News

It’s coming to the end of the year which means that most of us are either evaluating our professional & personal lives and thinking about things we may want to change, or work on in the next year to help us feel more fulfilled. (We understand this may not be everyone).

One of the main things that crosses peoples minds is that they look at their career and figure out that they either are not happy in their role and are looking to change, or perhaps they think that it is time for a change in general.

There are many strong valid reasons that individuals should feel the need to start looking for a new job - for example, they may have been made redundant or they have worked very hard for a long time with no rewards or career progression in their current company and no sight of this in the near-future at all. However, there may be times that people are just fed-up and perhaps do not want to try to figure things out in their current role, when they could actually just talk to their manager or senior team and sort things out!

A jump out of role too soon can look bad on your CV if this is quite a regular thing you have done throughout their career, or certainly in difficult times such as these, if your company find out you are looking then they may feel that you no longer deserve the position when there are so many people desperate to find jobs at the moment – but a lot of the time this is worst-case scenarios.

We asked our team what they suggested are the really important factors to think about before you take that big step and decide to move on to a new job.

#1 Have a clear vision Do you know exactly what you are looking for in your new role? If you have found a role that you like the look of, realistically does it fit the vision you have in your head? Is it really going to be that much better than where you are currently at? You are the creator of your life, everything that happens will relate back to decisions you have chosen to go along with. If it feels right then you will fulfil that image you envisioned all along.

#2 Weigh up the pros and cons Thing can really seem bad in our heads, but when we give ourself that bit of time to think logically and to write the good and the bad out, we often feel some clarity and calm down our thoughts with a realistic and often, more positive approach to how we once originally felt or thought. That’s why we’re asking you to sit down for half an hour and write down the pros and cons of your current job. This may show just how much you really do need to get a move-on with finding a new job, or maybe it might let you think twice about feeling so badly.

#3 Check your career progression options Who do you want to be? How many people do you want working for you? What is your goal job title? Manager, Director, CEO? Will that job you have been looking at get you there? Or, is it a role you will be in until you decide to change again. If there isn’t much information given in the job description and you want to know your options, then be one step ahead from everyone else and try to contact the company to find out additional information, as nobody likes their time wasted (on either side).

#4 Be realistic It’s great when we all have ambitions of being this CEO of a massive organisation, or to be Head of a new Data Science department, but, no doubt this is going to be a role which is highly demanding, stressful and intense – Do you really want this? Do you have the experience and knowledge to fulfil it? The only person who truly knows if you have what it takes is you, nobody else. So if you are serious in advancing your career, that’s great! Just make sure you know exactly what is expected of you and if you would be happy with the outcome.

#5 Research companies This may sounds silly and time-consuming but it will really do good in giving you an insight into what the organisation are like where you are looking for your desired role. More and more often now we are seeing companies hire ‘happiness teams’ or getting HR to start researching into benefits they can offer to attract and retain their staff. Start-ups were the first to introduce less-regimented ways of working such as, working from home, flexible working or unlimited holidays. Companies are also trying to work towards getting themselves on ‘The best place to work’ awards list to shine amongst their competitors. So, get yourself researching on their website and social channels to find out how well they really do look after and care about their staff. As the last thing you want is to join a company who ends up over-working you with no way of giving back!