Mention career and many will think of job searches, resumes and interviews. These are tools to use, mainly to get you recruited.
It’s an exciting journey to work in a new company.
But that’s not the end. You may face challenges at some point.
That’s because a job goes beyond just your scope. You are faced with people from different backgrounds, the dynamics of a working culture and bosses to report to.
I know of someone who is a mid-Manager and has two bosses. One sits in Singapore and the other in America. Each gives different instructions and wants him to work within his role. To tip-toe the fine balance and manage both is a dilemma.
So, he feels that the business unit in his firm isn’t giving him the free will to outshine his abilities despite trying to voice out internally.
Inevitably, this may affect his current career prospect.
For career coaching, we control factors under our care.
A possible way is to understand his core capabilities using a variety of assessment tools. We aren’t specialized workplace experts, we can’t ask him to engineer bosses’ exits.
However, we can offer clarity based on his past corporate experiences to draw out patterns, connecting the dots to potential career opportunities.
He can still continue in a similar role, perhaps choosing a new company to work that suits him better. An organization that provides him the platform to expand.
To do this, a one-to-one consultation session will help to navigate this obstacle. There are 3 benefits that you will get from a career coaching session.
In other words, career is more than just jobs.
It’s about increasing your career satisfaction that brings joy, happiness and inner fulfillment such as a purpose-driven pathway.
Most working professionals will start to self-question themselves at a specific point in their career life stage. That’s one of the reasons why mid-life career crisis happens.
Let’s look at 5 things you will learn from a fruitful one-to-one career consultation session:
Aha Moment
With a coaching and consultation session with an experienced Career Coach, you can find something that you never once imagine. Something that exists but didn’t occur to you at all.
It can be ability within you. Maybe a new option that has a fleeting moment…….
I have a past client (he agrees that I briefly share his transformative experience but keep his details confidential) who is in the media and design industry.
He wants to further his career in animation but wonders where his expertise fits in. With my guidance, he self-realizes a technical skill that he possesses which can potentially get him opportunities. But he has to craft a new portfolio to emphasize to smaller firms based overseas. This gives him a new sense of motivation.
I feel happy that his career is back on-track.
Develop a focus
We are constantly engaging ourselves in tasks around our work such that we do not have the space and time to think of a focused direction.
We lose our sense of direction. Adding to the layers are mundane commitments happening in our lives since work and personal can be blurred and interchangeable.
This results in confusing thoughts. Hence, the aim is to remove the rest, angle towards a priority-based goal to achieve in the next 12 months.
We need a laser focus.
We also need small wins.
5 years is too long. A black swan event like COVID-19 changes everything. Hence, we look at short term objective to strike a home run first!
Remove my baggage
I once spoke to a taxi-driver in Queensland Australia. That’s many years back. Till today, I remember his advice. He mentions that many of us just can’t bury our baggage.
Heavy stuff that chains us and we just can’t find the key to the shackles.
To move forward, he suggests envisioning the point that these unnecessary bags get thrown away. Buy a new backpack that has better features.
Where he is coming from is a mental state of mind.
Close the non-functional door, search for colorful doors to unlock.
If you work smart and hard, someone out there will value you.
Move forward to a new career if you will like to pivot. Alternatively, ditch your unwanted past (keep the awesome memories) and use your foresight to plan your career.
Use a structured framework. Conduct a self-assessment, followed by exploration of your personal values and interests during the career coaching session.
Learn to implement a visual map of yours to steer ahead, usually can be done during the career coaching session.
Identify my key competencies
Easier said than done – how many of us can state our top 3 skills that makes us uniquely special against the rest?
Interpersonal is not, that’s too common. MS office is definitely a no-no – everyone must have it for any office-based jobs.
How about “business-level negotiation in China?” That’s interesting!
European businesses may need your level of market knowledge and experiences to manage relations and to strengthen relationships.
Often, we indicate our capabilities, only to find out that it’s too generic.
How to flesh out our strengths and skills?
You can do a well-established strength profiling report or take an assessment tool recommended by a Career Coach. The tough part is to make sense of the analysis to link up your results to possible career options.
The Career Coach should walk you through, ask deeper questions and find out what these results mean to you. Piece them together and you get great insights.
Get a qualified Career Practitioner who can help you.
Better still, Career Go Where is just one stop away. Get onboard a complimentary 1-1 session for just 45 minutes. Just need to fill up the form here.
In addition, a personal SWOT analysis can be done to be aware of your weaknesses yet able to point out the threats to your career. I’ll usually call this “career risk management”.
Achieve a deeper satisfaction level
How will you define career satisfaction?
Some may point towards remuneration (instant gratification). Others are looking out for personal development. For the millennial, they are driven to change things.
40s to 50s could be hitting their career peak. Thus, facing a career plateau and may scan for roles that have meaning, for example a Career in Counselling.
I have witness ex-bankers who turn into coaching and counselling.
Think of this.
A job pays you the bills.
A career should mean something to you. Just like assuming responsibilities with a purpose that fuels your soul and nourishes your mind.
You go to the doctor to get well. You get a lawyer to fight your case in court. So, you get a Career Coach to ensure you attain a suitable level of career and job satisfaction.
We go above jobs.
Enjoy what you like to do.
The interest may span out into a lifelong career passion. The tricky portion is to balance out your financial commitments (reality) against career vision (dreams).
It’s also not achievable overnight. Takes time with progressive steps required to reach the end goal, especially if you are a young adult craving a reputation in the workforce.
A Career Coach can be your buddy across different life phases. To do this, there needs to be in-depth questioning to capture the core, discover things and people around who influence you. Then, piece everything together and define what satisfaction means to you.
I hope this article helps working professionals understand the importance and benefits of a career session. It’s time to insert our career health as an annual check-up.
COVID-19 urges us to re-think possibilities. Perhaps, a Career Coach like myself can help.
Check out some amazing stories of how I help my clients.