I recently stumbled across an article which really got me thinking about career changes and the dilemmas that they present us with. The article looked at a range of careers which, according to the writer, have a better image than they perhaps deserve. It considered the common perception of the job first, and then looked at the reality of what it actually entails.

My first reaction upon reading it was, well okay, but few jobs are without their down sides, and anyway, not everybody goes into them blind. There are still plenty of people who want to take up a career in teaching, for example, despite being aware of the challenges that it presents. For some people, and thank goodness this is the case, teaching is their calling, and this can be the case in many lines of work, from nursing to sculpting.

For those with such a vocation, it can often be hard to ignore. In many cases it is something that has been with the individual since he was a child, and he has no idea where the fixation originated from. All he knows is that he has to give it a try. However, coming back to this article, it was quite right in pointing out that sometimes things do not work out precisely as we imagined and so, in the final part of the discussion for each job, it offered an alternative. What was interesting though, was that the alternatives were all closely related to the original career.

Switching careers is a frightening business. It brings with it the fears of not having any relevant experience, starting from the bottom again and worrying about whether you can earn a reasonable enough living. Sometimes, however, only a small adjustment is needed to bring about a huge increase in job satisfaction.

To stick with the example of teaching, if Government regulations, huge class sizes, a wide range of student abilities and an increasing lack of student discipline are all making you feel like a change is in order, it might be well worth considering how you can put all your past experience to use, rather than starting from scratch in a completely different field. Using the skills that you have already acquired could see you move into adult education, teaching at a private school, private tutoring or even corporate training, and all with relative ease. In this way, it is still perfectly feasible to live your dream, but in an arena which brings much greater fulfillment.

Sometimes when our job starts to make us feel despondent, the natural temptation is to jump into something completely different when really all that was required to put us back on track was a minor adjustment. While this is not, of course, always the case, it is certainly worth considering whether some close alternative might not fit the bill. Certainly in a tough job market, it is easier to demonstrate the relevance of your past experience when it bears at least some relation to the job that you are applying for.