I want a new job, but don’t want to make the wrong move

As the job market continues to change and increasingly becomes a ‘buyers' market’ for candidates, I’m seeing clients get more aware of what they want from a role. Or to be more precise, what they don’t want. 

They might know their current job is no longer serving them, and want out, but they also want to avoid just jumping to the next thing and finding it's not a great deal better or different. They want to narrow the odds in their favour and become more focused about what sort of role they want. 

This isn’t about a career change, this is about making what your chosen profession more meaningful and, in the process, hopefully more fulfilling and engaging.  

This might seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t need to be. Start with these two very simple questions: 

1.The practical day to day: which parts of your current role do you like? 

Think about those parts of the job that you gravitate towards; the ones that you do and time just skips by. These are easily overlooked so get right back to basics here, for example is it talking to people and managing relationships? Is it giving presentations? Is it writing reports? Is it working in a team? Is it leading projects? Write down all the things that come to mind, don’t hold back, you can refine it later. 

2. The overall purpose of what you do: what kind of organisation do you want to work for? 

This isn’t about the wages (it's taken as read these are quite important!). We can easily lose focus by looking too hard here for a well-known ‘purpose’ like reducing the global carbon footprint. Purpose doesn't need to be so grand, it could be more simple and personal than that. Think about where and how you like to see your work having an impact. For example, is it important for you to be helping people or making things easier for them? Or perhaps you want to work for products that you think are cool or clever. Maybe challenging the status quo in a market gets you going? Like the clients I speak to, you’ll likely be surprised what this throws up. 

While there is only so much we can control about what happens in a new job and how it works out, taking these two steps could mean you’ve just narrowed the odds a little more in your favour.