Signs You Chose the Wrong Career
Are you unhappy with the career or major you chose? Learn to recognize the warning signs that you need to change it and how you can make that happen.
What Are the Signs You Chose the Wrong Career?
Sometimes you make choices, and you don't realize how much of an impact they will have on your professional life. Have you worked through school or built up your skills in a particular field? Did you then realize that you are not as interested in that industry as you once thought? Well, there are actions that you can take to correct the situation. After all, this is the rest of your life we are talking about; you might as well make the best of it.After four years of undergraduate work, you decide that you aren't as interested in the major you chose as you originally thought. Well, you could always go through another two or three years of school, eventually changing your mind. However, sometimes financially, that's not the most realistic option.
So many people who graduated with a specific degree, or became trained in a certain field, and have ended up somewhere completely unexpected and different.
Regardless of your major, you have still gained skills and knowledge from your experiences. You could take your training and turn it into a vocation that you would truly enjoy by using your skills correctly.
Career Help Center
Three Signs You Chose the Wrong Career or Major
- You Don't Look Forward to Your Day
Whether you are in school or working, do you dread getting up every day? Do you find yourself uninterested in your life? You should be compelled by what you are learning or working on and should want to be involved in all things related to your field. When you stop enjoying the day to day responsibilities of your major or career, it is time to change something. - You Lack Motivation
If you are studying for exams or working on a project assigned to you by your boss, you should be excited to succeed at whatever tasks you set out to accomplish. When you have lost the feeling of excitement concerning your field, you should think about a change. A lack of motivation usually follows with an inability to concentrate on your tasks. Notice what you are thinking about during your work. If you feel like you can't concentrate, or have a lack of energy, these may be signs you chose the wrong career or major. - You Look Forward to Busywork
If you like handling tasks that are mindless and considered busywork, this may be a sign that your current studies are not for you. It would be best if you enjoyed the challenges of your school or work assignments. Having to use your brain and think about the task at hand is part of why you enter a field; to discover things that no one else has discovered.
How to Get Your Dream Career
Have you evaluated your situation and realized that the current career or major that you are pursuing is not for you? There are things that you should do to your professional portfolio to potentially change careers. You can use your major and career experience to enter a new field of study that is more interesting to you.- Evaluate Your Skills
Think about all the basic knowledge and abilities you have picked up from your school and life experiences. There are bound to be some transferable skills that you could use in a multidisciplinary approach.
Specialized skills are necessary for almost every field, so pick out your strengths and determine how you could use them in other situations. Once you determine your versatility, include descriptive statements on your resume about how these skills could transfer to your dream job. - Highlight Your Experience
Chances are you have gained some experience during the years that you have been in school. It would help if you placed an internship, a job, or volunteer work on your resume, but not in the way you might expect. Your experiences will most likely be related to your major, so you have to do your best to find the universal experiences that can be taken from them to demonstrate that you can handle your new field.
If you don't have much experience, get some! Postgraduate internships are becoming more and more popular, and it never hurts to get involved with local programs or volunteer work. This way if you are starting a new field of study, you may properly determine the specific experience you want to get before you begin.