12 JAN 2026
I know I need a change at work. I just don't know what.
Five questions to help you get clearer before you start looking for jobs.
By Anna Soelberg
Founder, - 6 min read
It is a familiar feeling. You look at your work and think: this no longer fits. You are not depressed, you are not failing, but something is off.
Maybe you are bored. Maybe you are exhausted. Maybe you have outgrown the role. Or maybe you simply cannot picture a future here anymore.
The tricky part is that knowing you want a change is much easier than knowing what you actually want next. So people start scrolling job boards, and the roles they find look like the one they already have. Five questions are usually more useful than fifty applications.
What is it that no longer fits?
Before you look at new options, get specific about what is not working. Is it the work itself, the environment, the people, the pace, the lack of development, or something else entirely?
The more clearly you can name it, the easier it becomes to see what you actually need next. "I want a new job" is not a direction. "I want work where I am not the only one thinking three years ahead" is.
Clarity starts with honesty, not a job search.
What do you want more of?
It is easy to focus on what you do not want, but real clarity comes from understanding what you do want. More autonomy? More impact? A different pace? A role that uses more of your strengths?
Think about the moments at work when you feel most energised. They usually hold clues, and they are far more reliable than a job title.
What would a good next step look like?
You do not need a perfect plan. You need a direction that feels a bit more like you. A next step that is realistic, but also interesting enough to move towards.
Sometimes that is a new role. Sometimes it is a broader change. And sometimes it is understanding yourself better first.
You do not have to find the perfect move. You just need a direction that fits who you are now.
What are you carrying that you no longer need?
Careers accumulate assumptions. The industry you happened to start in. The title you worked hard for. The idea that changing track means starting from zero.
Ask which of those are still true, and which are just habits. Most people are far more transferable than they believe, and they underestimate exactly the experience other employers value most.
What would you regret not trying?
This is the question that tends to cut through. Not the safest move, not the most impressive one, but the one you would quietly regret leaving unexplored.
You do not have to act on it immediately. Naming it is enough to change how you look at the options in front of you.
You do not have to figure it all out today. But asking better questions moves you from stuck to curious, and that is a much better place to start from.
