Career Consultant Diary: Career plan & strategy for the next 2-3 years
Being a Career Consultant for Executives is often misunderstood or romanticized or both. Sandra Bichl, founder of Career Angels and experienced international Career Consultant, decided to bring more transparency to her/our profession by sharing random days of her work in the form of a “diary” – the delay (sometimes of a year) ensures confidentiality. Below a reflection on how her clients changed the way they approach their careers.
It’s always a good time to think about your career
As Sandra shared on her LinkedIn profile, “I do my best to stay in touch with my former clients – even years later. It’s rewarding to see how their careers evolve and how they find their places in the world where they feel fully engaged. Most approach their career progress in a much more aware manner thanks to a conversation or a concrete type of service they received many years before. And often an “I need a CV” in 2015 turns into “I’d like to discuss my career plan for the next 2-3 years” 5 or 6 years later. In other words, they get in touch before there’s an urgent need for action to find a new job – and allow us to be allies in their career strategy. Sometimes, like today, it is a request for so-called “job crafting” – making the most of their job as they love the organization. Or – like yesterday – a coaching request for the onboarding stage to ensure they hit the ground running!”
Resources
Job crafting is a method that allows employees to customize their job and use every possible opportunity to better their scope of responsibilities and, consequently, their work experience. In its “light version”, which many of us employ intuitively, job crafting consists of eliminating tasks that are boring or irritating and replacing them with more interesting / enjoyable ones. Some professionals naturally find engaging activities outside of their jobs to make up for what’s missing or lacking at work. What some do subconsciously, can definitely be formulated into an actual process and plan. It does take some effort (reflection, analysis, conversations with the team / manager, etc.), but it can be highly rewarding. Polish-speaking readers can learn more about job crafting from Ewa Pągowska’s interview with Sandra Bichl.
Often satisfaction from work stems from getting the onboarding right. Career Angels have prepared a tool to help you safely navigate “the first 90 days” in the form of a workbook, available for free on our blog. The exercises include SWOT analysis, “closing the past”, first impressions and more… with a handy checklist! Tip: even if you’ve been in a job longer than 3 months, it still can be useful to reflect upon your goals within an organization from a strategic perspective.
Are you an experienced manager with at least 10 years of experience? Would you like to discuss your professional situation confidentially? Talk about “job crafting” or how to make the most of the first 90 days in a new role? Book a 20-30-min slot with a Career Consultant through our website.
