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Vital Career Check

Do You Stay or Do You Switch?

Feb 9, 2007 David Hornestay

If the world is your oyster when it comes to career opportunities, how do you weigh the benefits of your current employment against opportunities elsewhere?

Choosing a career and regularly assessing your progress toward defined goals is a relatively new concept. Twenty-five years ago, most young men and women graduating made a single decision and then followed a well-blazed career trail that could take them to retirement.

The unwritten "employment compact" of the giant corporations and public institutions provided jobs in return for loyal and satisfactory service; if you did what was asked you had a job for life. In the decades after the Great Depression, that was attractive and meaningful for both parties and few messed with a good thing.

In 2007 things have changed. Government employment, once secure by definition, has been wracked by workforce reduction and dislocation. Most new jobs are created in small and mid-size businesses, which must remain flexible to prosper. New technologies have opened up entirely new careers and specializations. Information technology, biotechnology, telecommunications, and scientific research offer opportunities unthinkable in the past.

While the initial choice of a career and the immediate investment in learning and practice remains important, many people are moving from one occupation or profession to another several times over the course of their working lives. Lawyers become investment analysts, engineers become urban planners, nurses become physicians, and teachers become online publishers.

It is still essential to research careers and potential employers carefully before choosing, but this need not stop once you have the job. Regularly ask yourself if you're getting the satisfaction you need and consult with others to improve working conditions or relationships. Sometimes the answer will be to work for someone else. Or, you may decide the type of work you're doing is not providing the material or personal reward you had expected. In other instances you may merely need to redefine your role, take advantage of professional development opportunities, or discuss changes with your boss.

Retraining or additional education may inspire self-employment or other entrepreneurial efforts such as starting a business enterprise. This kind of risk may be better than spending years in a unsatisfying workplace.

On the other hand, some take today's career flexibility as a license to hop from one job to the next, calculating what can be gleaned from a quick stint before dashing off to the next venture. This approach rarely allows for the work achievements and relationships that earn the respect--and good recommendations--that facilitate successful careers.

The best approach is to take advantage of the range of career opportunities available both at the outset, and throughout, your work life, while investing in yourself, the present, and the future.

The copyright of the article Vital Career Check in Career Advice is owned by David Hornestay. Permission to republish Vital Career Check in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.