What to do if you want to change career – and you need to find paid work quickly

There are things you want, and things you need. 

• You want to find more fulfilling work – but you need to pay the bills in the meantime.
   
• You want to take the time to make the right decision for you – but you need to find something soon.
   
• You want to be exploring and planning for your long term dream – but you need to tackle short-term realities: filling out job applications, speaking to recruiters, asking your network for opportunities...

And while the ideal would be to do it all in one fell swoop – to identify a more fulfilling career and move efficiently into it right away – that’s unlikely to happen.

Here’s why (and what to do instead).

If you’re under high pressure, you’re not thinking clearly

Why? Because instability (whether it’s current, imminent, or coming down the pipes) feels unsafe. 

And when we feel unsafe, our nervous system switches into survival mode, activating what’s commonly known as the ‘fight, flight, or freeze’ response.

What’s happening if you’re in this mode? 

Your brain reduces activity in the neocortex, which is the part responsible for complex thought processes. At the same time, the amygdala steps up its activity, on high alert for danger.

While you might not feel actively afraid moment-to-moment, if your work (which is fundamentally connected to our sense of survival) feels unstable and you need to find something soon, then it’s highly likely this response is running in the background of your body and your mind. 

As a result:

• Your capacity for creative thinking and idea generation shuts down
   
• You become hypersensitive to risk (however great or small that risk might rationally be)
   
• Your emotional responses feel heightened 
   
• You’re less able to consider different options and perspectives

Maybe you’ve felt this already? 

Perhaps you’re:

• Coming up with ideas and shooting them down again: “Maybe I could explore something where I’m making a social impact… no, that’s too big a change – I don’t have time.”
   
• Hesitating to take action in any direction, because the down-sides feel too dangerous: “I could try this… but what if it doesn’t work? Then I’d really be in trouble.”
   
• Feeling scattered, unable to focus on one thing at a time: “I’ve got an hour free now – should I do some work on defining my values, or should I have another look on that job site to see if anything new has appeared?”
   
• Nervous to tell anyone about your career change dreams: “My family know things are already tight – this is going to sound ridiculous.”
   
• Riding a rollercoaster of emotions: “Yesterday I was excited and ready to make this happen – today I’m exhausted and afraid.”
   
• Struggling to let people help you: “People keep offering me advice and ideas, but none of it feels possible for me.”

Trying to find fulfilling work from this mode is risky

While it’s certainly possible to move directly into a more fulfilling career from a place of financial pressure and / or instability, it also carries significant risk.

You’re more likely to:

• Avoid decisive action, leaving you in a limbo state of ambivalence and uncertainty until your financial situation evolves to a point where your hand is forced.
   
• Get lost in overwhelm by trying to do too many things at once, and again, finding yourself in a position where you have to make a move that feels disempowered.
   
• Make a knee-jerk decision in one direction or another, without testing your ideas – and potentially ending up in a new career area that still doesn’t work for you, and where you feel even more lost and out of your depth.
   
• Lose motivation and self-belief, resigning yourself to being stuck and potentially giving up on the idea of fulfilling work entirely. 

Career change takes time 

Finding fulfilling work can often look, from the outside, like one big move; but in reality, it breaks down into two fundamental stages: 

1. The exploratory stage, where you’re discovering more about what’s out there, learning about yourself and what you want, and testing the options available to you
    
2. The shifting stage, where you’ve chosen the route you want to take, and you’re taking the actions necessary to make your shift happen.

The time each stage takes will, of course, depend on the type and size of career change you want to make – but on average, we’ve seen that the exploratory stage can take at least 6 months to complete.

If finding paid work in the next 3 to 6 months is a priority for you, then – purely from a practical perspective – dedicating yourself fully to the exploratory stage is likely to be difficult. 

You’ve got two competing areas to think about; to find time and energy for; to take action on.

They both matter – and (the state of your nervous system aside) both require the space to be attended to without being diluted.

So, given these realities, what do you do?

Start with stability

Career change is a creative process.

It involves trying on different possibilities; being open and vulnerable with others; exploring outside of your reality bubble; imagining potential futures that may not initially appear to be realistic.

To do all that, your nervous system needs to feel secure enough that it can operate from its normal state.

You need a solid baseline from which you can take the time to engage in the exploratory stage – and that you know you can run back to if something goes wrong.

Security, stability, reliability, predictability.

It doesn’t sound very sexy – but it’s oh so effective. 

And if you want to set yourself up for success in finding fulfilling work, it’s your wisest investment strategy.

Celebrate the foundational stage

If you’ve been daydreaming about a career change for a while, the idea of focusing on stability first can feel disappointing. 

Surely this was supposed to be about big dreams and clean slates and fresh beginnings?

Isn’t this pushing you off-course in your commitment to finding something fulfilling?

Don’t think about this as a detour. 

Task number one of any meaningful project is always to set yourself up for success.

So this isn’t a backwards stumble; it’s the first stage of the journey forward.

Treat it and celebrate it as such. You’re on your way.

Consider a stepping stone role

Stepping stone roles are powerful tools for bridging the gap between the-right-now and the-right-career.

They’re intentionally short-term, low-investment roles that free up the headspace and financial freedom you need to attend to your longer-term goals.

Your stepping stone might be a role in your current industry, where it’s easier to get your foot in the door, or it might be work that’s freelance, contract, or part-time. 

It could even be a part-way shift into something that’s at least a little different from what you’ve been doing – something that isn’t perfect, but that gives you a taste of variety and a fresh challenge to get your teeth into. 

Crucially, it needs to be something that takes the pressure off your nervous system and gives you the time and space to start thinking more creatively and adventurously about what comes next.

Draw up clear milestones

You want to set yourself up for stability as the first stage of a longer journey.

What you don’t want is to get stuck there.

And sometimes, the fear of getting stuck there can stop you from prioritising stability at all.

So take that concern off the table, and refocus your attention on finding security in the short-term, by agreeing some basic parameters with yourself.

• If your primary concern is financial stability: how much of a cushion do you want to have saved in order to free up your mind to focus on fulfilment?
   
• If this is more of a timing conversation: what’s the date by which you’ll start refocusing on the next stage of finding fulfilling work?
   
• If you’re navigating another major life change simultaneously: what will be the moment that you’re ready to re-prioritise and focus on your career change?

Creating clarity on the points at which you’ll move from this foundational stage into the next, exploratory stage, will keep you motivated to find something that gives you stability fast – and in so doing, get you to the next stage sooner. 

The upshot is: don’t try to do two things at once

Trying to find both a ‘right-now’ job and a fulfilling career at the same time is a recipe for risk.

You’re playing with fire; with overwhelm; with exhaustion; with knee-jerk decisions and rash moves. 

It may appear disheartening initially. 

But if you throw yourself into creating stability first, it won’t be long before you’re feeling confident and secure to make the right choice for your longer-term future.

How does the idea of focusing on stability first feel to you? Let me know in the comments below…