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If you are thinking about changing your career, here are some mistakes to avoid.

Changing your career because you hate the job you now have is not a smart move. Just because you hate your current job doesn't mean that your career or the industry you are currently in is wrong for you. It also doesn't mean that changing your career will make the problems go away. You may hate your job because you hate your micro managing boss, or because you were romantically involved with a co-worker who has now scorned you. You might hate the employer you currently have because they don't listen to your ideas or don't encourage upward mobility. All these things may indicate it is time for changing your job.

They don't necessarily indicate that it is time for changing your career.

It might also be that you hate your job because you need team skills or people skills the lack of which will carry over to any job or career you are considering changing too. The right counselor or mentor - and perhaps even your current immediate supervisor can help you assess what, if anything, you are lacking in these areas and how you can go about improving these skills.

Changing a career solely because the money and the benefits are better in the new career is almost always a mistake. Its such an old clich*, but its very true that money just doesn't buy us happiness. What would happen if you make that career change, take that new job and make a lot more money than you do now * but you hate the new job? What might you spend that additional money on? You might just end up paying the medical bills for your ulcer. Keep in mind as well that those careers that pay those seven figure salaries almost without exception involve living the job. How many corporate executives do you know that work Monday through Friday, that schedule a two week vacation that doesn't involve countless interruptions or even last minute cancellations? Think carefully before changing your career for money. It just might make you miserable.

Don't ever let others dictate your need for a career change. If your parents wanted you to be a lawyer since you were two and you're feeling that the social work job you love disappoints them, let them stay disappointed. Its your life.

Its often the case, however, that their disappointment is not real but rather something you've perceived incorrectly. Talk to them. Sit down and explain why you love your career, why you enjoy your work. You may just find that they're happy for you. If that should not be the case * if your personal partner, or your parents, or your friends, think you are better than what you are currently achieving in your career, your allowing these small-minded people to influence you will only destroy your relationship with them in the end. There is nothing more destructive to a relationship than resentment and no one more resentful than someone pushed into changing to a career they don't want, dont enjoy and dont derive satisfaction from.