A rewarding job usually involves a lot more than the size of your paycheque. Spending a large proportion of our life doing something we often don’t enjoy can seriously undermine the quality of our lives. But it doesn’t have to be this way…

Some problems seem to be sole preserve of counselling. Career choices may seem more suitable in the hands of a careers advisor, but you can’t underestimate how much happiness is influenced by how you spend most of your unsleeping hours. Counselling can help move your working life towards a better place. Job insecurity makes many scared of moving on – particularly in uncertain times – but there is usually wiggle room to fine-tune your skills or learn new ones. Doing so can make you a more flexible, valuable worker, and even change the direction of your career completely.

Many clients complain about bullying bosses, bad working conditions, or being stuck in organisations that treat you like a dispensable cog in the wheel. Those who are signed off work are often stuck in a purgatory between employment and being jobless. Some feel hopeless because they are embroiled in endless disputes with seemingly cold and uncaring employers. For those lost in this Kafkaesque nightmare, regaining control over your existence may seem an unsurmountable problem. But there is hope…

Feeling undervalued and out of kilter with mainstream society are common symptoms of those in the wrong job. But often it’s the job that’s wrong – not you. The invigorating effects of a new environment can be life-changing. It may initially involve a pay-cut or insufficient hours, but if you are building from a happier base the benefits spread to other areas. Unexpected opportunities often materialise when your latent talents and ambitions have more fertile ground in which to flourish. Training in a new area or even taking unpaid work can later pay dividends. If it involves a field close to your heart, an initial shortfall in wages is perhaps worthwhile as it may represent a good investment for you future leading to further opportunities previously not envisaged.

Examples I’ve encountered include the part-time artist who balances its unpredictable income with book-keeping or the actor with a flourishing painting and decorating business. One client swapped her career as a theatre manager for her second love as a landscape gardener. She retains an interest in the former, but now only for the pleasure it now brings as a spectator. She has found the best of both worlds.

My current work as a therapist would not have been possible without volunteering first. Befriending a 90-year-old blind Jamaican eventually led to fully-fledged career in counselling as well as helping me understand his very different blinkered world. The free market does not make working for free very sustainable for long, but sometimes it’s necessary to step back to jump forward…

Counselling can help you discover what you really want before approaching the career professionals whose priority is filling vacancies based on your current skills. In an unfair world of economic extremes, there is always some room to improve your lot. This is largely within your own hands, but helping hands and ears can help you brainstorm the attractive alternatives and discover pathways new or dismissed as opportunities lost. Sometimes our place may seem pre-destined by the world we are born into, but the myriad possibilities our lives can follow can benefit immensely from a little guidance in the therapy room where none are ruled out. Satisfying careers often follow that brave first step into the unknown.

More information

Before researching the practical needs in terms of experience, opportunities and qualifications, counselling can help you consider all your options without considering these constraints.

This quiz at thebalancecareers.com/quiz-should-you-change-careers may clarify how you really feel about your current work.

A great source of potential new careers (or skills) is found at citylit.ac.uk with its extensive range of mainly evening courses. Alternatively, nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk​ offers a solid grounding of information on different types of employment.

Meanwhile, North-West London-based twiningenterprise.org.uk bridges the gap between sound emotional health through work. They can be contacted by email on info@twiningenterprise.org.uk or by calling its Hounslow branch on 079 6172 5510. Most major jobsites also offer sensible advice on different professions and how to go about finding it.