20 Jun Signs You May Need a Career Coach
Pinpointing Times when Career Coaching Will Be Helpful
People sometimes ask me about when would be the best time to use a career coach, or when a career coach would be the most help? The truthful answer is that when they feel they need one, but that’s not always obvious. Here are the times when I think anyone could benefit from the help of a career coach.
1.When you know something’s wrong but you’re not sure what it is
Many of my clients find that they have spent years climbing the ladder of one profession, often one they were encouraged into at an early age, only to find that, once they’ve reached their goals, they are doing something that doesn’t particularly fulfill them or bring meaning to their life. The thought of a career change may not even be fully formed at this stage; they just have the feeling that something isn’t right and would like to explore whether changing career is the right solution. Career coaching at this time can not only help with this process, but also ensure that you’re not needlessly changing career when the real problem lies elsewhere.
2. When you know you want to change career, but you’re not sure what you want to do next
Whilst it can feel frustrating to be in this place of not knowing, I like to encourage my clients to think of this time as an adventure. It’s an exploration and shouldn’t be rushed. Working together, we will take both a practical approach as well as doing some deeper, more intuitive work that can be transformative in ways that don’t just relate to your career.
3. When you know what you want to do but aren’t sure how to get there
I love helping my clients create plans and strategies to help them effect a meaningful career change; my talent is in helping them break down one big change into lots of baby, achievable baby steps…and helping them celebrate each of them along the way.
4. When it’s just not working
Sometimes doing things by the book isn’t the only way. Together, we can look at whether there are alternatives ways to get where you want to be: shadowing, internships, mentoring, role models, volunteer work, getting more education, raising your profile to put you in that space. We’ll use some Scarlet Thinking to get things moving.
5. When you’re planning a career break
You’re taking a gap year or sabbatical and really want to make the most of it. What you don’t want to do is spend it painting your mum’s sitting room as someone I know ended up doing. Together we can look at what you’d like to get out of this time, make financial plans to ensure you will enjoy your time and ease yourself post career-break back in comfort. We can talk through pre-designed commercial options, or craft your own carer break.
6. When you’d like to travel more
This is one of my favourite ways of working with people: helping them design their lives to travel more. It’s what I did with my travel blog www.soothedinthecity.com which now allows me to travel, in style, and have experiences that, literally, money cannot buy. Whether you want to set up your life to bring more travel into it, ditch it all and become a digital nomad, or change career to one that involves more travel, we can work together to find your personal path.
7. When you’re coming back to work after having children
Having children changes everything. I know. I have had three. If having children has provoked a yearning to explore a new career,or just made you evaluate the practical aspects of your current job, let’s look at what you really want in your life and whether you need to look elsewhere to get it.
I work with clients from all over the world. You have have face to face career coaching with me in London or West Essex, or Skype or telephone sessions with me from the comfort of your own home. We can work intensively to help you get into the best position for a particular job interview, or space it out to give you time for some delicious exploration. Contact me to chat about where you are right now and how career coaching would work best for you.
No Comments