Is Career Continuation or Career Change the Right Path For You?
First, it was the Great Resignation where workers were driven by lockdowns or burnout from the pandemic to quit their jobs in record numbers. Now, the employment landscape has shifted into something more nuanced. Millions of workers are leaving their jobs in search of roles with a better work-life balance and a workplace more aligned with their values – and it’s shaking up the labour market.
As reported in LinkedIn News, a recent survey by Robert Half Canada showed:
28 per cent of professionals plan to find a new job by mid-2022, up from 21 per cent six months ago. For millennials, that stat jumps to 40 per cent. And one in five workers say they're willing to quit before landing their next job.
If you are one of the many professionals who are feeling unfulfilled in your work and are contemplating if you should continue on the same path or look for a new career path altogether, you are not alone. But how do you go about making this decision? Working through a systematic plan is essential to discovering what meaningful work means to you. Through a formal process of self-assessment, research and discovery, goal setting and performing, you can create the work and life you desire.
Research is showing that the Great Reshuffle has many workers reevaluating their values, interests, strengths, personality and ambitions. The Job Bank from the Government of Canada has free resources and quizzes to begin to explore these areas:
Interests: See where your interests lie and explore what type of jobs would suit you well.
Abilities: Leverage your strengths. Find out what you are great at and explore careers that allow you to use your top skills.
Preferred Work: Choose how you prefer to work with data, people, and things, and get a list of possible career options to explore.
Personality: Determine whether you learn better by seeing, listening or through hands-on experience. As well as discover your unique style of thinking and understanding.
Work Values: Examine what values are important to you in your work environment.
Another fantastic resource the Toronto Public Library offers to help discover what is meaningful work to you is the book Rethinking Success: Eight Essential Practices for Finding Meaning in Work and Life, by J. Douglas Holladay.
Pre-pandemic, many felt a job was simply a way to earn a living. Today, employee need for personal job satisfaction has taken on greater importance and is top of mind for many. You don’t have to continue doing something that you don’t enjoy just because it is what you have always done. Employees are recognizing that careers are adjustable, and they are in control!
For more information on this topic, watch a recent workshop by Catherine Crawford on Crowdcast replay: Career Change or Career Continuation?
Need some personalized career advice? Book a free one-on-one appointment with a Career Coach in Residence.
Post written by Catherine Crawford, 2022 Career Coach in Residence.
The Career Coaches in Residence program is generously supported by RBC Foundation and with the support of several donors.
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