Why Is It So Hard to Make A Career Change?

You put off thinking about the future

Often in your professional life, it’s easy to tell yourself that your career horizon stretches far in front of you, and that there is no urgency to make changes. Other aspects of your life may seem too busy — family, relationships, travel, etc., and even the demands of your current job. It doesn’t seem realistic to take on the question of whether a different job, industry, or way of working could better suit you. And you may struggle to assess what some other options might be. Thus, some undefined, in-the-future date becomes a default plan for when or if you might consider a shift in your working life.

But, like saving for college or planning for retirement, the longer you wait the more limited your future choices may become. For example, at some point you may not be the clear candidate for a new role that requires different expertise, you may be constricted by financial issues from taking a risk that allows you to change jobs, or you may have increased personal responsibilities that could impede you from making a geographic move. That doesn’t mean that you might ultimately decide that you don’t want to take on those roles. But thinking periodically about what change might look like in your professional life gives you more power and control over making a change when and if you want to do so.

You tell yourself that it’s easier and better to just stay where you are without considering alternatives

You might also tend to put off thinking about making a professional pivot because it seems easier and less challenging to simply do nothing. Maybe your friends and colleagues even tell you that every other company in your sector has just as many issues as your current one, and that you are better off staying where you know how things are rather than trying to figure out a new environment. For example, a client recently said to me that they were not willing to look at other options in their industry because, as terrible as they found their current job, it would be too hard to work to determine what might be better.

But spending some time thinking about alternatives - and exploring what those options might look like, including what they might offer or not offer versus your current situation - can be helpful to thinking about changes you might or might not want to make now. You don’t really know, after all, if you’re better off staying where you are if you don’t have anything to contrast with your existing role. Consider asking yourself what you don’t know about other options that might be relevant to whether you stay on your current professional path.

You see change as intimidating and scary

Even when you are uncertain about the direction or purpose of your professional life, over long periods of time you develop habits, practices, and behaviors that are comfortable and comforting. Developing new ways of working, needing to form new relationships with new colleagues, or even adapting to a new commute can be something you shy away from doing because those changes require you to modify not only your behaviors but also your assumptions and thinking.

You may be less inclined to see change as an opportunity for growth or learning than you are to see it as an unnecessary step along a settled path. But change — even something discrete that you confront in a current role, like adopting a new communication approach with your team — can be liberating when it helps you to break free of old patterns and frustrations. Stepping outside your comfort zone to consider what might be a more satisfying job, or assessing a potential role that better aligns with the type of work that you enjoy, can give you greater insight about what matters most to you and how you might get closer to that in your professional life.