Career change can feel terrifying, especially when the work you really want to do doesn’t fit neatly into an existing job title. One of the biggest mistakes people make during a career change is assuming that the perfect job must already exist. It has a tidy job description and a reassuringly familiar title. Not so. In fact, some of the most exciting work is created at the intersection of your natural talents, your values, and a need in the world that hasn’t yet been fully met.
When I was working in banking in New York, I was successful, but I wasn’t happy. I had that nagging feeling that there had to be something better for me to do with my life. At the time, life coaching was barely a profession at all. It certainly wasn’t the kind of job a sensible person set out to pursue. Yet that ended up being my perfect job. What looked impractical at first turned out to be exactly right. That is why I never want people to dismiss a career change simply because the role they want seems unusual or even non-existent. (When I first started coaching, people asked me what sport. I used to say, the game of life.)
The World Economic Forum says 170 million new jobs are expected to be created this decade, while many old roles will be displaced. The labor market is not fixed; it is continually evolving and will be evolving even faster than ever with AI. So if you are in the middle of a career change and thinking, “But the thing I want to do isn’t really a proper job”? That may be the very clue you should pay attention to.
Sometimes your perfect job isn’t a single job; it’s a combination. It may be part teacher, part writer, part consultant. Or part designer, part entrepreneur, part coach. The trouble is that most people look backward when planning a career change. They scan what already exists instead of asking themselves, what work would allow me to use my best abilities in a way that feels deeply satisfying?
I once worked with a senior HR executive who had spent years being sensible and responsible. But when I asked her to imagine five alternative careers, there wasn’t a single corporate job on the list. Every single alternative (from gardening to painting) pointed to the same thing: a hands-on, creative side of herself that had been pushed aside for far too long. Her coaching homework: go out and buy a set of paints and start experimenting on canvas just for the fun of it.
Once she gave herself permission to explore that hidden part of herself, her energy changed completely. Ultimately, she decided to keep her job, but realized the ranking discontent was all about her unexpressed creative nature. That is what happens when you focus on what talents and abilities need to be expressed rather than finding a new job. She made small changes to her life that satisfied her creativity.
I am a fan of objective career assessments. We are not always the best judges of our own talents. Many people go through life using only a fraction of what they are naturally wired to do well. Then they wonder why they feel vaguely dissatisfied, restless, or flat. It may not be that you need to blow up your whole life. It may simply be that one of your strongest hidden abilities is begging for expression.
I designed The Career Change Kit for exactly this reason: to help you identify your natural abilities and core values. Once you know where your real talents lie, this opens up possible career paths.
A good career change does not always require taking a reckless risk. In fact, I usually prefer the opposite: test the waters. Take a class in the evenings, volunteer. Start a small project. Try the work before you build your entire life around it. Small changes lead to big changes. That is how I made my own transition from banking into life coaching, and it is how many of my clients have done it successfully as well. You do not need to leap blindly; you do need to start.
So, what if your perfect job doesn’t exist yet? Then perhaps you are not lost at all. Perhaps you are early. Perhaps your career change is not about finding the right box, but about building something better around your actual strengths and values. That is a much more exciting possibility.
What new career would you like to invent or begin? Now is the perfect time to start.
If this is where you are right now, you don’t have to guess. Start with the Career Change Kit to identify your hidden talents.
Then read Coach Yourself to a New Career and my related articles on Burnout to Bliss and The Best Career Assessments and Resources for a Career Change for more guidance.
