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This is a term I use quite a lot. It describes a situation where the person either wants things their current career can not provide or they as a person are not what the career ideally requires - or both.

It can cause huge levels of stress as deep down the person knows there is something wrong yet they may have all sorts of things pulling at them that are causing denial of varying degrees.

Part of the role of careers adviser is to challenge preconceptions and assumptions. At times when one does this it causes further entrenchment of the denial so it is really important to go gently.

At other times - once the term career mismatch has been outed - there is a palpable sense of relief from the client. Suddenly there is a reason - a good reasons for why they feel so terrible.

Typical feelings experienced with a career mismatch are

• despondency
  
• low mood or even depression
  
• of being trapped
  
• of not being good enough
  
• a feeling of desperation
  
• boredom
  

Not every career problem is a mismatch. Sometimes it is simply poor planning that is at the core of the career situation. Other times it is a personal trait like the inability to say no. There are many other causes of career dissatisfaction. But career mismatch is surprisingly common in medicine. GPs who should have remained in hospital medicine and hospital doctors who would have been much happier in general practice.