辽宁高级人民法院:You May not need to Switch Companies to get a New Job

By February, chances are that the many of the resolutions you have kept since you made them in January equate to the number of times you are still going to the gym that’s costing you a small personal fortune each month (and wasn’t one of your New Year’s resolutions to get out of debt?).

If you are one of the many people who resolved to change career, you are not alone. Indeed, the Society for Human Resource Management reported that 75 per cent of employees said that they were planning to enter the job market in January. And, 48 per cent of people who want to quit their job cite better career development as the main reason for leaving.

But, before you jump ship and swim the treacherous seas to career nirvana, stop and think before dusting off your CV and handing in your notice. The grass isn’t always greener and what guarantee do you have that you will thrive in another company? The answer of course, is none.

So, you need to do some soul-searching and be honest about why you are unhappy in your current job. Are you are happy with your current employer but no longer feel that you are getting satisfaction from your job role. Or has the time come to steer your career in an entirely different direction?

Either way, there are ways to make a change without having to leave your current company.

People change jobs for various reasons ranging from feeling burnt out, bored or a loss of motivation to taking a new position as a stepping stone to promotion or job enrichment.

“Quite often, disillusionment can be something that sits within you”, says Gill Wilson, chief executive of the Careers Research Advisory Centre. “Reflect on the causes of your unhappiness and have a more can-do attitude”.

Other factors such as backbiting colleagues, gossips and office politics can, given time, have a negative effect on you. But, will it really be different somewhere else?

The success of any business is dependant on its staff and recruiting new people is a costly exercise. As such, it makes good business sense to encourage employees to stay with a company and employers usually prefer to hire and promote from within.

Talking to your manager at your next one-to-one or appraisal can open up a whole new dialogue about how to reshape and develop your current position or opportunities for other roles within the company.

You can satisfy your craving for doing something different and more stimulating by going on secondment, getting new training or even trying a few days work experience in a different part of the company.

If no such opportunities currently exist, seek out chronically unfilled responsibilities – tasks that need to be done but nobody actually owns – and integrate them into your current role. This will add experience to your skill set and put you in position of power when it comes to your next pay review and you will be able to negotiate from a position of strength.

“The reason people resist this strategy is that they feel they’re setting themselves up to do more without being paid for it”, say Arlene Hirsch, author of Love Your Work and Success Will Follow. “That’s short-sighted. If the skills you learn are really marketable, you can launch a new career from it”.

Identifying unfilled roles gives you a great opportunity to network with managers throughout the company. And, as more people become are aware that you are looking for a new challenge and recognise your work ethic, you could find that doors may open for you that you would otherwise miss.

But, what if, after all your efforts to make-over your current job, you decide that you still want to switch jobs? The key is to take it step by step and ask What?, Where?, and How? are you going to make the change and consider if you will be happy to do this on a long-term basis and, is it really necessary to leave your current employer at all?

Identify what you really enjoy doing, what skills you enjoy using the most and what your key strengths are. More importantly, think about how you can use these in your new role and emphasise them as much as possible so that your potential new boss doesn’t feel like they are taking a risk on you, particular if you are moving into a completely different role than your current position.

Research the area of work you want to move into and learn as much about it as possible, market trends, working environment, etc.

This will take time to work out. But, taking the time to reflect on where you are going and what you want out of your career will pay off in the long term. And, who knows, after some tweaking you may find that your current job isn’t that bad after all.