Career Change
Lets be honest, career change is frightening. In fact, any change is frightening. When we think about potential change we can create all sorts of stories in our minds. These stories do not usually contain too much truth compared with reality. Watching The Boy get himself into a real tiz regarding an after school club, I was struck by how similar we adults can be, in our thinking, to a 6 year old!
Looking at the Kubler ross Change curve there is a cycle that we will all be familiar with:
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Observing The Boy follow this curve at the announcement that he was committed to doing ‘Dance Mash-up’ EVERY Tuesday for the rest of the term, and, he did have a shock. He did deny it was going to happen. He did have frustration and depression… Now we need to trigger The Boy into The Excitement stage.
Tt is the same with career change. Stuck where you are and know you can’t continue in this way? Yet unsure just how to move forward? Sound familiar? Well this was my experience this morning too. My creative response is not at its best first thing in the day.
Whether you job has been taken from you, whether your environment has changed to such an extent that the role is untenable, or whether you have simply out-grown your role, the process is the same. We realise, we ignore, we feel stuck and frustrated, we get ‘down’ about it. To move from this stuck place it there are actions that need be taken.
First of all: Break it down into baby steps. it is rare, whether you have chosen tho move roles, or whether you have been made redundant, that you will find yourself on the streets the very next day. This is what employment law is for. Remember that you have time. Break the process down into baby steps. Allow the emotions to pass through you and from a schedule comprised of actions as opposed to reactions. Make it manageable and then you can see your achievements.
Remember you are not on your own. Ask for help – this is what found me in the teachers office at lunch time collaboratively creating a solution. That collaboration helped! Beware the stories you create in your head. The stories that have you comparing yourself with others. The inventory that leaves you ill-equipped in your imagination to face the role that in reality you could step right up into. Be kind to yourself. Little good comes form berating ourselves for ‘not seeing this coming’ or ‘not changing our job earlier’. You can only start from now. Take positive, manageable actions, based in the now.
If you don’t know what role you are seeking then find someone to play with. When I say the word ‘play’ I mean it seriously. Find a peer mentor or a colleague or a friend with whom you can really explore the possibilities. The needs to be with someone who will not shame your hopes or slam you for not seeing them all through to the end. It really is time to quit that black and white thinking. It is time to look all around the edges and in between to see what will really meet your professional needs.
Now it is time to be curious. When you do have an idea of your next step, be it a linear step or one that seems left-field, explore in a practical way. Ask someone who does the job already. Ask what the role really involves. These questions will challenge any assumptions you’re making. These questions will ground your decision-making in reality. This asking will probably gain you an ally on the inside. It’s amazing how willing people are to talk about themselves for the price of a coffee…….
However time-constrained you feel you are, it is worth spending time in the environment you aspire to working in. The reality is the environment too may or may not meet your requirements. Be prepared to ‘feel’ what it is like there and trust your instincts. A mornings volunteering or shadowing, can quell imagined fears or indeed do a lot to prevent us making a decision we might regret. You can tell a lot about an environment and its behavioural culture by being in it for a spell of time.
Look at your skill base – if you need to fill in some gaps in order to fulfil a role then do that,
Check out the values of the organisation you have in mind. Glass Door will give you a spread of opinions from people on the inside. See if what you read has alignment with your own values and beliefs. Lastly check out if this role or organisation is a progression for you personally and professionally. if it meets all of theses needs then, and only then, seek a position.
Career change is frightening. You will notice that I did not being this post with ‘see who’s hiring and then see if you can fill the post’. This is because if we have clarity about what we need and what we bring to out next role then we have a far greater chance of identifying a new role that is an excellent fit. When we know ourselves and our professional purpose then the role we need appears. This is because we know just what are looking out for. Career change is less frightening if we engage with being curious, if we ask for help as soon as we need it. Career change is much easier when we take manageable steps and we know and trust ourselves. Every Tuesday at ‘Dance Mash-up’ is proving much more exciting with a staggered start and lots of support in place.
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