BEFORE YOU GO CHANGING....

• Author: Ellison, Richard
• Position: AT THE OFFICE

"You must establish goals that are much more specific than simply wanting a new job you will like better than the one you have at present." ARE you considering or needing a career change? Recent studies show that you are not alone; millions of other Americans are as well. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the approximately 60,000,000 people who change jobs each year, about 40,000,000 do so voluntarily, with the other 20,000,000 subject to layoffs and discharges.

Some voluntary changes are made to get a better opportunity, but the majority are because people are not happy at work for a variety of reasons. The most-frequent reason is that they do not feel appreciated. Then they stay at their new job for a few years and begin the process of change all over again.

If you want to be highly engaged in your new career, stay at your new job for a much longer period, and have the potential to be promoted to a higher level, here are five things you should do first:

Define your goals in detail. Have clear goals about the characteristics of your next job and know the actions necessary to achieve those goals. If you are unhappy with your current job, your ultimate goal should be to transition into a new career where you will be happy and successful, get hired into an organization you can grow in, and want to stay for an extended time.

You must establish goals that are much more specific than simply wanting a new job you will like better than the one you have at present. For instance, your goals should be something like, "I want to get a new position doing assignments I will be both good at and passionate about, with an organization that is in a high-energy mode, is the proper size for my accomplishments to be recognized and appreciated, and has a reputation of promoting from the inside--with an initial salary above my designated minimum in a city I would consider living in."

The actions necessary to achieve these goals should include determining a career that matches the targeted goals you have set, doing "homework" on organizations that require this type of career and that meet your goals criteria, learning details of the current types of work for any candidate organizations, and establishing a career-related network.

Discover the best career for you. People change jobs or careers every few years because they keep striving, by trial and error, to find a situation they will be good at and happy in. The next time you feel a change is...