1. Evaluate your current job satisfaction. Keep a journal of your daily reactions to your job situation and look for recurring themes. Which aspects of your current job do you like/dislike? Are your dissatisfactions related to the content of your work, your company culture or the people with whom you work? Would performing the same career function in another industry enhance your satisfaction, relieve stress or alleviate lifestyle concerns?

2. Assess your interests, values and skills through self help resources like the exercises in “What Color is Your Parachute”, tools like “Do What You Are” (available online through Skidmore Career Services; email mprofita@skidmore.edu for access) and dialogue with counselors. Review past successful roles, volunteer work, projects and jobs to identify preferred activities and skills. Determine whether your core values and skills are addressed through your current career.

3. Brainstorm ideas for career alternatives by discussing your core values/skills with friends, family, Skidmore Career Network, (password) contacts and counselors. Visit career libraries and use online resources like those found in the “Exploring Careers” section of the Career Services website.

4. Conduct a preliminary comparative evaluation of several fields to identify a few targets for in depth research.

5. Read as much as you can about those fields and reach out to Skidmore alumni and personal contacts in those arenas for informational consultations. Professional associations and sites like LinkedIn are additional sources of contacts in fields of interest.

6. Shadow professionals in fields of primary interest to observe work first hand. The Skidmore Career Network is a great source for shadowing prospects. NPR carried a recent story about a company called Vocation Vacations which arranges shadowing experiences for a fee.

7. Identify volunteer and freelance activities related to your target field to test your interests e.g. if you are thinking of publishing as a career, try editing the PTA newsletter.

8. Investigate educational opportunities that would bridge your background to your new field. Consider taking an evening course at a local college. Contact professional groups in your target field for suggestions.

9. Look for ways to develop new skills in your current job which would pave the way for a change e.g. offer to write a grant proposal if grant writing is valued in your new field.

10. Consider alternative roles within your current industry which would utilize the industry knowledge you already have e.g. If you are a store manger for a large retail chain and have grown tired of the evening and weekend hours consider a move to corporate recruiting within the retail industry.