Changing Careers

A change of career is a work role transition that unfolds over months. People favour the option they already have and, over the long run, regret chances not taken more than actions taken. Most people change direction by trying rather than only planning: small experiments, new acquaintances and learning alongside work. A year after an actual career change, people reported higher job satisfaction, better job security and fewer working hours.

What the report found

1. Changing direction is a normal part of a long working life. In one long survey, people born between 1957 and 1964 held about 13 jobs between the ages of 18 and 58, and in one national survey about four in ten people who changed jobs in a year moved into a different broad occupation group. Employers around the world expect nearly 40 per cent of the skills used at work to change by 2030.
2. Staying put feels safer than it often is. People favour the option they already have, and over the long run they tend to regret what they did not try more than what they did. In a large experiment, people whom a coin toss nudged towards an important change, such as leaving a job, were happier six months later.
3. People change careers by trying, not only by planning. Small experiments, trial versions of a new professional self and new connections open the way. Acquaintances matter: in experiments with more than 20 million people, weak ties helped people move into new jobs, up to a point.
4. The new field brings a lift, and often a new level. Satisfaction tends to rise after a move and then soften, yet one year after an actual career change, people reported higher job satisfaction, better job security and fewer working hours.
5. Learning at every age is common. Almost half of adults aged 25 to 64 across the European Union took part in education or training within a year, and more than a third of those aged 55 to 64. Curiosity, confidence, a clear role and a story that links old and new all help.

What is inside

1. The moment
2. Before: the pull and the decision
3. During: trying, learning, connecting
4. After: living in the new field
5. How the moment is lived around the world
6. What lasts

Plus a phase map of the moment, a schematic of how weak ties open new jobs, a map of four resources for adapting, an illustrated year of change and a data panel of figures from around the world.

Who it is for

For people considering a new field and their families, and for employers, educators and services that support them around the world.

How we work

Moment Reports look at how people think and decide at particular points in the year or in life, and how each moment is lived by people around the world. Every claim is graded Established, Emerging or Untested, and where researchers disagree, both sides are set out before we say where we stand.

Cite this report

The Why We Project (2026) Changing Careers: Starting again in a new field. Moment Report No. 24. Dubai: Why We Tech Ltd. Available at: thewhyweproject.com