Why Career Changes are Normal
If you start a career today, you are likely to go through around 5 career changes and have 17 jobs over your working life.
Those numbers probably surprise you. Changing career paths can sound scary, and the practical steps of actually doing it are usually what leaves you feeling stuck.
But career change shouldn’t feel so daunting. we already tolerate constant change everywhere else in life. COVID-19 forced an extreme adjustment on all of us, and AI’s rapid rise since 2022 has been the next one, reshaping how and where we work all over again.
Our phones alert us to change in the news, on social media, everywhere. Technology, politics, the environment, and society are all shifting constantly. You’re changing too, physically, mentally and emotionally.
So of course jobs and careers change as well. We can’t expect them not to.
If change is happening all around us, why don’t people know what to do about their careers?
Why do they feel career stuck?
Simple. Nobody has taught us the skills to navigate it. The old career script has changed, but most of us are still working from the outdated version.
The Myth of the “One Career for Life”
The career script that was handed to you by your parents and grandparents went like this:
Choose one career, stick to it, get promoted, and you will have that career for life.
That idea came from the 20th century when people moved from farms to cities and into the institutions of corporations, and organisations. Those institutions gave workers structure, predictability and security.
Your career progressed in a linear fashion. Through loyalty and hard work, you would have been expected to be promoted via the career ladder.
Your career path was laid out for you. School, university, leaving home, marriage, family, retirement, a gold watch and that was that.
Well, we are now well into the 21st century and the old career script has been torn up!
It’s outdated and is causing anxiety and stress around career decisions today.
There has been a fundamental shift in the reality of the workplace. It is mismatched against the expectations of current workers.
How Work Has Changed Since the 90s
In the 1990s, globalisation opened markets, competition, and the free flow of goods and services across continents.
Worldwide economics changed in a major way that challenged our local institutions to supply new goods/services to new markets.
In doing so, they could no longer operate based on the structures they had created for a local domestic market.
They had to change.
Redundancies & down sizing resulted and to this day remains part of the working landscape.
With new international supply chains being opened, this created new job opportunities that would see the start of a job change for many local workers.
For example, it was typical to see workers from the construction and engineering industries in the late 90s and early 2000s leave Australia, live, and work in another OECD country.
They were highly sought after for their expertise & skills. Many left to take advantage of these new job opportunities.
A Career Change Can Open New Doors
That trend of job change has continued for 20+ years. What’s emerging now is something bigger: multiple career changes over a single lifetime, not just multiple employers.
Globalisation redefined institutions. The internet and now AI has eroded the idea of a job for life altogether. Anyone can be their own institution now, competing and creating in a global marketplace. Remote and hybrid work, accelerated by the pandemic, mean many of us can now work from almost anywhere.
The career options and possibilities you have available to you now are so diverse but at the same time, they can be confusing and overwhelming.
Simply, there is enormous amount of choice.
Stuck, Bored or Burned Out? You’re Not Alone
No wonder you feel stuck. All this external change would leave anybody unsure of what to do.
Work now carries more risk and uncertainty than ever before. Many people are not equipped with the right career tools and strategies to navigate it.
Nobody is telling you what to do with your career.
You don’t have a predictable timeline of what job you will have, which gives you no security to plan other things in your life.
Related: Is Career Coaching Worth It? 7 Compelling Reasons
Why Googling or Asking AI Won’t Cut It
The biggest mistake I see people make is to postpone making any decisions about their own career paths still hoping an employer will look after them long-term.
You are now the institution, and it is up to you to take control of your own career change.
But remember nobody expects you to be an island. If you don’t have the skills, reach out and get support and assistance.
In the age of knowledge abundance, don’t expect AI chatbot or an internet search engine to act as your career advisor. They can’t give you a personalised answer, because they don’t know your story. You’re not a generic case, you have your own career history, values and constraints and untangling that takes more than a prompt.
A lot of people rely on their partners and family members to help them navigate career decisions. The problem with that is they have their own motivations getting you to go down a particular career path. They are not independent, not trained and may not give you the right advice so that you can make your own decision.
Getting people unstuck takes a proper process: real conversation, structured exercises, and an outside perspective on how you fit into this new way of working. That’s exactly what the Rediscover & Redesign program is built for.
8 in 10 People Hate Their Job
People are increasingly bored, dissatisfied, and unfulfilled in their careers and jobs. Work that once felt engaging has become routine, with no real challenge left in it.
Worldwide, only 20% of employees are actively engaged at work, the lowest level since 2020 according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Report.
That means approximately 8 in 10 people hate their job, feel trapped, and are stuck in a rut.
To escape the pain, they hang out for annual leave entitlements and spend big on holidays for some rest, relaxation, and pleasure.
When they return, they are back to the job they hate and recycle through the whole process year after year until something finally forces a change.
Related: Work Getting Heavy? What are Signs of Stress at Work
Don’t wait till somebody taps you on the shoulder and hands you your last payslip.
If you’re wondering whether a career change is right for you, let’s talk
The goalposts in the world of work have shifted and will continue to shift. Career change is the new normal.
If you are serious about improving your lifestyle or work satisfaction, remember two things:
1. The old career path script has been torn up
2. It’s your responsibility to adapt and learn what is required to increase your chances for a meaningful and secure livelihood to look after yourself and your family.
Reach out and let’s have an initial chat. It may be the best step you take this year.
Written by Gina Bell
Gina Bell is a university-qualified Sydney Career Expert in Career Advice, Career Coaching, and Career Counselling. She also works as a career coach for small and medium business owners & their leaders. She is passionate about aligning a person’s work purpose in a work environment where they can find fulfilment & reach their potential.
Her qualifications include a Graduate Diploma in Career Development, a Graduate Diploma in Chartered Accounting, and a Bachelor of Economics. She is registered with the Career Industry Council of Australia, Professional Member of the Career Development Association of Australia, National Career Development Association in the USA, Asia Pacific Career Development Association & Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand.
In her free time, she loves to travel, cook, and learn.
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