3 Major Reasons Why You Should Not Change Your Career Yet

3 Major Reasons Why You Should Not Change Your Career Yet

By Lilian Wamaitha
Have you reached a point where you are just flowing with the motions, have no idea what you are doing with your life and wish that you could be doing something else – something you actually enjoy?
If you are in a career that was not your first choice to begin with, you are bound to have all these feelings like you deserve something better.
Most of the time, the only option you have is quitting your current job to pursue something that is actually in line with your passion.
“I have coached so many people some of them even general managers and CEOs, some of whom say that no matter how much they are earning, they just don’t enjoy doing what they do,” says Mr. Perminus Wainaina, a professional career coach and Managing Director of Corporate Staffing Services.
The Kenyan job market is so saturated such that most of us, especially fresh graduates find ourselves working in jobs that we did not qualify for.
For example, nowadays it’s no surprise to find an engineer stuck in a customer service role for over two years even. Why? Because in an uncertain job market, you can’t afford to be choosy. You have to take what is thrown at you if you want to make a living at the end of the day.
What does this do?
Due to this, we are raising a generation that is not motivated, lack the skills to succeed in their careers and may never find the kind of fulfillment that comes from doing something that you love. These are the kind of people who will just be showing up to work because they have bills to pay.
They will not show any initiative or go above their call of duty because they can’t find any meaning in what they are doing.
These are the kind of people who will quit a job without batting an eye lid in the hopes of something much better and more fulfilling.
While going back to your chosen profession is possible, it is important to have a clear focus on what it is that you want to do. However, quitting is not the only option. It will not mean that life will all of a sudden get better for you because you have quit your boring job for another one.
Here are things to reconsider before changing careers totally.
1. Your qualifications change
The truth about working in a different job from your choice career is that you grow experience in a different field. As such, no one will be willing to hire you for your dream career.
Take for instance, this HR professional who has been working in sales for two years but now wants to go into HR. It means they will have to start over, but the truth is that employers are reluctant to hire someone who has no qualifications in their chosen field.
In their case, they would rather go with that job seeker who has six months internship experience in HR that this other one who seems to have lost so much touch with the HR profession.
You see employers are not just looking for your papers, but they are looking to invest in the experience that has already been gained in the job market.
It doesn’t matter if you even have a master’s degree in management & leadership, if you do not have the experience, getting that job will be almost impossible.
It is just like wanting to go back to practicing medicine when you have been a receptionist for 3 years. You clearly do not have the experience required and no one would be willing to give you the chance to practice just based on the degree that you acquired 3 years ago.
2. You have to start from scratch
This is a no brainer. Like I said, that degree or diploma you have will not make you more employable if you don’t have the experience and skills to back it up.
After many years of being out of your profession, you will not just start at any level. The most you can do is start at entry level and work your way up. This will be difficult, especially if you have already been working for a very long time.
That HR professional who has been working as a sales executive for two years can’t all of a sudden want to become the HR Officer just because they have a degree that reads Human Resource.
And apart from dealing with a substantial salary cut, you have to be prepared to have people talk down on you because you will be viewed as a beginner because you have zero experience to back up your qualifications.
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3. You lose out on advancing your existing career
Say you have been in sales for the past 3 years and have advanced gradually from entry level to a sales manager, the decision to go back to a dream career will mean that your sales career will have to stagnate.
This will mean that all the hard work that you had put in will all go to waste as it will no longer be considered relevant, especially if the field you are going into is very different from the one you were in.
Before you make the decision to go back and pursue the profession that you had originally chosen, you have to be very sure that you are willing to go the whole way.
I have seen people who were thrown into a profession they never wanted but in the course of it, got to enjoy it and even turned it into their dream careers.
I have this belief that any job can be fulfilling as long as you see the end goal. This is especially because a majority of us have no control over what course we get to pursue.
For instance, I wanted to be a doctor and I know I would have made a very good one but I never got to pursue it. Instead, I was thrown into communication and have surprisingly come to enjoy it and have turned it into a career.
It’s now up to you
Don’t get me wrong though, it’s not about settling at the end of the day. If a career doesn’t resonate with you, you have a right to start over and pursue what you love. But if you feel like starting over is not worth all that you have built, it’s not worth taking that risk. You can’t work in communication for 10 years and decide to throw all that experience away for a taste of what the procurement industry is all about.
Lilian is a Communication Officer at Career Point Kenya. If you have any career related queries, contact lilian@www.careerpointkenya.co.ke. From the above information, is a career change worth it at any level? Feel free to leave a comment below.

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