Summertime career blues? You’re not alone

More than half of us are unhappy in our current jobs — but you don’t have to be. Summer is the perfect time to prepare for a career change, writes Niki Chesworth

EVER wake up and think that there has to be a better way to earn a living? You are not alone.

Four in 10 of us are not working in our desired field, which is one of the main reasons why so many of us (54.5 per cent) are unhappy in our current roles.

But if you fall into this category, summer is the perfect time to act.

Things are often quieter at work, you might have some free holiday time to commit to exploring a new career and, if you want to make a career change, you can even start studying for a new qualification. So where do you begin?

TAKE TIME TO THINK

There is a reason why so many people start looking for a new role in September. Getting away from the office on your annual summer break gives you a different perspective, while spending more time with family or friends often enables you to re-evaluate what really matters in life — but don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis.

Stop thinking, start acting: Richard Alderson, founder of Careershifters, says: “When you don’t know what else you want to do, it’s easy to get stuck in making lists, searching job sites and doing psychometric tests. If these have not helped you so far, they are unlikely to do so going forward.

“Instead, take action in the real world. Decide to join a new class, hang out in different places or speak to someone who’s job you find interesting.”

He adds: “When you find an area of interest, run small experiments (without leaving your current job) to test whether it could work for you. Not only does this give you quick feedback, it also helps you to reduce the risk of making the wrong career shift”.

Don’t look for jobs, look for people: “If you want to make a big shift, you’ll be at an immediate disadvantage in the job market,” warns Alderson.

“Your CV won’t stack up well against others with experience in the field you’re interested in; recruiters will want to place you in similar roles, and job sites will drain your energy with roles whose requirements you won’t meet.

“So, instead of looking for jobs, look for people. Not only is there is a huge hidden job market (a n e s t i ma te d 50 to 80 per cent of jobs are never advertised), but connecting with people allows you to present yourself in a way that you can never do on paper.”

Careershifters runs regular career change workshops in London. For more information, visit careershifters.org/ workshops.

DON’T GIVE UP THE DAY JOB

However dissatisfied you are with your current career, remember it is not easy to walk into a well-paid and worthwhile job without gaining additional qualifications and experience. So Alderson’s advice to “run small experiments” is important.

These can also be more fulfilling — in fact, you may find you do not have to give up the day job to embark on a new career direction. You can simply have a second career on the side.

The side hustle or ‘slash’ economy is booming, with Londoners in particular freelancing on the side, running micro businesses and pop ups and finding outlets for their creativity outside of the day job.

It seems that many people are sales managers by day and chefs by night, or have another combination of incomeearning and life-enhancing roles.

A side hustle is also a great way to boost your income.

There are plenty of platforms to sell your services or products, from the more professional LinkedIn to the crafty Etsy. Airtasker — a bit like Airbnb for the side hustle economy — enables people to post tasks that you can fill.

For example, if you have second language skills, you can offer your services and this could lead to a new career as a translator.

One tasker recently offered to pay someone £200 to queue for tickets for Hamilton, while another was prepared to pay someone to fly to Tenerife to deliver passports to a stranded family.

Kaileigh Vernon, below, has more than 20 years’ experience working in the property industry, and her day job sees her managing Airbnb residential homes both at home and overseas. For her, taking on extra jobs is a way to boost her income without having to leave a career she enjoys.

A couple of months ago she decided to side hustle on Airtasker and has done everything from dog sitting, calligraphy queuing for theatre tickets, event planning and flower arranging.

She says: “The extra money has helped contribute towards my summer holidays and has also helped me put more aside for future savings.”

The other option is to freelance on the side. This can then lead to a full-time career change if it works out. Remember, most of us now have the right to request flexible working. So make a request, spend an afternoon or a day a week launching your freelance or consultancy career (use LinkedIn to launch yourself and sites like peopleperhour.com to look for work) and if it pans out you can quit the day job and work for yourself full

time.

GET SOME EXPERIENCE

Workplaces are quieter in the summer, so if you have a few days of holiday spare, why not consider putting them to good use?

You can volunteer in the sector you wish to join or find someone to “work shadow”. This is not only a great way to showcase your skills to a potential new employer, it can avoid a costly mistake.

Often, the idea of a job bears no relationship to the reality. Teaching — currently the UK’s most desirable job — is a good example.

So if you are thinking of making the switch, use the summer to work with young people (perhaps at a holiday camp or play group) to get a feel for whether you really do want to crowdcontrol a group of teenagers.

For teachers looking to escape the classroom, summer jobs are a great way to explore new career directions such as full-time tutoring (more than four in 10 London children have had a tutor at some point).

LEARN THE RIGHT SKILLS

This option is the most time-consuming, so you need to be sure that you want to pursue a particular professional path before spending years on a course.

Summer schools are the ideal time to try out a new career direction. You can take a short course to see if you really enjoy the subject and can manage juggling learning while earning.

Then, if you do find that this is your new passion, you can enrol on a longer course (or even a degree) starting in September, studying part-time or in the evenings to stay afloat while you are making your career move.

O f f i c e m a n a g e r, IT technician, accountant and mechanical engineer, which all make it into the top 10 most The summer months can be a time for reflection, but they can also be a time for action towards a more positive working life desirable jobs, all require qualifications and skills which you can start learning now. See hotcourses.com.

You will not be alone. Even among recently graduated millennials, a quarter say they have taken a weekend or night class alongside their day job so they can move into a more highly skilled sector, according to research from the Enterprise I nve s t me n t Scheme Association.

CONSIDER THE PUBLIC SECTOR

Given that most employers are struggling to recruit the right talent, you would think they would make their recruitment processes easy.

However, two in three have been deterred from applying for a job because of delays, poor first impressions, ill-prepared interviewers and a lack of communication, according to new research from recruiters Hays.

Surprisingly, it is the public sector that offers the most positive experiences to applicants on their journey from searching for a role to applying, and that is partly because most public sector employers use their website as a recruitment channel, with these often having better functionality than private sector career websites.

Wh e n p u b l i c s e c t o r a p p l i c a n t s progress to interview, they are also more likely to have a positive experience, feeling that their interviewers are more prepared and more likely to give feedback after the interview.

Overall, the entire candidate experience is generally poor, according to Hays. Almost half of job applicants have been deterred from pursing a role by a bad first impression of an organisation and the vast majority (84 per cent) have experienced a bad job interview.