So you are bitterly unhappy with your lot at work, or perhaps you are just bored, frustrated, lack motivation, procrastinating, blaming the economy, resigned to believing that a midlife career change is not appropriate, or perhaps you are just uncertain about the future.  Whatever your reason, before you can genuinely look for alternatives, a career change or a new job, you need to understand what might be holding you back.

Fear and career change

Are you fearful of change, fearful of failure, fearful of rejection?   I’m not going to lie to you, making a significant career change or even simply changing jobs, takes courage and you will experience setbacks.  But by allowing fear to stop you from exploring new possibilities, will always inevitably result in boredom and frustration.

You also need to realise that everyone will experience rejection while making a career change.  You might experience rejection getting into that new degree course, or get a rejection letter after applying for a job.

Nobody likes rejection – I mean rejection is really hard to take, especially if it is a job you really wanted.  But you have to remember, you are not alone as even the most famous amongst us, where rejected, or faced obstacles before they succeeded.

Take these examples from history:

Chester Carlson, a young inventor, took his idea to 20 big corporations in the 1940s. After seven years of rejections, he was able to persuade Haloid, a small company in Rochester, N.Y., to purchase the rights to his electrostatic paper- copying process. Haloid has since become Xerox Corporation.

Thomas Edison tried over 2,000 experiments before he was able to get his light bulb to work. Upon being asked how he felt about failing so many times, he replied, “I never failed once. I invented the light bulb. It just happened to be a 2,000-step process.”

Persistence paid off for General Douglas MacArthur. After applying for admission to West Point twice, he applied a third time and was accepted. The rest is history.

In 1927 the head instructor of the John Murray Anderson Drama School, instructed student Lucille Ball, to “Try any other profession. Any other.”

Buddy Holly was fired from the Decca record label in 1956 by Paul Cohen, Nashville “Artists and Repertoire Man.” Cohen called Holly “the biggest no-talent I ever worked with.”

Academy Award-winning writer, producer and director Woody Allen failed motion picture production at New York University (NYU) and City College of New York. He also flunked English at NYU.

Excepts taken from Obstacles are the Stepping Stones of Success by Harvey Mackay

No idea about what you want to do, when you grow up 

If you have no idea what you want to do, when you grow up, it is really difficult to make a positive career change.  Start by researching career options, or alternatively use a career counsellor who will provide appropriate guidance and support.

Self-limiting beliefs and behaviours

So many people have really limiting beliefs and behaviours, or very little insight into their personal strengths and weaknesses.  Perhaps you have little in the way of formal education, so severely underestimate your abilities.   Perhaps you don’t know how good you are so avoid situations that challenge you, or highlight your strengths.  Maybe you are one of those people that undersell their skills and abilities, even though they know that they could probably do the job.

Alternatively, you might be aiming too high, not realising that you don’t have the intellect, demeanour or qualifications for a position.  Such lofty expectations might result in applying for unsuitable jobs and a pile of rejection letters.

Whatever camp you fall into, you need to recognise that these self-limiting beliefs and behaviours are holding you back from securing the ideal new job.

Procrastination and career change

You can have the greatest qualifications, credentials and résumé on the market place, but unless you get out there and put yourself in front of decision makers, follow up with phone calls and recognise that a rejection letter is part of the process of a career change and getting a new job, then you won’t succeed.

If you want to succeed, then you need to:

• ŸCommit to a job search campaign and then schedule time to implement the campaign.
• Commit to gaining the relevant qualifications required by the career change.
• ŸStop making excuses and putting the job search task off.  If you think procrastination is the problem, rest assured it isn’t.  Procrastination is always the symptom, not the problem!  So if you are procrastinating, you need to get to the root of your procrastination and resolve it.
• ŸGetting that dream job is like anything else, it can take time.  I’m willing to bet that you have time in the evening.  So instead of watching TV, spend that time job hunting and making a transition to a new career.  If you set aside just two evenings a week, just imagine how much progress you would make.

Changing career or securing a new job is usually always a challenge, but with the right attitude and mind-set, it is possible to make the change and secure a rewarding new job.