There are usually two times during the year when we re-evaluate our careers/jobs. It’s usually just after our summer holidays when we return to the routine of work and bosses we hate, coupled with the summer blues. And, in the New Year when for the umpteenth time we say we are going to take a risk and follow our passion. I know that I made some of my biggest career decisions during these two periods during the year. To this day I can remember clearly when I made the decision to move to Spain. It was after a fabulous holiday in Spain, I was on the plane home to the UK feeling so sad to be leaving beautiful blue skies, wonderful food, a relaxed and safe way of life, and the kind of lifestyle I was just getting used to. It was early September, and as we touched down at Heathrow ariport in the early afternoon, the sky was black. The pilot advised us there were storms on the way, the traffic out of the airport car-park was grid-locked, the car-parking fee was exorbitant and the journey home took 2.5 hours instead of the usual 1.5 hours (because of road-works everywhere despite it being a Sunday!) I just remember saying to my husband, “Why are we doing this? Who says we have to live in the UK?” And so began our first foray into chasing our happiness and not our pensions.
Over the next few weeks, I am going to give you some career beliefs that need to busted once and for all as a way of helping you “chase your passion and not your pension!”
Career Myth 1: It’s a tough job/economy at the moment, so now is not the time to make changes.
Despite the newspapers and TV news constantly telling us that unemployment is at it’s highest and job grwoth is at a standstill, or that we will experience a slow economic recovery, not to mention down-sizing and outsourcing, don’t believe it.
It’s a myth because it doesn’t reflect the whole story. The fact is it is a different job market today. How we transition from job to job is different. Hiring practises have changed but NOT stopped. What makes it tougher is that we’ve been slower to change. We’ve held on to old practises and old behaviours. For example methods of networking have changed considerably in the last few years. It’s nearly all done on-line. That’s not to say the old ways don’t work anymore. They are just not as effective anymore. Despite being told we are in a recession you just have to glance at some of the top job sites on-line and you will see there are new jobs, in every sector, for just about every country and for every salary range, listed every day. I have also worked with countless clients that have made the jump and changed careers, gone back to University or started new businesses (and are exceedingly well) all during the recession we are living in at the moment. The problem is news programmes and newspapers thrive on instilling fear. My first piece advice is go on a “news/media” diet for a week, and just see how differently you will feel. Once you stop absorbing all the negative news that we are bombarded with, then you will start to feel in a better place to start making decisions. Let me tell you, I have not watched the news for over 1.5 years. It is banned in my house, and my husband and I are always being asked how we are always so positive and happy. I put it down to our “news diet”.
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