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Is it time for a career change?

Between the ages of 18 and 48, people report (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018):


  • Spending an average of 4.2 years with the same employer
  • Changing jobs an average of 11.7 times

Over that 30 year period, the BLS found that the average person changes jobs 2.1 times every 4 years. Many of these job changers may stay within their current employer or field. But many of these also include a full career change.

 

There are three major factors that come up time and time again when considering changing careers entirely: happiness, lack of energy, and finances. Having any one of these three things heavily taxed by your career can be draining and demoralizing. In the worst case scenario, you may be feeling pressure from all three. In that situation, you may feel like you are merely surviving. Thriving is not in sight.

 

Ask yourself the following questions.

Happiness:


  • Are you feeling disconnected from your passions?
  • Do you hate answering the question, “What do you do for a living?”?
  • Do you find yourself envying friends’ jobs? What is it that you envy?
  • Do you miss the things that brought you to your current industry in the first place?
  • Have your family or friends noticed changes in your happiness/behavior recently?

Lack of Energy, Chronic Fatigue:


  • Do you experience the “Sunday Night Dread”?
  • Do you struggle to get out of bed for work on a daily basis?
  • Are you always tired at work, especially in meetings?
  • Do your work days feel increasingly slow?
  • Are you uninterested in and indifferent about the work that your current company does?

Financial:


  • Are you are coasting in your career (getting along, but not necessarily excelling)?
  • Are you at a “dead end” in your career, with no intriguing option to move upward in your current work?
  • Do you feel like your time could be better spent elsewhere?

Of course it is impossible to feel happy and satisfied at work 100% of every day, but if you answered yes to more than half of these questions, then it may be time to consider a change in your career. Hear what a Mount Alum had to say about her experience changing her career:

 

The Mount can help!

Many of our graduate programs are designed for those who are looking for a new career path. With the growing global population and current aging generations, there is an increasing need for qualified professionals in education and healthcare. We offer a variety of graduate level degree options for both fields. See below for more specific information on the needs for each field. Data was gathered using O*Net OnLine, the U.S. Department of Labor’s website for career analytics.

Written by Kate Marrero, MSE