How Can I Repurpose My Skills for a Less Stressful Job?

If work pressures have become too much, you may be looking to find a less stressful job. What steps should you take?

If work pressures have become too much, you may be looking to find a less stressful job. Before doing so, ask yourself two questions:

How are you?
How are you really?

The majority of people answer ‘fine’ to the first question, but once re-asked, people tend to think more about it and be more honest.

Avoid Stressful Situations

To help avoid stressful situations, it’s helpful to press pause on your day. Relaxation is a vital part of managing stress. Use STOP:

Stop
Take a moment
Observe
Proceed

Define Your Objectives

Whilst job searching, my first tip is to start with the end in mind. Ask yourself some questions:

What is your career goal?
Do you plan to stay in the same role and same sector?
Do you want to take this opportunity to do something different?
What constraints do you have to consider – location, family circumstance, pension and salary expectations?
What timescale are you working to?
Do you have a Plan B?

Ask yourself these questions and then brainstorm a list of other roles/sectors that appeal based on your answers.

What did you love about your job?
What were the skills you used?
Which skills were you good at that you’d like to develop in your next role?
What are your transferable skills into a new sector?

Dealing With a Lack of Confidence

Doing a stressful job for many years can undermine confidence if you feel you are not on top of things. Confidence is a belief in oneself, the conviction that one can meet life’s challenges and to succeed – and the willingness to act accordingly. Most of us suffer from a lack of confidence from time to time. We may have a good level of self-confidence in some areas and low confidence in others. We can tackle low self-confidence by acknowledging every emotion, including difficult emotions; speaking up for ourselves; and limiting self-criticism. Improving your body language will improve your effectiveness when communicating.

Plan For the Future

Other areas to reflect upon – have a think about where you see yourself in three to five years’ time, and what the very best candidate needs by way of skills, knowledge and expertise. Then do a skills gap analysis of where you are today before putting a strategy in place to eradicate those gaps.

Reflect on your strengths at work. What are your other strengths? Where do you get your energy at work from?

When job searching, make sure your CV and LinkedIn profile are fit for purpose, create your elevator pitch (your 60 second intro) communicating who you are, what you do, your credentials and what you can offer. We all have a ‘personal brand’ – even if you don’t know it! Ask for feedback from people who know you well and are willing to and feel comfortable with telling you how you really are perceived. The aim here is to come up with an honest and accurate assessment of how others see you.

Liz Sebag-Montefiore is a career coach and Director of 10Eighty, a strengths-based HR consultancy. For more information, please visit www.10Eighty.co.uk.

This article was first published on workingmums.co.uk, whose assets were acquired by 55/Redefined in 2024.