’ll never get out of a bad work situation until you start to apply for the right situation.