“Help me find a career” is something we hear often. When a client recently burst into tears about her new career, we were utterly charmed. This amazingly-talented client had an impressive artistic resume and huge amounts of talent, yet the pain in her hands would no longer allow her to do the work that had been supporting her for years. When she arrived to report on her progress since taking our workshops, she had a large check with her from her very first consulting client, allowing her to become the artistic director she had always wanted to be. Her new motto? Everyone should have an action figure to help them market their business!
As conscious career counselors, the two of us at Career Wisdom Institute, Inc. (CWI) are always amazed and saddened by how many people believe, quite strongly, that you have to be miserable as you fit yourself into a box to find work, a box that is often constraining and unhealthy. Yet the truth is that it is exactly the people who love what they do who find themselves with abundant opportunities beyond belief. After all, consider this: if you work full-time between the ages of 21-65, you will have worked 96,000 hours! That’s a lot of your precious life–working at something that makes you miserable so that you can make money.
Everything changes over time, and employment is no different. It is now common for people to change their positions frequently, with the norm being a change about every three years. The number of women who have entered the workforce and are successful is increasing, with most of the open and interesting jobs in the hidden job market, and those openings are never advertised.
With all this change going on it is imperative for job seekers to understand the new “lay of the land”.
- The days of a career counselor telling you what job you’d be perfect for are over. That never worked anyway! It has always been true that people KNOW what they want to do with their lives; they just don’t think they can be successful.
- The secret to staying employed during all this change is to know how you are fundamentally designed, to know and be able to articulate the thing you can’t help but do. That thing, that ability or understanding, can play itself out in many different industries and opportunities, so as the world changes, you are still only doing this one core thing, in many different places.
- Clients and employers hire people they feel comfortable with and that they like. It has never been so important to have attractive energy surrounding you, and to be able to be steady and creative during times of overwhelm and stress. Are you able to stay calm and inspiring when all around you is chaos? That’s a wonderful skill to cultivate, and it is what employers and clients like.
- There is a cycle to all work, a beginning, middle, an end, and a rest period. Most people want to skip that rest and reflective period yet that rest period is essential to new beginnings going well. Too many of us rush from one thing to another and wonder why we are tired all of the time!
- And finally, there is no such thing as work-life balance. This can only be work-life compromise! And while you are at work, you’ll be pining for home, and when at home, not really there as you think about work. The only way to heal this schism is….Find a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life!
CWI offers workshops, individual consulting and books that can help you in all phases of your new career search. Please call us for a free advisory consultation so we can tell you where to start. Happy hunting, and stay away from internet searching! It will only depress you. So if you are crying “help me find a career,” we are here to help you find that ideal career.