5 Red Flags That a Career Reboot Is Needed—ASAP

If you’re lucky, the decision to reroute your career is easy: The industry has dramatically crashed, or you just cannot stand one more day at work. Yet the signs are rarely so clear. Typically, they’re subtler, and they’re accompanied by the nagging sense that opportunities after you change course won’t be free-flowing. “It’s a valley, not a cliff,” says Andrea Wolf, senior client partner at Korn Ferry.

The key for deciding on—and making—a career shift is to clock it quickly, then take action, especially at a time when 22% of jobs are expected to be disrupted in the next five years, according to the World Economic Forum. Staying on a sinking (or boring) ship never helps. “Careers compound,” says Marnix Boorsma, senior client partner at Korn Ferry. “Stay too long, and erosion sets in.” Your market value depletes, or you fall victim to internal erosion, an insidious process in which your self-belief and your mental sharpness degrade. Rather than wait for things to truly fall apart, experts advise a reroute. “It’s not about quitting,” says Wolf. “It’s about finding a path back to the peak.” Here are some indicators that it’s time to make a change:

Your peers have been promoted… but not you.

Jobs at the top are few, and if you’re already stagnating, your trajectory is likely flatlining. If it’s difficult to figure out whether you’ve been purposely overlooked, “look for being assigned to strategic projects that are important for the future of the organization,” says Maria Amato, senior client partner at Korn Ferry.

You let emails go unanswered.

And you watch calls go to voicemail. And you see inconsequential work tasks as mountainous, or unfair, or brutal. “These are sure signs that you’re in a rut,” says David Vied, global sector leader for medical devices and diagnostics at Korn Ferry. He notes that these are normal reactions to work that isn’t challenging or varied. 

Your field is stagnating.

Well-paid, enviable jobs are rare, and you keep hearing of peers out of work. “Pay attention to job openings or growth for your specialty,” says Amato. True career prosperity in a field with few opportunities is rare.

You’re constantly feeling friction.

Every conversation feels uphill, or every project feels adversarial, or every output feels pointless. “You may no longer be aligned with the system that you’re in,” says Boorsma. That doesn’t necessarily signal career doom: Just look at John Grisham, a lawyer who became disillusioned with the justice system and started writing thrillers. 

You’ve got ‘the feeling.’

“It’s a creeping doubt and low-grade restlessness,” says Wolf, and it’s telling you that something needs to shift. Every career has ups and downs, and the lows often require gentle redirection. “Acknowledge the need to rejigger.”

Learn more about Korn Ferry’s Talent Recruitment capabilities. 

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