5 Signs You Need a Career Strategy
Stuck in Your Career? 5 Signs You Don't Need a New Job - You Need a Career Strategy
You're not unhappy enough to leave. But you're not fulfilled enough to stay.
Perhaps you've been feeling this way for a while. Nothing is necessarily terrible. You have experience. You've got a decent CV - or at least you think you do - but something about it doesn't quite sit right. You may have a good salary, a respected position and a career that, on paper, looks successful.
And yet, there's that nagging question: "What's next for me?"
Perhaps you're thinking about changing your career, or you're wondering whether you should look for another job.
Perhaps you're considering retraining, starting something of your own, going for a promotion - or simply doing something that feels more meaningful.
But before you rush onto LinkedIn and start blindly clicking Easy Apply for vacancies, it might be worth stopping and asking yourself a different question:
Do I actually need a new job - or do I need a career strategy?
Because those aren't necessarily the same thing.
Sometimes the Problem Isn't the Job
One of the things I've noticed through my work with professionals is that career dissatisfaction isn't always straightforward.
You can dislike your role without disliking your profession.
You can enjoy your work, but dislike the culture around you.
You can have a good manager, but feel you've stopped developing.
You can be successful, but bored.
You can be well paid, but lacking purpose.
Or you can simply have reached a point where the career that suited you five or ten years ago no longer fits the person you've become.
In fact there may be no real rhyme or reason behind it, but you know that you are not happy at the moment.
That doesn't automatically mean you need to walk away. It means you need to understand what's really going on, and that's where I believe a career strategy becomes incredibly valuable.
1. You're Thinking About Leaving - But You Don't Know What You're Moving Towards
This is probably the biggest warning sign.
"I need a change."
"I can't do this anymore."
"I need to get out."
These are understandable feelings. But they're not yet a career plan.
I've seen people make significant career moves because they were unhappy where they were, only to discover six months later that they'd recreated many of the same problems somewhere else. In fact, many people who make hasty decisions, or go back into an old company to get that feeling ‘back’, will invariably not last long there.
A career move made from frustration isn't necessarily a career strategy.
Before you decide where you're going, you need to understand what you're moving away from - and what you're moving towards.
Ask yourself:
What isn't working for me anymore?
What do I actually enjoy?
What would I like more of?
What would I like less of?
What kind of environment brings out my best?
What does success mean to me now?
The answers may surprise you.
2. You've Become Your Job Title
This one is particularly common among experienced professionals.
"I'm an accountant."
"I'm a HR Director."
"I'm a project controller."
"I'm a sales manager."
"I'm a teacher."
Your job title tells people what you currently do. It doesn't necessarily tell them who you are!
After ten, fifteen or twenty years in one profession, it's easy to become defined by your role. That can make a career change feel frightening. You start thinking "But what else could I possibly do?" The better question might be "What have I actually learned to do?" or “What experience have I garnered?” Because underneath your job title there may be a whole collection of highly transferable capabilities.
Leadership.
Negotiation.
Problem-solving.
Stakeholder management.
Commercial awareness.
Communication.
Decision-making.
Project management.
Influencing.
Risk management.
Working under pressure.
Managing change.
The list can be much longer than you realise. And this is one of the reasons I believe career coaching should look beyond the CV, because your experience is bigger than your job title.
3. You Have More Skills Than You Give Yourself Credit For
This is where a proper career audit can be incredibly powerful. Instead of simply listing your previous jobs, take a step back and ask yourself:
What am I genuinely good at?
Not what you're qualified to do. What do people actually come to you for?
What have I achieved?
Think beyond promotions.
What problems have you solved?
What difficult situations have you handled?
What have you improved?
Who have you helped?
What gives me energy?
Which activities make you feel engaged and capable?
What drains me?
This can be just as revealing.
What do I value?
Autonomy?
Security?
Creativity?
Leadership?
Flexibility?
Purpose?
Challenge?
Recognition?
Financial reward?
Family time?
What have I outgrown?
