Career Changes and Job Satisfaction

Reading through CAI’s blog , there was an interesting article about the idea of hiring those that are currently going through a career change. In today’s economy, many out of work individuals are either being forced or choosing to change career paths, often taking a salary cut in order to start a completely new job elsewhere. Companies often struggle to decide if it is in their best interests to hire an employee with no experience in the role.

On the one hand, they often have resumes that are strong in terms of accomplishments and achievements (although in a different field than the new career). On the other hand, they have no experience and often need a great deal of additional training, and there is always the chance they will not enjoy the new career.

When you are looking to improve on your employee satisfaction numbers, however, there is reason to believe that employee satisfaction may increase if you hire those that are going through a career change – provided you make sure you hire the right people. There is always a risk if you hire people that are severely overqualified for a role (since they may seek work elsewhere or expect too much growth), but for those that are still tangentially qualified from their previous position, there may be some benefit, including: Gratefulness Employees that are seeking a career change in order to find work may be more satisfied simply being employed than those that have worked uninterrupted in the field. Very few people career change on a whim, and if someone was motivated to change careers, they may be grateful they have that opportunity.

Novelty When someone goes through a career change it provides two separate experiences that complement each other. First, the job and its tasks are new, and therefore may be more exciting to the new hire. Second, the employee does have work experience – many college graduates, despite the novelty of the new job, change careers because work “is hard” when compared to their expectations.

Employees that change careers have worked for many years of their life, and are unlikely to find the relative newness of the experience to be discouraging. Training Interestingly, it is also possible that the extensive training that a new hire needs for a new career may actually make them more satisfied and well trained than hiring someone that has experience. Far too often companies assume that someone with experience in the field knows what they’re doing from the beginning, even though their experiences may differ considerably from what the company needs.

Career changers are not expected to know how the field works, and the training they receive may make them more prepared, and ultimately more satisfied. While it’s not a guarantee of increased satisfaction, it is clear that hiring someone that may be going through a career change can be beneficial for your employee’s long term satisfaction, as there are some benefits that indicate their satisfaction levels may be higher than the average employee.