回想当年，你是否曾质疑过自己对职业道路的选择？若是没有，那么你又是否曾考虑过换个行当？现在，许多雇主急需人手，因此放宽了对工作经验的要求，即便求职者缺乏工作经验，他们也愿意先给机会，允许求职者在工作中锻炼。此外，至少从目前来看，换个更有前景的行业也是加薪的好办法。

尽管如此，根据最近的一项研究，当人们决定改行时，通常可不仅仅是为了赚钱。求职网站对来自不同行业、不同工种的662名近期跳槽的受访者进行了一项调查，发现其中49%的受访者跳槽去了全新的领域，有人离开教育行业踏入了金融行业，也有人从市场营销改行到了工程行业。而促使他们改行的原因主要有四个：

1. 更高的薪水

79%的受访者表示，他们之所以离开之前的行业是为了多赚些钱。

2. 缺乏职业挑战

78%的受访者表示，他们改行是因为觉得自己此前从事的工作没有挑战性。

3. 职业发展机会

77%的受访者将改行的原因归结为没有明确的职业发展路径。

4. 工作环境过于死板

79%的受访者表示，他们之所以对原来的工作不满，是因为工作太过死板，比如无法选择在家工作或选择更灵活的工作时间。（雇主小贴士：不只是改行的员工，实际上，现在越来越多的求职者都会在求职时将一些非传统的福利纳入考量，例如技能培训、职业指导及远程办公等，后者尤其重要。）

对于正在考虑转行的人来说，来自Indeed的数据会提醒大家：切记三思而后行。平均来看，改行者通常要花11个月的时间来规划自己的新职业。“改行前先得考虑清楚。”Indeed的全球人力资源高级副总裁保罗·沃尔夫表示，二十年前，他离开了客服岗位，改行做人力资源管理。“你要先弄清楚自己的哪些技能最能派上用场。要多看看心仪行业的招聘广告，切记不要自欺欺人。分析一下用人单位需要哪些技能，这些技能你是否已经具备，或者能否通过学习获得。”

与此同时，也要想清楚自己为什么要离开现在的行业。沃尔夫指出：“有时候，人们并不是真的想换个行业从头再来。他们只需要沿着原有的职业发展路径前行，最多换个工作或公司就够了。”花点时间思考一下，可能你只是需要升职或培训，或两者兼而有之，而不是改行。

不确定自己是否会真正喜欢目标工作怎么办？沃尔夫建议，通过社交媒体或现实社交网络，寻找一位业内人士，并询问是否可以随他工作一两天。他说：“和信息访谈类似，这种方法对了解行业情况很有帮助。”信息访谈是指求职者并非为找工作，只是为获取行业信息而进行的一种面谈。通过这两种方法，能够很好地了解进入目标行业需要具备哪些技能：“我们可以向业内友人了解哪些技能最重要，以及他是如何进入该行业的。”

Indeed的调查结果中最令人振奋的是：多达88%的改行者表示，虽然在准备改行时付出了许多努力，也有很多顾虑，但现在他们过得更开心。这一点很重要。沃尔夫表示：“天下没有完美的工作，但我们每天都得在工作上花费大量的时间，所以找到喜欢的工作非常重要。”这话听起来很像新年愿望，不是么？（财富中文网）

译者：梁宇

审校：夏林

Ever wonder whether you picked the right career path, way back when—and, if not, whether you could make the jump to a different field? The job market right now looks ideal for making a change, partly because many employers are so in need of new hires that they’re often willing to overlook your lack of experience in a given role and train you on the job. Not only that, but heading for greener pastures is a tried-and-true way of making more money, at least for now.

Even so, when people decide to try a totally different line of work than they’ve pursued so far, it usually isn’t only about the Benjamins, according to a recent study. Job site Indeed polled 662 people working in a wide range of jobs and industries who had changed jobs recently, and found that 49% had gone into a whole new occupation—from teaching to finance, say, or marketing to engineering. The 4 main reasons why they steered the wheel into another direction?:

1. A better salary

79% said they left their erstwhile gigs in order to, yes, earn more elsewhere.

2. Lack of professional challenges

78% said they were not feeling challenged by their work.

3. Career opportunities

77% attributed it to not seeing a clear path to career advancement ahead.

4. Inflexible work circumstances

79% cited a lack of flexibility as a cause for dissatisfaction in their former careers, like the option to work from home or to choose different schedules. (Note to employers: More and more, candidates, and not only career changers, are looking for nontraditional benefits—skills training, career coaching, and telecommuting in particular.)

Thinking of making a career change? One insight from the Indeed data: Don’t rush into anything. The average career changer took 11 months to plan his or her switch to a new field. “It does take, first, some introspection,” says Paul Wolfe, senior VP of global human resources at Indeed, who changed careers himself (from customer service to HR) two decades ago. “You need to identify which of your skills are the most portable. Look at job ads in the field you’re aiming for, and be honest with yourself. Analyze whether you have, or can acquire, the traits they want.”

At the same time, be sure you’ve figured out exactly why you want to leave your current career. “Sometimes, people don’t really want to go into a whole new area,” Wolfe points out. “They just need to keep on the path they’re already on, but in a different job, or with a different company.” Take your time and think it through. Instead of a career change, maybe what you need right now is an overdue promotion, or some strategic skills training, or both.

Unsure whether you’d really like doing the job you’ve set your sights on? Wolfe recommends finding, through social media or your real-life network, someone already entrenched in that field, and asking whether you can “shadow” him or her for a day or two. “Shadowing can help tremendously, as can informational interviews,” he says—referring to the kind where you’re not asking for a job, just gathering information. Either approach can be useful in pinpointing which skills you’ll need to bring with you: “Ask the person you’re shadowing which skills matter most in this field, and how he or she got into it.”

The Indeed survey’s most encouraging finding: Almost all (88%) of the career changers said that—despite the effort (and worry) that went into preparing to make their move—they are happier now than they were before. That’s important. “No job is perfect, but we spend so much time at work, it’s really important to find work that we like doing,” says Wolfe. Almost sounds like a New Year’s resolution, doesn’t it?