So, You’ve Chosen the Wrong Career. Here’s What to Do Next.
It’s a long life, and most career paths are more winding roads than straight lines.
Still, if you’ve invested time and money in training for a career, only to discover that you hate your job, you’re probably in a bit of a panic right now. That’s understandable.
Here’s the good news: you’re not alone. While it’s hard to find statistics on exactly how many careers the average person has in their lifetime, the answer is generally, “A couple.” Even better news: not every career change requires years of school or expensive retraining.
If you find yourself unhappy with your career and unsure of what to do next, here’s where to start:
1. Make Sure It’s Your Career You Hate, and Not Your Job or Your Boss
There’s an old saying: “People don’t quit jobs. They quit bosses.” Research bears this out. A LiveCareer survey reports that 40% of respondents had left a job because of their manager.
Similarly, a job can be a bad fit and not reflect on the job-holder’s aptitude for the occupation as a whole. If you’re thinking of changing careers, it’s a good idea to start by asking yourself whether you hate the career … or some aspect of your current employment.
How can you tell the difference? Beyond the obvious indicators like an abusive boss or a corporate culture that just doesn’t click, consider typical job duties for the role. Would you hate what you were doing each day, if you could do it in a different place?
2. Do Some Soul-Searching
When we’re in school, teachers and family members stress the importance of being practical. That’s fine advice, but it does have a way of squelching your ability to hold onto your dreams.
Now’s the time to step into your mental time machine and think about your aspirations way back when. What did you want to be when you grew up? Maybe the exact role is out of the question (the demand for pop stars and astronauts being a bit low), but you might remember some things about your original goals that will help you out today. You might need a job that’s more creative, or one that helps you save the world.
3. Talk to Kindred Spirits Who Love Their Jobs
True story: Jen’s mom went back to school at the age of 35 to become a registered nurse. Why? Because she happened to get a part-time job at a hospital, met some nurses, and realized that she liked their approach to life and work, and felt at home among them.
The lesson is that if you can find your people, you can sometimes find your dream career. Talk to the people you love most about the jobs they love. Even if you don’t feel a connection with their occupation, you might learn something about what makes them happy at work—and that could spark a revelation as to what you should do next.
4. Go on Informational Interviews
Once you have a few possible occupations in mind, it’s time to start talking to people who have the jobs you want. If that seems daunting, it might help to know that most people love to talk about what they do, especially with someone who’s excited about their field.
Beyond that, you’ll likely find that people are surprisingly generous with their time, especially if you come recommended by a friend. So, start asking your connections if they know anyone who knows anyone who does what you want to do, and network your way into a conversation.
5. Look for Transferable Skills
All occupations require skills that transfer to other jobs; the key is learning to look for the commonalities, instead of focusing on how far you have to go to make the transition.
Looking at job descriptions can be a big help. Keep a copy of your current job description handy, fleshing it out with job descriptions for similar titles at other companies. Then, when you find a potential new career, compare what you do to what’s required in the new role.
Chances are, you’ll find that you already know a lot more than you think you do. That foundation will give you the confidence you need to start picking up the skills and networking your way into your new career.
6. Figure Out What You Can Do Next
There are many online tools you can use to generate ideas for the next step on your career path, explore job options, and find training programs to help you get where you want to go. Here are some of them:
Free Online Career Quizzes: These free online career quizzes that are quick and easy to do. They will help you generate ideas about career possibilities—and where your career path might go from here.
CareerOneStop Compare Occupations: Use CareerOneStop’s Compare Occupations tool to compare your current job to other occupations to see what you could earn and learn about the skills you need to get hired.
CareerOneStop Skills Matcher: Rate your expertise on 40 workplace skills, then review a list of career options that match your highest-rated skills.
LinkedIn Career Explorer: Enter your current occupation to view similar jobs, how your skills overlap with the skills required for the new job, and openings in your area.
My Next Move: Search careers by keyword, browse careers listed by industry, or answer some questions to get ideas for your next job.
mySkillsmyFuture: You can use mySkillsmyFuture to explore career options where you can use the skills you already have. Enter your current or previous occupation to get a list of jobs that match, learn about how much they pay and the educational requirements, and get job listings.
O*NET OnLine Skills Search: Create a customized list of your skills, then view a list of occupations that use those skills and see how close a match you are to the job.
7. Find Training and Funding
Once you’ve researched options, you can use these resources to help you find training programs:
Find Training Programs: You can use CareerOneStop's enhanced Local Training Finder to search for training, from six-week certificates to two-year, four-year, and graduate programs, in any career or industry in any local U.S. area.
Free Amazon Courses: If you’re looking to upgrade your skills, Amazon offers more than 600 free, on-demand cloud computing courses to the public on AWS Skill Builder in up to 14 languages. Learn more on the AWS Training and Certification website.
Free Online Training Courses: These free online courses and training programs will help you get the skills you need to enhance your resume and shift your career in a new direction.
Free LinkedIn Learning Courses: Linkedin Learning and Microsoft offer courses and professional certificates to help you learn the skills you need to get hired for in-demand tech and tech-enabled jobs. The courses are free through 2025.
Find Funding: If you need help paying for training, CareerOneStop’s Scholarship Finder can help you with funding. Also, some states offer free college tuition for returning adults.
8. Get Help
Sometimes, we need more help than online tools can give. If you’re overwhelmed, need some direction, have questions, or could use some assistance, you might consider engaging the services of a career counselor or coach. Here's how a career counselor can help, along with advice on how to choose a coach that's a good fit.
New & Noteworthy
Free Workshop And Coaching For Unemployed Workers Over 50: AARP’s BACK TO WORK 50+ program offers free workshops, interview tips, and support from career coaches in your community or online. Here’s how to find a workshop or you can call the Work Resources Hotline at 866-271-9232 if you’d prefer to speak to a real person.
How Much You Need to Live Comfortably: The Charlotte Observer reports that a single adult earning less than $80,000 per year cannot afford to live comfortably in any U.S. state, and a family of four needs to earn over $200,000 to live comfortably in all but seven states. What’s as concerning as the amount you need to earn to get by, is that a family of four in every state needs to earn over $9,000 more than last year to reach that comfortable milestone.
The Hidden Time Bomb in the Tax Code: If you haven’t heard of Section 174, you’re not the only one. We’ve been wondering about tech layoffs since they started ramping up, and thanks to Quartz, we’ve learned what’s happening. For almost 70 years, American companies could deduct 100% of qualified research and development spending (including salaries) in the year they incurred the costs under Section 174 of the IRS Code. That changed in 2017 when R&D expenses were required to be amortized over 5 or 15 years. Since then, more than 500,000 tech workers have lost their jobs.
Our Favorite Tools & Tips
Find LinkedIn Jobs Posted in the Last Hour: This free LinkedIn job search tool from Jan Tegze lets you quickly find the latest job postings on LinkedIn, whether they went up in the last hour, 3 hours, 6 hours, or 24 hours, so you can be one of the first to apply.
Focus on Being a Low-Risk Candidate: In this challenging job market, employers are passing on high-risk applicants in favor of those they believe will be dependable, fit in with the team and company culture, and have a track record of delivering results. Nick Kossovan’s The Art of Finding Work newsletter includes strategies for showing companies that you’re the type of candidate they need.
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The point about transferable skills really feels important tto underscore. I work as a career coach and sooo many people I see assume a pivot means wiping the slate clean. When people realise their past experience still counts and that it still belongs in the next chapter - I so often see the pressure ease a lil
We are not starting from scratch but from context… from patterns, preferences and a history that absolutely has validity and weight. I loved the practical tone of this piece!