Having a mid-career crisis? Life must have been a lot simpler in the old days. Once upon a time, if your dad was a Bricklayer, or an Accountant, there was a good chance that is what you became. Really you had very few career choices to make. Women had even fewer choices to make (not in a good way) ; even the handed down career opportunities were not there. However the downside of choice and empowerment, is that choice can often lead to need for change, and change can not always be good for your psyche or for your career….

As the stress of being in a tough recruitment market grew, I would myself have sat every lunch break, pondering if I would ever be able to move on from my current career. Ten years previous I had graduated with an aspiration to write for TV and Film, ten years later, I still sat scribbling notes of ideas on pieces of paper, for ideas I had that would actually never transpire.With this in mind, here are some things you may wish to consider if you are possibly in the midst of your own Mid-Career Crisis (Career transition or career change to be slightly more PC)

Can you afford not to?

The main thing that always stopped me thinking about leaving my job was the obvious security that being in employment gives you. You have your metaphorical slippers under the table, so to speak. ‘The Recession’ has had two effects on the migration of workforces. Firstly, there have been fewer jobs created by employers – an obvious effect of economic downturn. Secondly, people are less likely to leave their current jobs, even if they hate the job that they do.

It has been more a case of ‘keep your job’ rather than ‘love your job’ for many of us. For those of you who live in Countries like the USA where private healthcare is the norm, having health insurance is definitely one of the problems an adult doesn’t want to make a problem. Risking financial security for the chance of career happiness, has therefore not been an option for many…

If you are in that situation, don’t just jump ship, but perhaps start by working out or refocusing in on what your long-term career goals could be. Give yourself a ‘bucket list’ of career targets and start from number one. Remember the recession will not last forever, but your career, unless you strike it rich, will be lasting for quite a while longer…

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