Recently I have had several clients come to me because they were fed up and disillusioned at work but had no idea how to get out of the rut that they were in.
We began by carrying out a Career Check and setting a plan of action to get their career back on track (surprisingly this did not mean a complete change of career of all of them).
Without going into all the details of how I worked with these clients, I’d like to show you how to explore your job options in 5 steps:
- Have a positive, ‘can do’ attitude – this involves getting rid of those negative self-limiting beliefs that you may have about yourself. Think about how these negative beliefs held you back in the past. Look at all the positive reasons why you need to change your current situation and think about some of the things you have achieved in the past, then start to focus more on them.
- Assess your resources – take time to assess your skills and strengths so you can realistically see what opportunities are open to you; think about how you can use these skills to add value in other jobs. Consider who you know who may be able to help you and who can give you a recommendation to confirm you have the skills you say you do. You cannot go through this process totally on your own, you need to enlist the help of others and speak to people who are doing jobs that may interest you so that you can find out more about them.
- Use your creative imagination – open your eyes to new opportunities and try imagining yourself in someone else’s shoes, think of possibilities, alternatives, what ifs… Try to come up with as many different options as possible no matter how wild and unrealistic they may first seem, just write them down. This is the brainstorming part!
- Review your constraints – how much do you need to earn, is commuting an issue for you, what hours do you want to work, do you have family commitments, etc. Everyone has their own list of constraints so once you have analysed yours, go back through the list of possibilities you just wrote down while brainstorming and start to reduce the ideas which are not possible due to your personal constraints.
- Don’t rush this process – you are not going to come up with an immediate solution and you need to give yourself time to allow your creativity to generate possibilities for you. Sometimes the best ideas will come to you when you least expect it so make sure you always have something with you to note down ideas on as they come to you.
The jobs market is vast and continually changing; and it is also getting tougher out there. But that doesn’t mean you have to remain in a job that you no longer enjoy.
If you would like a free 20 minute strategy session via Skype to get your career back on track, contact me, anne@power-to-change.eu
