How do you know if you should switch careers?

Six signs that it might be time to change worksYou often feel stressed and tired. You no longer believe in the company as before. Your skills don't match your personal interests. You just left your current position.

At Northeastern, faculty and students collaborate in our more than 30 federally funded research centers to address some of the biggest challenges in health, safety and sustainability. Explore our more than 150 industry-aligned graduate and certificate programs. Employees should seriously consider a career change if their work begins to affect their mental and physical well-being. Professional dissatisfaction often shows up as mental and physical exhaustion, and signs of exhaustion should be taken seriously.

When Sunday night rolls around (or whatever the start of your workweek indicates), you feel anxious, upset, or nervous, something known as the “Sunday night blues.” First, you should know that you are not alone. Nearly 81% of people experience anxiety on Sunday nights, and 59% say they know it's caused by the next work week. But you might not realize that you're experiencing Sunday night's depression. Instead, you might engage in procrastinating behaviors so that on Monday morning you can stay away for as long as you can.

You might stay up late watching marathon programs or mindlessly browsing social media. Start by creating your career change action plan, which will describe the steps you must take to successfully make the change. Recognizing even one of the indicators on this list could mean that it's time to change your profession. One of the most pragmatic reasons for changing careers is that their industry is in decline, said Damian Birkel, founder and executive director of Professionals In Transition, a career support organization.

While changing careers may seem overwhelming, you owe it to yourself to do something you enjoy. Finally, even if you say “no” to all the other items on this list, if you find yourself daydreaming about a new career more than you dedicate yourself to the current one, it may be time to change your profession. If you have conflicting ideas about your current career, you might be wondering if it's time to change your profession.

Myron Hibben
Myron Hibben

Unapologetic web trailblazer. Devoted beeraholic. Devoted coffee junkie. Freelance bacon geek. General bacon specialist. Total bacon junkie.