This is an important one. Sometimes the problem isn't that you've chosen the wrong career; it could be that what you thought you always wanted just isn’t what you need anymore. Often we hold onto ideas that we had 10 or 20 years ago and we just never evaluate them.
You've simply outgrown your current version of it.
4. Your Confidence Hasn't Caught Up With Your Capability
This is something I see frequently. People can have years of experience, impressive achievements and excellent professional skills, yet still question whether they're capable of taking the next step.
"Who am I to apply for that?"
"I've never done that before."
"There are younger people who probably know more than me."
"What if I fail?"
"Maybe I should just stay where I am."
There's an important distinction here: capability and confidence aren't the same thing.
And confidence doesn't always arrive before action. Sometimes, confidence develops because you take action.
You try something.
You learn something.
You have a conversation.
You put yourself forward.
You discover that you're more capable than you thought.
This is particularly important when you're considering a career change later in your career.
Your experience doesn't disappear because you're changing direction. You're not starting again. You're starting from experience. And just remember that your experience is valuable!
5. You Have a Career Goal - But No Strategy
"I want to get promoted."
"I want to change careers."
"I want to earn more."
"I want to work for myself."
"I want to do something more meaningful."
These are all perfectly valid goals, but a goal isn't a strategy.
Imagine someone saying "I want to become a HR Director." That's the destination, but what does the route look like?
What experience do they need?
What skills are missing?
How are they currently positioned?
What evidence demonstrates they're ready?
Who needs to know about them?
What conversations do they need to have?
What development do they need?
What needs to change in their current role?
What is the realistic timeframe?
That's when a career goal becomes a career strategy.
Where Do You Start? Try the ‘Keep, Change, Explore’ Exercise
If you're feeling stuck, I'd suggest a simple exercise. Take a piece of paper and divide it into three sections:
What to Keep in Your Career
What parts of your current career do you genuinely want to keep? Think about skills, responsibilities, people, environment, flexibility, income, challenge and purpose.
What to Change in Your Career
What no longer works for you? Be honest - what are you tolerating that you no longer want to tolerate?
What to Explore Next
What possibilities have you been curious about, but haven't seriously considered? And here's the important part: Don't start with job titles.
Start with activities, environments, responsibilities, values, skills and ways of working. You might discover that you don't actually want to change your career. You might simply want to change how you are using your career.
What If You're Over 40 or 50?
Perhaps you're thinking "That's all very well, but isn't it too late for me?"
I don't believe it is. I've spent a significant part of my career working in recruitment and training, including in aviation, and I've seen first-hand how much experience can bring to a role.
The challenge isn't necessarily your age. It can be how you position your experience.
If your CV simply tells people what you have done for the last twenty years, it may not communicate what you can bring to the next twenty. That's a very different problem, and it's one that can be addressed. You don't necessarily need to hide your experience - you need to translate it - because the skills you've developed throughout your career may be precisely what a different organisation, industry or role needs.
Your Next Career Move Deserves a Strategy
If you're currently asking yourself "What's next?", don't necessarily start by searching for another job. Start by understanding yourself. Understand what you bring, identify what's holding you back and explore your options.
Look at the gaps, think about where you want to go, and then build a route towards it. Your next career move deserves more than a rushed decision made because you're frustrated with your current situation.
It deserves a plan.
This is the thinking behind Career Catalyst™, the 12-week career coaching programme I've developed for professionals who want to move from career uncertainty to clarity, confidence and momentum.
Through four stages - DISCOVER, DIAGNOSE, DESIGN and DEVELOP - the programme combines career coaching, strengths and values exploration, psychometrics, career positioning, personal branding, practical career planning and accountability.
The first Founding Pilot will begin in October and I'll be sharing more about this over the coming weeks.
So, perhaps the most important question to ask yourself today is simply:
If you had complete clarity about your career, what would you do differently?
Thinking about a career change and would like to know more? Get in touch today.
Email Gillian at yourconsultant@candehrconsultancy.com