Ghosts of Careers Past

‘Tis the season…..of career changes.  As the festive season progresses from Christmas into the New Year, many will use the break to reflect on the year just passed and to think ahead to the year to come.  Like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, we may be visited by the ghosts of past, present and future.

In this, the first of a three-part series on careers past, present and future, we look at the ghosts of careers past.

For us, the busiest time of the year when it comes to career coaching is always the first few months of the New Year.  Refreshed by the Christmas break and full of hope and renewed ambition for the year ahead, many people are thinking come January about a change of career or direction.

Taking Stock
But where to start?  In order to move forward in your career, you must first go back.

As a starting point, a self-assessment is essential. While there are many frameworks you can use to facilitate this, the key is to choose one that explores your personal preferences and values as well as the skills and knowledge you’ve acquired over the years.

A broad view
A worthwhile career review should be as much about who you are as what you’ve done. Many people don’t acknowledge their full potential, taking too narrow a view of what they can and can’t do based on their recent industry experience or job title.  We need to sell either knowledge or experience to a potential new employer but we often do not realise what we have that could be transferrable.

For this reason, it is important to start at the beginning and work forward to see how you got to where you are now.  What were your interests and enthusiasms?  Who were the friends, teachers, relations and others that inspired and encouraged you in particular directions.  What were your dreams and ambitions and how did these affect your choices?  What were the constraints and obstacles and how did you tackled them?  Above all, what were the things that gave you enjoyment, that energised you and made you happy?

Mind the gap
Attached is a ‘ghosts of careers past’ checklist that you can use to guide you through your review.  What you should have once you’ve completed your self-assessment is a list – no matter how long or short – of not just your skills and knowledge but also of your personal attributes, your preferences and values, and the things that matter to you.

We suggest that you show your self-assessment to someone you know well (but perhaps not family) to get a sense of whether there is a gap between your reality and their perception.  In job search, perception is what matters most at first so you must find a way of narrowing the gap.

A happy New Year
We hope that this will prove a helpful framework for reflection that will help you towards a happy working life in 2012.

Jo Ouston
December 2011

Coming soon - Ghosts of careers present.