Excuses or Obstacles: What Truly Halts a Career Change?

In the past years approximately 25% of professionals changed career- according to a McKinsey study. During the pandemic we heard about “The Great Resignation” or “The Great Reshuffle”: employees quitting ‘en masse’ their job. The main reasons being: job dissatisfaction, inflexibility and hostile work environment.

When there is a misalignment between what we want professionally vs. reality, the change is almost inevitable. Yet, some professionals decide to remain in a job where motivation and frustration are the daily bread and butter thinking that they need to have all their ducks aligned to make a career change. That’s usually a big, fat excuse, not a substantial obstacle.

Excuses vs. real obstacles

When in the whirlwind of dissatisfaction and whining about a job you don’t like anymore it’s awfully hard to recognise real obstacles from plain excuses. Our brain tricks us into thinking that everything we see it’s an insurmountable problem to overcome. What we tend to do is to label the career change as impossible and stop. Without actually fact checking.

Let’s bust 3 recurring excuses around career change which can turn a ‘no way’ into a ‘way’.

Excuse #1 - “I will change my career when (___enter topic___) will happen”

This excuse is usually a moving target because what you are waiting to happen now can easily mutate into waiting for something else. What today sounds like “I need to wait until my kids are out of school and working” can easily transform into “I need to wait until they need to find a stable job” or “They need me now because they are pregnant”.

If you wait for all the planets to align to change career then you’ll be waiting for a very long time.

The first step to twisting this mindset is to realise what you are doing: i.e. procrastinating and making an external event accountable for your career. This may lead to blaming the event and everyone involve in it because you couldn’t realise what you wanted professionally.

To move forward ask yourself this question: How is this event really stopping me? Making a list of the facts - not perceptions, or feelings, or possible scenarios - will point you on what to do next.

Is this enough to identify what is the next step for a career change?

Excuse #2  - “Without my salary, bills won’t be paid”

First of all, who said you’ll be without a salary from one day to the next? 

What needs to be analysed is what is possible financially and plan for a career change. To do that, you need to calculate how much you really, really need on a monthly basis with a critical eye. Having a list of what is really necessary = without it your life is in danger, from what is somewhat superfluous = if I don’t have it for a month, will I even notice? 

Nowadays we want a comfortable life, therefore a lot is on subscriptions or insurance.The trick behind is “pay just few euros per month”. If you sum up all the “few euros” per month how much does it make? Now subtract what is superfluous. How much would you save annually? Now add a buffer for sudden expenses and a realistic amount to save for holidays.

At the end of the analysis you’ll:

• calculate how much it’s really essential on a monthly basis 
• purge all those monthly payments that are not needed.

Is this enough to start considering a career change? 

Excuse #3 - “I am too old with no expertise”

I heard people in their thirties coming up with this excuse. Professionals seldom consider that a career change is an addition rather than a start from zero. If you think about it, you need to have had a previous career to make a career change. Whatever is the new path ask yourself:

• what are my skills?
• out of my list, which ones are transferrable?
• which ones do I really need to learn from scratch for the new role?

Reaching to professionals already working in the new field will help you understand better what you need to put in place to make it happen.

Is this enough to support you in understanding what’s needed for your career change?

Moving forward 

A career change is not like switching off or on the light; it takes time and planning. Behind the excuses there is the fear of unknown which - in the majority of the cases - puts a hard stop before even starting to explore what’s feasible and what’s not.

Being aware of it and fact check if the excuse is a real roadblock or you can find a solution to it is one way to move forward.

What is your excuse for NOT making the career change you want?

About Elena

Elena added the role of career reinvention coach to her 2 decades of pricing and forecasting roles in American and Japanese corporations. Today, through her 3 programs, she coaches career conflicted top-level professionals reinventing themselves and find great fulfilment in their work.

“Twist your career into a new profession” 1:1 tailored sessions to have a 360 degrees pivot into a new role.

“Turn your strengths into superpowers” 1:1 tailored sessions to up-skill and re-skill natural talents increasing confidence and productivity.

“Job Landing Strategy©” 4 sessions to look for a new job and maximize the chances to be selected.

You can talk to Elena here and follow her on Linkedin.