Considering a career change? Ask about the daily work before choosing a new title
Explore a different job through concrete tasks, working conditions, and small experiments. Ask what a recent working day involved, then compare more than one perspective. A conversation can help you refine your questions; it cannot establish whether an entire career is right for you.
Evidence and scope
Herminia Ibarra describes exploring possible career identities through experience and small experiments. This is a research-informed framework, not a randomized test of this worksheet or a promise of career results.
Name what you want to understand
Separate dissatisfaction with a manager, schedule, workplace, or occupation. These can call for different changes. Write down the part you want to learn about before asking someone for advice.
Ask about a recent task
Try: what took most of your time this week, who did you work with, and what was difficult? Respect confidential projects. Concrete details are often more informative than a general description of whether a profession is good.
Test one assumption through a small activity
An illustrative experiment might be a short personal project or an introductory class. Herminia Ibarra’s published career framework provides a reference for learning through experiments; the specific worksheet here is an editorial adaptation, not a validated intervention.
Compare before deciding
Record what matched your expectations and what did not. Seek another perspective from a different company or career stage. Differences may reflect working conditions rather than one person being wrong.
A worksheet you can use
- My assumption
- I think the work mainly involves ____.
- What I heard
- A recent task involved ____.
- A small experiment
- I can explore ____ without a major commitment.
- Still unknown
- I need another source for ____.
Common questions
Should I ask for a referral immediately?
Not unless that is the clearly stated and welcome purpose of the conversation. Learning about the work can stand on its own.
Can one conversation settle my career direction?
No. Treat it as one situated account and compare it with other information.