How do you find or research what job would suit you?

thecolourbox

I'm undergoing a bit of a pre-midlife crisis at the moment, my job is being ridiculous and taking over my life as I'm too tired grumpy and agitated to do anything with the two hours between when I get home and when I go to bed and it's affecting things at home which I need to  change for the better.

I'm not after job recommendations or any tips as to how to improve my current job - that situation will not be changed for the better so trying to do that is futile.

What I'd like like to do is consider other jobs or industries, to see if there is anything that would appeal or whether I'm better just moving around to a different company doing the same job.

But I've never known what to do, back to school/6th form/uni days I've never had a clue and have simply made choices based on what presents itself at the time, hence I'm now 30 and have no control over my life.

How on earth do you even start to find out what jobs are out there that might be appropriate? How do you decide what you might want to do? There's so much info (that seems woolly at best for the most part) on Google that I just don't know how to even start.

I don't really want suggestions of actual jobs as I say, because it'll probably derail with me evaluating them negatively and I'll seem ungrateful.

Thanks all in advance

monquixote

What do you do now?

thecolourbox

Property Management

mellowsun

I think trying lots of different things can help. I used to hate computers in my teens and early 20s, if someone told me back then that in the future I'd be writing machine learning software I would have laughed them off as a lunatic.

One way to help decide is to do some courses. There are many free or cheap ones online. Or if you have time, an evening class.

tone1

My friend was really depressed in a well paid London Insurance type job in a suit...He had a wobble and told his wife he wanted to quit. His Wife made him see a life coach, who eventually got out of him, his desire to help people..He re trained and is now an X-Ray person (Radiologist) and is very happy 

So basically..See a life coach

Edit...it was definitely my friend and not me btw

WezV

walk out.  Start again.

it sounds ridiculous and scary, and it will be for a while.  But you will find another job and you will realise that you have many other options if you chose to take them

thecolourbox

mellowsun said:

I think trying lots of different things can help. I used to hate computers in my teens and early 20s, if someone told me back then that in the future I'd be writing machine learning software I would have laughed them off as a lunatic.

An article I just read (apart from being full of the usual buzzword bingo) was saying that, but I'd need to work out how to do that whilst also doing a more than full time job. Tricky but potentially a start yeah

thecolourbox

tone1 said:

My friend was really depressed in a well paid London Insurance type job in a suit...He had a wobble and told his wife he wanted to quit. His Wife made him see a life coach, who eventually got out of him, his desire to help people..He re trained and is now an X-Ray person (Radiologist) and is very happy 

So basically..See a life coach

I'd have no idea how to find a life coach as I'm a deeply cynical person but could be worth a look. One of the big concerns is having to do the same level of retraining as I've already done for this job, and having to start once again at a job I could have done at 18 (and with the appropriate significant salary drop back to that level) is scary but probably necessary

thecolourbox

WezV said:

walk out.  Start again.

it sounds ridiculous and scary, and it will be for a while.  But you will find another job and you will realise that you have many other options if you chose to take them

Lol would love to and could easily do that each and every day but I've a mortgage to pay and very few transferrable skills to rely on in finding something else quickly!

WezV

thecolourbox said:

WezV said:

walk out.  Start again.

it sounds ridiculous and scary, and it will be for a while.  But you will find another job and you will realise that you have many other options if you chose to take them

Lol would love to and could easily do that each and every day but I've a mortgage to pay and very few transferrable skills to rely on in finding something else quickly!

Yeah, I was there at 30 too.  I have a much stronger CV now 6 years later, but I did have to start from scratch with something totally different. 



I'm not really saying it's the smart move, but it does give you a kick up the arse

ToneControl

retrain as a plumber

ThePrettyDamned

WezV said:

thecolourbox said:

WezV said:

walk out.  Start again.

it sounds ridiculous and scary, and it will be for a while.  But you will find another job and you will realise that you have many other options if you chose to take them

Lol would love to and could easily do that each and every day but I've a mortgage to pay and very few transferrable skills to rely on in finding something else quickly!

Yeah, I was there at 30 too.  I have a much stronger CV now 6 years later, but I did have to start from scratch with something totally different. 



I'm not really saying it's the smart move, but it does give you a kick up the arse

Me too. 

Okay, I'm struggling for work right now, but my cv is much better, I've made some great friends and completed a few, truly, once in a lifetime projects. Every time I feel a bit crap, I try to remember you telling me about your own struggle through, and how much happier you are for me. 

The struggle, in my opinion, is worth it. I'm young, though, and I don't have a mortgage, so it's much easier for me to say. But I've had interviews for a good few positions that, frankly, I'd not have had a chance in hell at previously. 

Life is too short to be unhappy at work though I reckon. And I reckon that applies at pretty much any age. 

thecolourbox

ToneControl said:

retrain as a plumber

Not necessarily that but I have considered other manual things even though I'm about as practical as a wet fish. But i'm really not after job recommendations, just how to find what I might want to do

WezV

the decision I took wasn't the smartest, but it gave me the drive I needed to change the things I wasn't happy with.

thecolourbox

Yeah I just need to find something to make me want to have drive...vicious circle

WezV

thecolourbox said:

Yeah I just need to find something to make me want to have drive...vicious circle

And the time.... doesn't sound like you will get that in your current situation.

