Be your own career coach

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By Helen Slingsby – Sat 17 Mar 2018 @ 11:10

Great article in the Harvard Business Review  providing six ways to manage your career, to be your own career coach and future-proof your career. It's something I strongly encourage in my clients and it's highly relevant for today's employment market where jobs are no longer for life and thus career "progression" is not a given. Instead it is down to  us to  review, plan and decide what next, often with the help of a careers consultant.

The article features more specifically on taking steps within organisations to get noticed, develop and reach clear goals so here are my additional pointers to reinventing your career and developing career resilience:  

  • Create space to question the status quo  to  ask is this job/career still for me, does it match my values, am I still engaged in what I do, should I be exploiting other skills, do I see myself leading large teams for the rest of my working life , what would I rather be doing? 
  • Research what now fires you up if the answer to your questions suggests it's time to  move on 
  • Test the water once you have some ideas rather than jumping straight in. Volunteering, or shadowing someone who works in the area that's taking your fancy  is a great way to see if it's for you, before committing
  • Go for it! We only have one life, and it's for living