My own career started as an accountant but, although relatively successful, at age 21, I could not face the prospect of adding up other people’s figures for the rest of my life. This was so much of a “gut” feeling that I desperately sought an alternative and someone to guide me, neither a cheap nor easy service to find in the non-computerized days of the 60’s. After an 800 mile round trip, and spending ten of my weekly pay packets, I eventually found a career guidance counselor who helped me to correctly analyze my personality and interests. We both agreed a future career in personnel, training, hotel management or politics would be best for me. Even at 21, and single, it was not easy to give up the security and prospects of a career as an accountant. So I empathize with how a dramatic career change must become progressively more difficult at ages 28, 35, 42 and especially at 49.

I recently interviewed a 49 year-old married accountant with large recurring monthly financial commitments. He was unhappy to the point of facing a potential nervous breakdown. He heard my story. We agreed on a very gradual change to a junior management function, followed by an administrative marketing function, and then finally to a real sales job For twenty-five years this natural salesman had been an unhappy accountant.

Finding a job is easy, the difficult part is to know what kind of job you want…

In my 30 plus years in recruitment in both the UK and Israel I have found that the easiest placements are with candidates who know themselves the exact type of job they are seeking.

Those who say, “I am happy with any job”, are the most difficult and most unreliable and they inevitably turn into “job-hoppers” – bad for themselves and bad for their employers.

I often suggest to my employer clients that when they interview applicants, instead of asking “Where do you see yourself in the next twenty years?” a questions like “Have you ever had career guidance?” or – “What career path do you think will give you maximum job satisfaction?” However, very few take up my suggestion and regrettably most recruiters are more concerned with filling their vacancies than with selecting candidates whose personalities and interests are fully compatible. Filling jobs makes money – career guidance costs money.

Have you ever had a seven-year work itch or feel one is now approaching?

Nat Gordon, founder and headhunter with Marksman International Personnel Ltd, is a volunteer counselor at the Esra Career Guidance Service and a member of the Institute of Career Guidance. Call 052 707 4568 for free career guidance.