Iamnobody

Even if you think you might like a certain job there are many variables that could wipe that enjoyment out. Company culture, bad management, colleagues that you simply cannot get on with, difficult customers etc etc.

In my experience few people 'really' enjoy their job and most seem to do it as a means to an end.

There are exceptions of course and some of those people will be doing highly rewarding jobs for very little take home pay. Others will be earning 6 figures and enjoying everything that comes with it.

The thing is with work it's hard to try completely new things once you get to a certain age. You are probably below that age and it doesn't sound like (apart from the mortgage) you have many commitments or dependants.

I couldn't easily retrain as my family wouldn't manage on a trainee wage.

So whilst I think I've made some bad career decisions and can't honestly say I enjoy my work. I appreciate the relative security and the fact it funds my families (modest) lifestyle.

If I wanted to move industries I'd have to look for an equivalent wage and with little/no experience that will be tough. That said I've come up with a medium term plan to make my skill set more generic and try and open myself up to other industries. Can you do that. Take advantage of any training at work or  even study outside of work?

How else can you look to the future - maybe sit down and make a list of things that interest you, and would make you what to get up every morning. Then see if any of those things are actual jobs or related to a certain job. That might be a start.

Also ask friends and family (and here) if they love their job. Take that list and see if you are interested in similar work.

The grass isn't always greener but you are probably young enough to do whatever you want to do. 

Good luck with it - I don't think anyone else can help you, this is something you need to work out by yourself.

monquixote

I changed career at 28. 

I did AI as a degree, but then ended up working in broadcast engineering. I then realised that the industry didn't really exist outside London (where I no longer wanted to live) and was slowly being eaten by the IT world. 

I really wanted to switch over to software development as I thought the prospects were better and it would be a more interesting job, but in the intervening time I'd gone up about £10k from a starting grad salary and couldn't afford to go back down again.

What I ended up doing was getting a broadcast engineering role at a software company and then essentially did everything I could to take on as much software development work as I could. 9 years on and a couple of promotions later I'm the head of engineering at the same company.

Similarly I know someone who worked in law and always wanted to work in the music industry. He managed to make a side move into music law and ended up working for a major label. Though he wasn't in anything so glamourous as A&R, or management he still got to go to loads of industry bashes and gigs. 

You mention you are very cynical and you really need to work on kicking that into touch if you want to turn your life around. I am by nature a cynical person and I've been trying to get past it for a long time. If you spend your life examining the dentistry of gift horses then you end up letting opportunities pass you by because you only see them as risks. 

A couple of books I'd recommend:

"So good they can't ignore you"
It's kind of the anti "What colour is your parachute" (a book I strongly recommend you don't read when someone inevitably suggests it)

"7 Habits of highly effective people" 
It's horrifically cheesy and a cynic will probably want to throw it out of the window at least 10 times, but it really challenges you to work out who you are, what are your values are and the way you need to behave to get what you want out of life.

skunkwerx

Im in the same boat except I have no training or relevant qualifications. 

Im at scratch and havnt even started.. not from a lack of trying though. 

. Go and see a life coach. Or many therapists can also help with these things. 

I think the website is babcp or similar, that therapists have to register under. 

Also google the richmond fellowship, see if theyre local to you. They have career people who basically help people exactly like us. They dont expect you to know what you want. 

But theres tonnes of career advisors out there too. Good ones will open your eyes to things you may never have thought of, and will have an understading of routes in. 


You've already taken the first step, which is acting to change things. So feel better about that. 

But the reality is, to change, you may well have to go from scratch, train or take salary cuts.. 

Will the job satisfaction and work life balance make up for it? 

Fuck yeah it will. 

thermionic

I've changed career twice - once when I was young, planned it, and it worked out close to how I wanted, the second time after two redundancies in 5 years and a spell of unemployment forced it. These things can work out if you find a job where they're prepared to train you to do it. Easier said than done though, and I was looking at doing a year's teacher training course which would have left me in serious debt and a low starting wage with few prospects for promotion. I was lucky to find another job just in time, which although it meant going back to a graduate's salary in my mid-40s, I'm now trained, gaining another qualification and have had a decent pay rise after promotion. The frightening thing is that I'm not earning close to what I was pre-financial crash, but on the other hand, I didn't have to sell my house to survive.

The job I'm doing now is a very good match for my skills, so I guess what I'm saying is look for something that an employer can see that you could do. Don't waste energy on employers who want somebody who's done exactly the same thing before somewhere else.

BTW, when I was in a highly paid job but desperate to do something else I paid good money to a career consultant type to see if he could could give me any guidance. I can't recall anything that he said that was useful.

Grunfeld

thecolourbox said:

What I'd like like to do is consider other jobs or industries, to see if there is anything that would appeal.... 

How on earth do you even start to find out what jobs are out there that might be appropriate? How do you decide what you might want to do?

Keep your ears open.  Be ready for change.  Here's what I mean:
I had been in one profession for years and was reasonably competent and wasn't starving.  But wasn't fulfilled.
One day I heard something on the radio and I knew in an instant that I needed to do that.
I wrote to the bloke on the radio and the rest, for me, is history.
I trained in a new line of work and it totally fires me up.  I love it.
So now I have two lines of work.  And I do part-time in both.
And the idea is forming of a synthesis.
So that will be the next thing, I hope.

The basic most fundamental point is work out what your values are.
These are like your compass.
Pursue your values.