Are you waiting for your employer to decide your career path for you?
A company reached out to me last year for career coaching for an employee. She was demotivated and underperforming and her negative attitude was affecting the team. They had placed her in different roles trying to help her find her career path but nothing was sticking.
It was clear in our first session that she didn’t know what she wanted. She was being passive-aggressive, projecting her fears and frustrations about her own lack of clarity onto those around her.
“They’re my employer. It’s up to them to give me a career path. If I’m underperforming it’s because they haven’t found the right job for me!”
Within a few sessions and some online assessments, we identified her skills, strengths, passions and aspirations. Consequently, it was now clear her vision and the company’s vision were not aligned. They amicably parted ways. She’s now thriving in a job that she loves and the company regained momentum.
Hard Truth
While some companies do create a career path for their employees, the hard truth is – it’s not up to them to decide what you want out of your career. It’s up to YOU.
Our careers are 60-70% of our lives. They facilitate many of our life goals and our success. If our careers play such a key role in our life’s direction, why do we then hand over the control of our careers to someone else?
Because we lack clarity in what we want and/or confidence in our ability to get to where we want to go.
Plus taking responsibility for our decisions is scary. What if we fail? At least if we pass the buck to someone else, we can also pass some of the blame.
If you wait for someone else to drive your career, you risk:
– Always feeling stuck or being in the wrong job, company or industry.
– Underperforming and feeling like a failure – because you’re in the wrong job.
– Feeling bored, stunted or unfulfilled – because you’re in the wrong job/environment.
– Always relying on your boss, recognition, a pay rise or a new job title to motivate you – instead of being able to motivate yourself.
– Constantly feeling frustrated, depressed or angry – because you know you’re in the wrong job/company/industry but you’re not doing anything about it.
We see ourselves as weak as the fear of change and failure paralyse us and our self-worth falls. Over time, the anger at our situation becomes a bubbling self-loathing.
Quick Tips for Taking Control of Your Career Path
To take control of your career, start by doing the following:
- Identify your skills, values, strengths and interests. If you’re unable to do this on your own, working with a career coach can help.
- Decide how you want to apply your talents – define the context e.g. employed vs self-employed, the industry, the problems you want to solve with your talents
- Compare your career vision and life vision – do they align? Where can you create opportunities to experience both your career values and your life values?
- Build an effective job search strategy to find the job you want (if deciding to stay employed). Again, if you don’t know how to do this career coaching can help.
- If you decide you want to set up your own business or become a freelancer, writing a business plan is key. Working with a business consultant can get you moving in the right direction.
- Upskill. Technology is changing all the time which means people’s needs and company needs are changing all the time. This creates a need for new skills or an upgrade of existing skills. The more up-to-date you are in your skills, the more attractive to potential employers and clients you will be. If you want to move into a new field entirely, then complete the right certification or qualifications that will give you credibility in your field.
- Take action.
Once you’ve decided you want to take control of your career path, don’t be surprised if you suddenly start to feel nervous. Undoubtedly change is scary, particularly if the change is big or means venturing into unknown territory. It’s likely your mind will start to try and talk you out of it. If you find yourself frozen or procrastinating, and unable to initiate the career change on your own, that could be a sign it’s time to find a coach.
Your Coach
Zeta Yarwood is recognised as a leading Career Coach and NLP Life Coach in Dubai, helping individuals across the world to achieve success in all areas of their lives. With a degree in Psychology and over 15 years’ experience in coaching, management and recruitment – working for multinational companies and award-winning recruitment firms – Zeta is an expert in unlocking human potential. Passionate about helping people discover their strengths, talents and motivation, Zeta lives to inspire others to dream big and create the life and career they really want.
