There comes a time upon each of us when we are faced with the difficult decision about career change. Most of the time it may be triggered by:

• Loss of Job
• Stress at workplace
• Stress at home
• Sheer boredom
• Lack of motivation
• Inadequate salary
• Insufficient utilization of your natural talents

And more.

At the same time, there are several factors that inhibit us from actually making a change:

• Affordability - have to pay that mortgage, that college tuition, that car loan
• Inability to see a different future - we are unable to imagine a life that could be any different from the present one!
• Unwillingness to move - we do not wish to change our living area
• Unwillingness to learn the new skills required to do well at a new job
  and critically
• Inertia - "Ah, I will carry on - I can live with it"

Work at any place, whether it is your own business, or at an employer, has its ups and downs, its good and bad days. 

But more often, the difficulty of making a career change decision arises when you become comfortable at your job; though you know it is not quite what you wanted to or should be doing.

A Career Change Scenario

Let us walk through a scenario we frequently confront:

Anne has been working as a sales assistant at a bakery shop. She loves talking to customers and serving them bread and pastries every morning. She is quite satisfied with the job, though it pays a little less than she would like ideally.

Two days ago, Anne's manager, Beth, asked her to begin learning the baking process as she needed an extra hand in the kitchen. Anne did not like the change, she just does not like to work in the kitchen.

Is it time for Anne to switch jobs?

It is probably too early.

Anne ends up spending more time in the kitchen now, helping with the baking, than she is selling. Over a period of 4-6 weeks, Anne becomes comfortable baking, but still misses her days as a sales person. But she is otherwise quite satisfied with the work atmosphere, and wants to continue.

Let us stop right here!

Anne is comfortable at her job, but she knows that sales is where her heart is at. She loves the people she works with and the work atmosphere. These are difficult things to find sometimes, and she knows that well. Should she however be looking for a new job? And in her case, she has had an internal career change, from assistant sales to assistant chef! Should she reclaim her original career?

The tough choices

A few good things that Anne can glean from her experience are:

• She loves sales and is good at it
• She can do well in other areas, but sales is where her heart is

A good thing for Anne to do at this stage would be:

• Seek out a second job that is purely sales in nature
• Work on it on a commission basis (much easier to find such a job), and see if she can further her experience
• Once her sales history become steady, and she has picked up enough nuances to strike it on her own, then and only then, should she leave her present job

Anne could go cold-turkey and leave her current job and look for a new sales-person opportunity. But this pathway ignores Anne's current state of mind -

"She is comfortable where she is today"

That one statement has tripped many a promising persons in many situations. The only technique that works with reasonable success in such situations is to establish the career of your choice as a side-job, a source of extra income. You can step into the role full-time when the time is right, and opportunities come knocking at your door.

Not all comfort zones are bad

That does not mean that if you are comfortable at your workplace, there is something wrong. On the other hand, congratulations are in order! But if in that comfort zone you recognize a part of you that is not feeling fulfilled - that is your inner voice calling out to you. Pay attention to it, it just might be the ticket to a new world that you may not have envisioned yet!

There is help for those wish to really learn about their career possibilities by using career coaches.