When we’re little, all we think about is what it’ll be like to be older. And usually the people around us fuel this future thinking by asking, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Then we actually do grow up, get jobs, and start building our careers. We sit down at our first annual review and our employer asks us, “What’s next? What are your career goals? How do you want to grow within the company?”
We are born and raised to always be thinking about what’s next, what’s bigger and better, how we can grow and achieve more, and this extends into our careers as well. There’s an assumption in our culture that everyone needs to be constantly working their buns off to get to the next level or onto the management track.
But what if instead of focusing on what’s next, we asked ourselves, what do I need to be happier and more satisfied in my career?
Whether you’re a goal setter who’s always working toward your next career move, you like your job but know there’s a few things you’d like to change to be happier, you’re trying to get a promotion or into a management position, or taking a pause to take care of your personal life, each person’s career path and definition of career satisfaction is specific and unique to them. And it’s this definition that acts as the foundation for the type of career goals you set for yourself.
Working toward career satisfaction might look like striving for a promotion, exploring ways to change how a person manages daily work tasks, applying for a management position, or learning how to manage a toxic or stressful work environment.
The definition of career satisfaction is personal and so are the strategies for helping people with their career goals.
When it comes to helping people improve career satisfaction, we’ve broken down the 5 types of people we see in our career counselling and coaching practice:
The ‘Absolutely I Want Career Progression’ type.
For this group it’s more of a ‘how do I get to where I want to be?’ question. We focus on helping this group identify what career progression, career growth, or career advancement looks like for them and support them in reverse-engineering how they’ll get to where they want to be.
This group wants to focus on making intentional decisions about their career to get them from one place to another, and ultimately to achieving their career goals. They like having a plan to follow and someone to talk about their ideas with so they can sort out their thoughts.
The ‘It’s Not Clear What Direction I Want To Go In Or How I Got Here In The First Place’ type.
With this group the focus is usually career exploration and figuring out what it is they want. Together we explore what type of job tasks, positions, careers, or industries fit with their personality, interests, skills, and education.
This group wants to look at multiple career options before making a decision about what’s next for them. The focus is less on how they got to where they are now and more so on where they want to be in the future. Depending on the person, some people in this group want to take a career or personality assessment (either the Strong Interest Inventory or the Myers Briggs Type Indicator) to help them make a decision.
The ‘I Need To Make Changes To Be Happier But I’m Not Interested In Climbing The Ranks or Changing Jobs’ type.
This group wants to make changes or improvements to their career so they can be more satisfied during their workday, but they aren’t interested in a total career overhaul or setting goals for advancement.
They may or may not enjoy what they do, but they’re not interested in changing their job or career path OR their job provides the finances, flexibility, energy level, etc. they need so they can manage the rest of life the way they want it to be. With this group, we focus on identifying what they can change about their current job to improve their overall satisfaction, while validating that a total career overhaul isn’t necessary for everyone. Some people like to take the Myers Briggs Type Indicator personality assessment to learn more about themselves so they can tailor changes to fit with who they are.
The ‘I Like My Job But It’s Hard To Manage the Toxic Situation, Burnout, or Job-Related Stress’ type.
With this group we start by listening and validating. Toxic work situations, burnout, and stress can be debilitating and can take a major toll on a person’s mental and physical health. Together we focus on what they’re already doing to manage the situation, changes that can be made, and strategies for coping.
We’re here to validate each individual experience and provide the support and strategies to work through tough situations and toward regaining career satisfaction. For this group, it’s important to know that not all situations have a solution and sometimes when coping strategies don’t work or have been exhausted an exit plan and search for new employment may be the best possible next step.
The ‘Life Changed and My Career Needs To Change Now Too’ type.
It’s okay for your life to change and it’s also okay to make changes to your career as a result of who you became after those changes! Maternity or parental leave, losing a loved one, caring for aging parents, moving to a new city, changes to physical or mental health, and managing the ups and downs of life as a few examples can shift priorities and change the definition of career satisfaction.
We help this group get crystal clear about what’s important to them now, what type of job they’re interested in, the workplace factors they’re looking for (pay, hours of work, location, flexibility, etc.), and how they see their career as part of their life as a whole. Then we help create a career plan that works for them and their life.
Do you fit in with one of our most common looking-for-career-satisfaction types?
Whether that’s a yes or a no, remember that you’re the expert on your life and career and only you know what’s best for you. If you’ve been considering career counselling and coaching and don’t see yourself represented above, that’s just another example of how unique each person’s career path is.
Whatever your career goals are, they’re yours.
You are in charge of where you go from here.
~ Ashley and Larissa
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