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Career advice

What's next

A clearer sense of where you're headed, without having to plan your whole life first.

What to understand about figuring out what's next

Very few people work out their next step by thinking about it. The question tends to arrive as a low hum: a restless Sunday evening, a job posting you keep reopening, a colleague's promotion you notice you don't envy. Then it sits there, because "what do I want?" is too big to answer from a chair. What usually moves it is evidence. What you already lean toward in the job you have, and what happens when you try a small piece of something else.

The room is mostly in making the question smaller. You don't need a destination, only a next step you can afford to be wrong about: a conversation with someone who does the work, a project borrowed from the team next door, an hour writing down what you'd keep from this job and what you'd happily hand back. Much of it can happen where you are, without announcing that you're restless. A direction tried in small pieces tends to feel quite different from one imagined whole.

The hard part is that this often takes longer than anyone wants, and for a while you're holding a job you've half outgrown and a future you can't name yet. That stretch is uncomfortable, and it's ordinary. It also asks for some honesty with yourself: whether a want is yours or one you picked up from the people around you, whether you're tired of the work or just tired. Sometimes the answer turns out to be smaller than a new career, and that counts as an answer.

What people often get wrong about career direction

  • You might think“I can't do anything about this until I know what I actually want.”
    More oftenFor most people the knowing comes after the trying. A want tends to get clearer once you've spent an afternoon near the real work, or an hour with someone who does it, and it rarely firms up while you wait for it.One thing to try: Test a direction before you commit →
  • You might think“There's one right career out there for me, and my job is to find it.”
    More oftenMost people could be glad in several quite different working lives, and a lot of what makes work feel right gets built once you're in it. Looking for the single correct answer can keep a few good ones out of view.One thing to try: Sketch three possible futures →
  • You might think“Everyone else seems to know where they're going. I'm the only one making it up.”
    More oftenMost careers look planned only when told backwards. Ask people how they got where they are and you tend to hear about a chance project, a manager who left, a move made for someone else's job.One thing to try: Talk to someone five years ahead of you →

Things to do when something feels off and you can't say what

“Nothing is wrong, exactly. I just don't feel the way I used to about it.”

A vague feeling is hard to act on. Each of these turns it into something specific you can look at, starting from an ordinary week in the job you already have.

Things to do when you have a few ideas and no way to choose between them

“I could see myself doing three different things, and I keep going in circles.”

Ideas stay equally attractive until they meet a real person or a real task. These go from paper, to people who do the work, to trying a little of it yourself.

  1. Step 1: Sketch three possible futuresSee more than one future, and notice which one pulls at youAbout 45 minutes
  2. Step 2: Walk the roles next to yoursOne role you'd love and one gap to close, in 20 minutesAbout 20 minutes
  3. Step 3: Talk to someone five years ahead of youBorrow five years of hindsight in a half-hour conversation30 minutes
  4. Step 4: Ask someone what the job is really likeTwenty minutes with someone who does it beats a month of reading about it30 minutes
  5. Step 5: Test two industries you've wondered aboutFind out whether a daydream about another industry holds upAbout 20 minutes
  6. Step 6: Test a direction before you commitFind out how the work feels, not just how it sounds7 steps

Dealing with something else at work?

Things to do before you assume the answer is somewhere else

“I like this place. I'm just not sure I like this job.”

Your employer already knows what you can do, which makes it one of the cheaper places to try something different. These help you say what you'd want and find out whether there's room for it.

Things to do when there's a fork in front of you

“They've asked if I want to lead the team, and I need to answer soon.”

Some decisions come with a deadline: a management offer, a program with an application date, a choice between staying and going. These slow each one down just enough to see what you'd be saying yes to.

Things to do when things are fine and you'd like to stay ready

“I'm not looking. I'd just rather not be caught flat when something changes.”

Small habits that keep you learning, in touch with good people, and aware of how your year went by your own measure. None of them needs a goal to be worth doing.

What your next career step depends on

  • Company size

    A large employer may hold a dozen different jobs you could move into without changing your badge. In a small one, a new direction more often means reshaping your own role or leaving.

  • How credentialed your field is

    Some fields let you drift sideways on the strength of what you've done. Others sit behind a license or a degree, so a change costs real time and money and deserves more testing first.

  • Your manager

    With some managers you can say "I'm wondering about something different" and get help. With others it gets heard as one foot out the door, and the exploring has to start more quietly.

  • Life outside work

    A mortgage, children, a partner's job or someone you care for can narrow which risks make sense right now. That usually changes the size and timing of a step more than its direction.

  • How long you've been there

    Early on, restlessness may just be the unfamiliar. After many years in one place, it can be hard to tell what you'd want from what you're simply used to.

How the question of what's next changes through your career

  1. Starting out

    You have little evidence about yourself yet, so nearly any job teaches you something. The aim is less to choose correctly than to notice what you learn about what suits you.

  2. A few years in

    You know enough to have preferences, and often this is when the first path stops feeling inevitable. Changing course is still fairly cheap, which makes it a good time to test things.

  3. Senior

    The forks get sharper: manage or stay close to the craft, go deeper or go broader. More people and more money tend to ride on the choice, so moves get smaller and more deliberate.

  4. Later on

    The question often shifts from what you can reach to what you'd like the remaining years to hold: teaching, advising, a lighter load, or one last stretch at something you put off.

Career direction terms worth knowing

Lateral move
Changing to a different job at about the same level, usually to learn something new instead of to move up.
Individual contributor track
A way to grow in seniority and pay by getting better at the work itself, without managing people. Not every company has one.
Job crafting
Adjusting the job you have, a task here and a relationship there, so more of it is work you find worthwhile.
Informational interview
A short conversation with someone who does a job you're curious about. You're asking what it's like, not asking for work.
Transferable skills
Things you're good at that would still be useful under a different job title or in a different field.
Sunk cost
The time and effort you've already put in. It can make leaving a path feel wasteful even when staying wouldn't serve you.

When you have more time

Questions people ask about what to do next in their career

I've just finished school and have no idea what I want to do. Is that a problem?

It's common, and it's rarely a sign that anything is wrong with you. You haven't had much chance to find out yet. A first job that teaches you a few things about yourself is doing its work, even if it turns out not to be the one you stay in.

Your Turn →

The role I'd been building toward just disappeared. Now what?

Give the disappointment some room first, because it's real. Then it may help to notice that the plan was one route to things you wanted, and those things can often be reached another way. Plenty of people look back on a closed door as the moment their direction became their own.

Conan O'Brien's Dartmouth commencement address →

I've been thinking about a change for ages and haven't done anything. What's wrong with me?

Probably nothing. Long stretches of weighing things up tend to come before most big changes, and they can be doing useful work. If the thinking has started going in circles, one small outward step, such as a single conversation, often does more than another month of it.

Changing for Good →

What if I'm content where I am and don't want anything next?

Then you may already have your answer. Staying put in work you like, among people you like, is a choice many people would envy, and there's no rule that a career has to keep climbing. It's still worth a look once a year, so that staying remains something you chose.

Stop looking for the perfect job →

Should I take less money for work I'd care about more?

It depends on what you can afford and on how sure you are about the caring. People who love their work sometimes accept less than they need to, so it's worth checking the trade with clear eyes. Trying a piece of the work before you take the cut can tell you a lot.

Passion vs. paycheck →

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