It’s been a while. I’ve broken a cardinal rule of blog writing – you have to actually write blog posts. Since I’ve been gone I’ve gotten a new job and had a baby, so you know. Life.

It’s the middle of winter and my least favorite month of the year, February. Landing right in between the holidays and March Madness, February is most often forgotten about. It’s also prime time for seasonal depression and midlife crisis’s – so CareerLight LLC is back in business!

Just as recruiting trends downward right before the end of the year, it picks right back up at the beginning. The recruiting market for job seekers also increases, as people “just get through the holidays” before truly re-examining their career. If you are feeling unsatisfied, bored, under-appreciated or just plain sad, how can you decipher whether that feeling is attributed to the blah of winter – or the need for a career-switch? Here are some questions to help you evaluate.

1. How long have you been in your current role? If it’s been less than 1 year, you might still be in the new job blues. Job satisfaction seems to have somewhat of a winding road, filled with highs and lows. Within the first year, however, even through the excitement and adrenaline of new responsibilities and perhaps more pay, there tends to be more uncertainty, boredom, and indecision. If you are somewhere over two years in your current role, those feelings might be more valid.
2. During the low days, which characteristics of your day-to-day are causing you strife? The tasks? The people? The company culture? Daily tasks are more easily overcome than the people who surround you or the company culture.  Targeting in on whether it’s WHAT you do, WHERE you do it, or WHO does it with you will help you evaluate what might be going on.
3. What’s on the horizon? It’s been proven that if you have something planned for the future that you are looking forward to it automatically helps your moral. When it comes to your work, is there anything coming up in the next couple months that you are truely looking foward to? Is it enough to get you there and beyond? If there is nothing you plan ahead or look forward to in your job, that may be a signal to move on.

Evaluating whether or not to make a career change is a scary proposition. Actually beginning that journey is even scarier. Making sure you are in the right mindset to fully invest time and energy into the process is an important step, whether it’s in February or July.