Are you successful in your chosen career, but wondering if you actually chose the right career? Did you spend years gaining qualifications, work hard for promotion, and climb that corporate ladder only to find that it’s up against the wrong wall? Do you now feel you can’t or shouldn’t change career or move out of your specific industry - but you know you’d love to find your ideal job?

Here are my 5 Top Tips to help you consider making some positive changes.

1. Identify your transferable skills. Realise that you do have transferable skills. Your technical skills may be specialised, such as property law or inheritance tax planning, however you will have a whole range of abilities and talents. So explore these skills – think of a task or assignment that you enjoyed and dealt with successfully, and list the skills you used. These could include listening, establishing rapport with your client, analysing, seeing the big picture, finding the best solution, meeting deadlines, managing a team, communicating effectively…and so on.

2. Consider who you want to be. It’s not just about what you want to do. Who do you want to be, and how can you best express that?

3. Expose obstacles. What’s stopping you from making changes? It could be fear of the unknown, or money implications - in which case, what could you do to reduce those risks? Or you could feel tied by your qualifications. You may be thinking that because you studied for your degree, then spent another five years gaining a professional qualification, you shouldn’t leave your particular industry. Is that true?

4. Consider how you want to feel. How are you feeling right now in your current job? Is your work satisfying and fulfilling? How would it feel if you knew what work would be ideal for you, if you were doing meaningful work that combined your talents, skills and aspirations?

5. Be open to possibilities. What would you love to do? For the next two weeks, look at some job advertisements and websites and make a note of anything at all that appeals to you, then review your notes and see if there is a theme that strongly attracts you. Research it and see where it leads!

”Find a job you like and you add five days to every week.” ~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.


Copyright Jackie Fletcher 2006

Jackie Fletcher is a life satisfaction and career coach, based in the UK, who specializes in helping people find their ideal job. For more information visit her career coaching website.

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