A few years into your career and already wondering if you chose the wrong path? Maybe you’ve had a setback, you’re burned out, or the job you thought you wanted isn’t turning out to be what you expected.
You’re not the only one asking yourself what comes next. Feeling uncertain about your career in your mid-twenties to early thirties is common enough that it has a name: the quarter-life crisis.
If your career isn’t where you want it to be, you don’t need to figure out your entire future right now. Start with where you are. Give yourself some time to think about what’s working, what isn’t, and what you might want to do next.
Don’t make any sudden moves. When you’re feeling unappreciated, overlooked, or completely drained by work, quitting can sound pretty appealing. But leaving without a plan can create a whole new set of problems, especially in a tough job market.
You don’t have to stay forever. Just give yourself enough time to make a decision that’s not only about getting away from where you are, but about moving toward something else. If you can, start figuring out what comes next while you still have a paycheck.
Explore what else is out there. Talk to people doing work that sounds interesting to you, especially people who are a few steps ahead of you. Ask what they actually do all day. What do they like about it? What surprised them? How did they get there?
You’re not looking for someone else’s career path to copy. You’re looking for possibilities you may not know about yet. And you may not need to leave your company to find them. If you like where you work but not what you’re doing, are there other roles you could explore? What skills or experience would you need to make that move?
And try not to turn every conversation with a friend or former classmate into a comparison. Someone else being further along doesn’t mean you’re behind. They may know something, or someone, who can help you figure out what’s possible.
Pay attention to what you’re afraid of. What if you can’t find another job? What if the next one is worse? What if you make the wrong choice?
Those aren’t ridiculous questions. They’re worth thinking about. But they don’t have to keep you where you are.
You also don’t have to make one giant leap. Have a conversation. Research a role. Take a class. Reach out to someone whose career interests you. Start looking at job postings, even if you’re not ready to apply. Small steps can tell you a lot about what you do and don’t want.
Remember that your next choice isn’t your forever choice. It’s easy to put enormous pressure on your next move, especially if you’re worried that your first choice was the wrong one.
But careers don’t work that way. You’ll learn things, change your mind, discover jobs you didn’t know existed, and care about different things at 30 than you did at 22.
So instead of trying to identify the perfect career, work with what you know now. What isn’t working? What would you like more of? What are you curious about? What would you like to learn?
You can make another choice later.
Use the tools available to you. When you’re feeling stuck, it can be hard to imagine possibilities beyond the job you have now. Sometimes the first step is simply seeing what else is out there.
Explore industries to learn about different careers in business. When you’re ready to see who’s hiring, visit Forté’s Job Center.
And if you’re still figuring things out, you don’t have to do it alone. Sign up for the Dear Corporate Girlies newsletter and read Forté Signals for ideas about navigating work, building your credibility, getting noticed for what you can do, and making sense of the things that shape your career.
You don’t have to know exactly where your career is going. You just need enough information to decide what you want to explore next.