The following article originally appeared in The Guardian.

Job hunting is like dating; just because a job ticks all the boxes, doesn’t mean it’s the only one for you. You need to experiment with a range of careers to find your prince charming.

How’s work going? If people answered that question honestly, around three in five of them would say not so well, actually. But so many of those people looking for career change are unsure how to go about it.

Laura van Bouchout was one of them. In her late twenties, she had already had five jobs – most of which involved organising cultural events. She was utterly bored and in search of something more fulfilling so she decided to conduct an experiment. For her thirtieth birthday present to herself she spent a whole year trying thirty different jobs by shadowing and volunteering – a kind of ‘radical sabbatical’. Among other things, she managed a cat hotel, then spent a week following an MEP, and found that working in advertising was unexpectedly exhilarating.

Read the rest of the article here