New Year – New You – New Job or maybe not? by Charlotte Billington

25 November 2015

It is the time of year when we look back at the year that has passed and take stock of what we have achieved. But it is also a time when many of us focus on what we would like to achieve in the year ahead.

Charlotte Billington

Changing jobs is, for most people, a big step. But if you are restless or unhappy in your current role, it may be that simply tweaking your current job could actually make all the difference. Instead of dreading every Monday morning, a few changes could transform your work into something you look forward to getting up for every day.

What are my top tips to achieve this?

Work out which parts of your job you actually enjoy. What have you been doing in the day when you have been completely drawn in or the time has flown by? After a long day when do you go home buzzing, what have you been doing? What excites you? What have you done in the past that you don't do now and would like to go back to doing?

Analyse who you deal with on a day-to-day basis. What types of people do you work best with? Are you happiest when you are working in a team, or do you prefer working independently? What kind of boss do you work best with? Does your role involve too much client work, or not enough? Who do you communicate with on a daily basis and how do you communicate with them? Tweaking the amount or type of interaction you have with others may make that difference.

Are you being allowed to develop? Are there areas where you would like to challenge yourself? Are there new areas within your company you would like to learn about? What new skills could you learn or develop? What other work would you like to be involved in?

What about your job stresses you out? What leads to you having a bad day? How can you reduce or eliminate this type of work or dealing with these types of people? What frustrates you? Being aware of this will help you to re-shape your role into something more enjoyable.

What do you want? Spend time on this. What would you enjoy doing most? What is getting in your way? How can you overcome this? Be selfish and start thinking about what you want from your career (both short-term and long-term), and start moving in that direction.

What are your values? What is important to you in life? Finding out your top 5 or 6 values which are deep-rooted and intrinsically linked to who you are will mean that you can be authentic and honour them within your work. Your overall happiness depends on this.

Prepare. Build up your CV with experience that will enable you to move in your chosen direction in the future. Volunteer for things that interest you.

Build relationships. Internally, externally or with potential clients you may wish to end up working for. Be humble, thankful and excel in front of others. You never know who may offer you future opportunities.

Research. If there is something you would like to be involved in, you could research into training courses. Presenting your boss with this and showing proactivity and enthusiasm may impress them enough to sponsor you through the programme, particularly if you can use the skill to benefit your company.

Change your thinking. Albert Einstein said "We can't solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them". To change your overall happiness at work you need to start thinking differently. Remember, if opportunity doesn't knock build a door.