Do I Need a New Career—or Different Working Conditions?
By Thomi Sechehaye
You’re looking at a job in a completely different field.
It sounds interesting. There are new things to learn. Most appealing of all, nobody in the description appears to be your current manager.
Before you decide that an entirely new career is the answer, examine what you want to leave. The activity itself, the amount expected, the schedule, and the authority you have can each affect how a job feels.
Ask whether you would want to do similar work under different conditions. Then look for evidence that could help you answer. You may still decide to change careers. You will have a clearer account of what the change needs to accomplish.
Write down what happens
“I can’t stand this job” may accurately describe how you feel on Friday. To use that information, look at a few situations from the week.
Perhaps you like solving technical problems but spend most of your time explaining delays caused by decisions you couldn’t influence.
Perhaps you enjoy supporting clients but are expected to respond throughout the evening.
Perhaps the work itself has become uninteresting, even on days when the schedule is reasonable and colleagues are helpful.
These examples point toward different questions. Start with what happened, who was involved, what was expected, and which part became difficult.
What research suggests about the setting
Job Demands–Resources theory examines work through its demands and resources. A 2023 review by Arnold Bakker, Evangelia Demerouti, and Ana Sanz-Vergel describes how these features relate to employee well-being and performance. The framework directs attention to what work requires and what helps people meet those requirements.
For your own investigation, that means looking at workload alongside available time, responsibility alongside authority, and difficult tasks alongside support.
Research on job crafting also examines changes employees make to aspects of their jobs. A recent review considers both positive and negative outcomes, which is a useful reminder to examine the effects of a proposed change on the wider work.
These research areas offer ways to investigate a situation. They leave the practical question open—what could actually change in your workplace?
Compare two versions of the same activity
Imagine an analyst who is considering leaving their profession.
They dislike preparing reports. More specifically, they dislike preparing reports when the question changes halfway through, the data arrive late, and three people can request additional work.
On another project, the analyst receives a clear question, useful access to colleagues, and an agreed deadline. They find themselves interested again.
This hypothetical contrast suggests that working conditions deserve closer examination. It doesn’t establish that the current job can improve or that the profession will remain appealing.
It identifies something to investigate before choosing the scale of the change.
Map the work, conditions, and unknowns
This exercise is FFG’s application of the distinction.
Choose three recent situations that contributed to your wish to leave. For each, complete three headings.
The work
Describe the activity itself. You were writing a proposal, teaching a session, coordinating a delivery, or checking a set of figures.
The conditions
Record the circumstances. Consider the time available, interruptions, clarity of the request, support, responsibility, and control over decisions.
What remains unknown
Write a question you cannot yet answer.
“Would I dislike preparing this proposal if the requirements were agreed at the start?”
“Is evening availability expected throughout this field?”
“Would I enjoy teaching a different audience?”
Leave these as questions until you have something that helps answer them.
Look for a useful comparison
Try finding an occasion when you did similar work under different conditions. What changed? Did your interest change too?
You can also speak with someone doing comparable work elsewhere. Ask about an ordinary week and a recent difficult one. Find out how work is assigned, how priorities change, and who decides when there is too much to do.
A job description may name the activity clearly while saying very little about its daily conditions. Your investigation needs both.
If you consider changing something in your current role, name the agreement it would require. Protecting an afternoon for focused work might affect colleagues who rely on you. Clarifying priorities may require a manager to make decisions they have previously left unresolved.
Record what can and cannot change
A small adjustment may be possible. A larger problem may depend on staffing, policy, leadership, or commitments beyond your control.
Record the response you receive when you raise a specific issue. An agreement followed by practical change tells you something. Repeated promises without change tell you something too.
You can then consider whether to keep investigating, seek another setting, or explore different work.
For now, finish one sentence.
“The part I most need to understand before deciding is…”
The Blind Spot, FFG’s free Self Check, can help you examine the facts, assumptions, and unanswered questions within that situation.
Bring one difficult working experience and the conclusion you have begun drawing from it.
Developed by Thomi Sechehaye, with ChatGPT assisting in drafting and editing for clarity and readability.
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