You hate your job. There’s nothing worse than spending 40-plus hours a week doing something that you really hate. Before you plan a change, evaluate the situation. Do you loathe the work itself, or is your overbearing boss too much to take? Are you really unhappy because of the work itself, or do you wish you could wave a magic wand and send your annoying co-workers up in a cloud of smoke?

Statistics show that people tend to leave positions not because of bad jobs, but to flee bad bosses. Make sure you aren’t allowing a difficult supervisor or co-worker to dictate your career trajectory. Think about how you can improve your relationship with your boss. Unfortunately, you are likely to encounter unsavory colleagues and employers in any field.

Your hours are too long. You yearn for flexibility, but your employer demands 24/7 dedication. It would seem that a career change may be the answer, but unfortunately, you may find that starting over in a new career puts you at the bottom of the proverbial food chain. As the “new guy,” you could be tasked with weekends on call and long hours. Most employers expect longer hours from their workers due to layoffs and a need to produce more with less. While a shift may help avoid certain unfavorable characteristics of your current career, make sure you aren’t jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Research new options carefully to be sure you won’t be trading one problem for another.

You can’t get a raise or a promotion. It’s tempting to plan to throw in the towel on an entire career if you’ve hit the earning ceiling or if the money and recognition aren’t worth the effort. Is a new career really the answer, or might some key changes in your current job put you in a position to win the praise and raise you seek? Have you been coasting along while new team members push ahead with new ideas? It’s probably a lot easier to shift your attitude and work ethic than it is to carve out an entire new career. Make sure you think carefully before trading in what you have for something new.

You crave predictability and consistency at work. It can be unsettling when new requirements, policies and procedures come down the pike every other week. If you hate uncertainty, it’s tempting to dream about a career where you can do your job and the rules don’t change, but it’s not realistic.

You think a new career could be more exciting. You’ve been doing the same thing for years; wouldn’t making a change put a new spring in your step? It might. However, many career changers are disappointed to learn that they bring many of the same negative feelings about work to their new careers. Even a new career becomes old in time. Before planning your career shift, make sure you think about what you need to change in your life and consider the various opportunities to incite that change. For example, if your job isn’t challenging, maybe you could spend your extra energy creating a freelance business to bring in extra money on the side. Or, if you’re not entrepreneurial, identify some activities you’ve always wanted to try and join a club with other aficionados.

Work isn’t the only place where you can make changes in your life. Before you jump over the fence to walk on the greener grass, be sure to consider other alternatives and clarify your expectations. You don’t want to be surprised to learn that every lawn has some weeds, or the pot of gold isn’t always at the end of the rainbow.

Have you decided a new job or career is in order? Get my free white paper: 5 Mistakes Preventing You From Landing a Job This Week 

Looking for more info about how to decide if a career pivot is good for you? Join me for a Mashable Twitter chat TODAY – August 10th – at 2 pm Eastern time, 11 am Pacific. Follow @MashBusiness and join in using the hashtag #BizChats.

Other experts on the chat include: Adam Smiley Poswolsky, millennial career expert, author of The Quarter-Life Breakthrough; Jenny Blake, career and business coach, author of PIVOT: The Only Move That Matters is Your Next One (Sept. 2016); Marc Miller, career pivot expert, author of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for Baby Boomers; and Ryan Rhoten, business leader, product manager, and host of The BRAND New You podcast.

Follow @MashBusiness and join in using the hashtag #BizChats. We look forward to hearing your questions.

The post Planning a career change? Answer these questions first appeared first on Keppie Careers.

You hate your job. There’s nothing worse than spending 40-plus hours a week doing something that you really hate. Before you plan a change, evaluate the situation. Do you loathe the work itself, or is your overbearing boss too much to take? Are you really unhappy because of the work itself, or do you wish you could wave a magic wand and send your annoying co-workers up in a cloud of smoke?

Statistics show that people tend to leave positions not because of bad jobs, but to flee bad bosses. Make sure you aren’t allowing a difficult supervisor or co-worker to dictate your career trajectory. Think about how you can improve your relationship with your boss. Unfortunately, you are likely to encounter unsavory colleagues and employers in any field.

Your hours are too long. You yearn for flexibility, but your employer demands 24/7 dedication. It would seem that a career change may be the answer, but unfortunately, you may find that starting over in a new career puts you at the bottom of the proverbial food chain. As the “new guy,” you could be tasked with weekends on call and long hours. Most employers expect longer hours from their workers due to layoffs and a need to produce more with less. While a shift may help avoid certain unfavorable characteristics of your current career, make sure you aren’t jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Research new options carefully to be sure you won’t be trading one problem for another.

