Now we are 6

I’m feeling grateful today for 6 years of my career coaching business; gratitude primarily goes to those clients who trust me to help them navigate career shifts and pivots and whose sessions lift and energise me every day. That’s genuinely why I do this work because it uses my strengths of listening and strategising, which creates the all important meaning at work for me personally.

I’m grateful too to the communities I’m part of that help me to keep developing, keep learning #fireworkcareercoaching #designingyourlife @alicestapleton supervision @juliecresswell busy coaches book club and the group coaching I’ve done this last year with the University of Sussex, the University of Bath and the University of Glasgow.

I learn so much too, about the world, myself and others. And there’s no doubt it’s a tough time to be seeking new roles so here are my top learnings to future proof your career;

  1. Keep or start reflecting. Make space for change and reflection with a simple practice like the #goodtimejournal. By practicing reflection, noticing yourself and gathering some data on what works and what doesn’t you dial up your intuition and gain that elusive clarity you seek.
  2. Try things, prototyping we call it in life design. Volunteer, take a class, approach someone you admire for a coffee. New input informs your ideas and your reflection and takes the unknown out of the equation. And try not to let worrying where it will lead stop you before you’ve even tried.
  3. Start playing with AI! Whilst it will never replace coaching per se it can be a great support for generating journaling questions or multiple options or summarising new content. I’ve seen clients use it successfully to prepare for interview, generate lists of target employers or even help them reflect on which city they should move to!
  4. Stay connected. Important as the shift to flexible and hybrid working has been it can mean we lose touch with colleagues, connections, potential mentors and others. This can affect your mood and your energy. Make it a regular practice to reach out and organise to see people IRL to talk about your current industry or future aspirations. You will always feel better and be better informed for it.
  5. Sometimes a career change means complete retraining but more often than not it’s about learning as you go along. There are so many brilliant resources and short courses out there now to help you keep learning and developing. Generally low cost and flexible they take any indecision or procrastination out of the mix. Recently clients have gained new qualifications in UX, sustainability, cyber security, sculpting, coaching and patient advocacy to name a few; it’s all out there, what will you choose to learn next?
  6. Above all cast your net wider than the obvious job boards. Great for research they can be a trap, keeping you busy applying with no time to do any of the ideas I mention above. With a well-targeted search you might send 1 or 2 quality applications per week but don’t forget to talk to former colleagues and mentors, search out niche jobs boards like Escape the City or Academic Positions and use your network to get you intros and face-to-face meetings whenever you can.

I offer 3 levels of coaching programme to 1:1 clients:

Reconnect

This is a quick review of where you are in your career and identifies possible strategies to help you move forward.

Refresh

This programme takes about 3 months. Using creative techniques that draw out your intrinsic values and priorities,the emphasis is on generating and testing out ideas that build on your existing experiences and strengths.

Renew

This programme typically takes about 6 months and is designed to take a deep dive into you, your personality and aspirations as well as generating lots of ideas to explore before ultimately supporting you to decide on a completely new direction.

Customised group coaching programmes are also available.

Learn more here.

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