This is a difficult time. You will feel difficult emotions during this process. Jobs are often strongly equated with self identity in our society - the job you do tells people about you as a person. If you seek to change jobs, it occurs emotionally like changing something about who you are as a person and how you appear to others.

Jobs are also most people's means of making a living and gaining self-fulfilment. You go to work so that you can eat, often so that others who depend on you can also eat, and you work (as opposed to simply existing on benefits) because that's a core part of who you are - you get satisfaction from earning your own way in the world. It's often equated with being an adult in our society.

Is it any wonder that we might feel threatened, scared or uncertain during a time when we are deliberately changing something so fundamental to our core selves?

So be prepared that there will be a rollercoaster - forgive yourself for feeling the inevitable effects of changing jobs.

If you imagine that at the moment you have a pint, and that you are reaching for a whole pitcher with the new job, there will be a time when you have let go of the pint and have not yet reached the pitcher. At that moment you have nothing, and lots of doubt and uncertainty comes in.

Some people think that 'it's better the devil you know', but if you ever want to leave your devil behind you have to take a risk - no one crossed a chasm in two short steps.

Dealing with the roller-coaster

You might feel some or all of these worries:

Where do I start? Here, you've already started. Seriously; there is no big ceremony, just you starting to take some control and change your job

There are SO many websites and jobs and agencies and information out there its kind of overwhelming. and it puts me off. gives me the perfect excuse to go "its too hard"
Once we get beyond a certain amount of choices we humans get overwhelmed. There are a serious number of job sites, advice, agencies and information out there. It's daunting.

Where you start is here, read the process, make some decisions and a plan - it takes a couple of hours. Then you have some structure and you can choose what to do. You can follow this process, someone else's or do exactly what you choose.

You see, the reason there's such a profusion on the web is that there is not one answer. Everyone is desperate to change jobs more easily, and with better results - who wouldn't be - so we all search and read and hope. The real answer is that the right answer is different for each person.

How this process will help you to cope with the overwhelm is tell you more about what you want and how you want to work - helping you to narrow down your choices. You'll also learn more about who you are helping you to be clear about what you want and know it when you see it.

This process will also get you started in key areas, your manifesto, your CV, the covering letter, so you'll be well along the road already.

I'm being too fussy / limiting my chances / asking too much
The way to find the job you want is to be clear about what it is that you want. The whole idea is to narrow down your options - that is unless you are just looking to settle for whatever comes along first?

It will be more difficult than just plumping for whatever comes along, but it's the only sure way to enduring job satisfaction and saving you the hassle of doing this all again in a year's time...

It's too hard, it isn't that bad...
Is it what you dreamed of when you started work - is it what you would aspire to for your children? No? Then why settle for it for you?

Exercise - get some perspective on your worries

Write down what worries you about you job change. Detail each one somewhat - ask yourself why that worries you and what the consequences might be if it happened. (e.g. I feel daunted, because there's too much information out there, so I worry I will miss my perfect job in all the fog of information).

Look at your worries. They're outside you for maybe the first time. Just acknowledge them for what they are. Ask what will really happen if they do happen. Which ones actually compromise the things you care most about? There may be none, there may be several. Either way, just know that - that's all we're doing here, just gathering data so that you can make better decisions later on in the process.

Here's mine:

Worry		Consequences
I'm being too narrow and specific in my search		My job hunt will take ages and I won't get the money I want
My dissatisfaction is not something wrong with the job I have now, it's something wrong with me		I'll get a new job, but still be unhappy
What if this screws up my career / I lose money / I become less secure		I might have less savings than I would have had otherwise or fulfil my financial potential less

These worries are important - they might not happen (they didn't for me) - but that does not make them insignificant at the time, nor unimportant. They are important purely because you are experiencing them - and they are significant because they tell you more information about what is important to you (in my case job satisfaction and long-term financial security).

So, acknowledge them, it is OK to worry!

Next: What can you really live on?
to main CV page

Got a suggestion?, email Dave

Can't find what you want? - use the search!

WWW www.arrod.co.uk