You can’t get a raise or a promotion. It’s tempting to plan to throw in the towel on an entire career if you’ve hit the earning ceiling or if the money and recognition aren’t worth the effort. Is a new career really the answer, or might some key changes in your current job put you in a position to win the praise and raise you seek? Have you been coasting along while new team members push ahead with new ideas? It’s probably a lot easier to shift your attitude and work ethic than it is to carve out an entire new career. Make sure you think carefully before trading in what you have for something new.

You crave predictability and consistency at work. It can be unsettling when new requirements, policies and procedures come down the pike every other week. If you hate uncertainty, it’s tempting to dream about a career where you can do your job and the rules don’t change, but it’s not realistic.

You think a new career could be more exciting. You’ve been doing the same thing for years; wouldn’t making a change put a new spring in your step? It might. However, many career changers are disappointed to learn that they bring many of the same negative feelings about work to their new careers. Even a new career becomes old in time. Before planning your career shift, make sure you think about what you need to change in your life and consider the various opportunities to incite that change. For example, if your job isn’t challenging, maybe you could spend your extra energy creating a freelance business to bring in extra money on the side. Or, if you’re not entrepreneurial, identify some activities you’ve always wanted to try and join a club with other aficionados.

Work isn’t the only place where you can make changes in your life. Before you jump over the fence to walk on the greener grass, be sure to consider other alternatives and clarify your expectations. You don’t want to be surprised to learn that every lawn has some weeds.

photo by Bill Liao

The post Bad reasons to change careers appeared first on Keppie Careers.

(Note: I’m happy to have a content sharing partnership with IvyExec. I hope posts from their blog help provide additional resources and ideas for my normal readers, and I welcome IvyExec members to regularly read my blog. Follow the links to learn more about IvyExec.)

Contributed by Barak Epstein and IvyExec.

Perhaps youâ€ve heard of the phrase “Knowledge Economy,” popularized by Peter Drucker in The Age of Discontinuity. If so, youâ€re most likely familiar with the idea that more and more of us work in positions that depend upon the creation, use, and manipulation of knowledge, as opposed to of materials or rote processes.

You understand that the skills that we need to work are changing. Maybe you understand that the skills you need to find a job have changed. But what you may not understand is that your power to define your profession has grown enormously as well.

My key recommendation to you is to think about how your electronic footprint communicates who you want to be, professionally, and what you have to offer. Letâ€s take a look at three electronic leads that have helped to change my career.

A Bloggy Footprint
I was interested in moving from the education field to the technology field. As a result, I built up a series of blog posts on the topic. When I landed an interview with a prominent technology firm, I shared my URL with the interviewer. She later wrote me to say that an article I had written about electronic textbooks in Texas resonated with personal experiences her family had had. I believe that this view constituted a key moment in my job search. My blog didnâ€t have a large following, numbers-wise, but its impact on my life had still been huge.

Donâ€t Let them Forget You: Regular Updates
Twice a year, I send out an update to professional and personal contacts about my achievements, plans and interests. I make sure to make the note conversational and link-filled. The body of the e-mail is short, but the links are rich. I recently was contacted by the head of a think tank that had passed me over for a job two years earlier. He wrote “I have been following closely your incredible career” before offering me interesting contract work. What convinced this gentleman, in the aftermath of my unsuccessful interview with him, that my career was “incredible”? One thing only: My semi-annual updates.

Trust the Crowd: Donâ€t Focus Too Much on Your Targets
Many folks will tell you how to use Ivy Exec, LinkedIn, etc. for targeted searches of companies that interest you or to scope out individuals you would like to meet. Those activities are critical. But donâ€t underestimate the importance of having an electronic network that is large and diverse enough to surprise you. I use Facebook, for instance, to share my thoughts on professional topics and to provide updates on issues at work that engage me. As a result, an acquaintance I havenâ€t seen in 20 years offered me his rich rolodex of contacts at my new firm. I wouldnâ€t have thought to seek him out for this sort of help but I did think to spend time digging up old contacts from the electronic universe.

Summing it Up
You are not the only person bombarded with social media opportunities; the people you seek to influence are in a similar situation. The challenge, naturally, is to get through to them. The opportunity, however, is that you can, through a few well-placed communications, shape the perceptions of those who have increasingly little time to evaluate you. If your electronic footprint is thoughtful, regular, and not over-targeted, I believe that you, too, can make the career change you desire.

The original article can be found on the Ivy Exec Blog.

Barak Epstein is transitioning his career to technology management after working as a teacher and social science researcher. Barak is an IvyExec All Access member at IvyExec. Ivy Exec, a web-based recruiting company that combines next generation technology with human power to deliver customized hiring solutions targeting high caliber professionals to help place them in executive jobs. 

photo by dekade

The post How to change careers in a knowledge economy appeared first on Keppie Careers.