What do you do when you are 10 years into your career and you realise that the path you have taken is underwhelming? How about if you come back from Summer holidays only to realise that you’ve lost the calm you felt while sipping soy lattes and patting a stranger’s cavoodle?
This is something I think about often.
I believe that our career is like a sculpture that we’re gradually refining. At different points in our lives it serves different purposes. Sometimes we’re working for a paycheck, while other times we love the team. Sometimes we love the mentorship we’re receiving or othertimes we appreciate the mentorship we’re giving.
Below are a list of podcasts, books and resources that are helpful when navigating transitions. This is list is not exhaustive but hopefully there’s something here that will help you. If you’re reading this and have a great suggestion please comment below, and we can build a resource bank together!
Pivot by Jenny Blake
Jenny Blake’s book Pivot provides a practical guide to manueving a career pivot. She provides practical advice. Excellent to read with a journal so you can jot down your reflections.
She has a podcast by the same name. The earlier episodes are more focused on career transitions.
Dream job exercise with Jessi Hemple
Hello Monday is an engaging podcast hosted by Jessi Hemple about all things careers and the world of work. This is a great episode. It’s 19 minutes and it guides you through a visioning exercise to explore how you want your life to be in 5 years.
Squiggly Careers with Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis
Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis provide lots of sage advice about managing your “squiggly career”. They provide interesting interviews and always provide actions to further your development.
Portfolio Career with David Nebinski
David Nebinski is an excellent interviewer who explores the idea of a “portfolio career”. This might suit you, it’s where you balance multiple jobs that make up your day-to-day work. I’ve enjoyed listening to this podcast over the past few years.
Sparked with Jonathon Fields
Jonathon Fields explores career questions sent in by his audience with a team of experts. Earlier episodes had a really interesting format where they’d play the recording of the question and then provide advice for the following 25 minutes or so. Definitely worth a listen.
The podcast revolves around a personality test developed by Jonathon and his team. Complete the Sparketype test to explore what work and activities motivate you! I completed the test and learned that my primary sparketype is a “Maven” meaning I love learning. This helped me to focus my approach when looking for work.
Other things to consider
Seek out a career counselor or coach.
Consider chatting with a career counsellor or a coach. Often we need someone external to challenge us. They can ask us questions or to help us reconsider what’s possible.
If you’re already with an organisation you could access the employee assistance program (EAP) – as it’s called in Australia. Most established organisations offer access to counsellor anonymously. When they ask you what you’d like to discuss, share that you’d like to talk about your career. If they aren’t the right fit, feel free to seek out a different person.
Reflect on what you like and don’t like
One activity that I found helpful when working with my careers coach was to list my favourite and least favourite jobs/projects of the past 5 to 10 years.
Then you reflect and write down your top favourite activities that you did in these roles (i.e. research, project management, people leadership etc.). You then do the same for your least favourite activities (i.e. customer relations, event management, etc.)
This will help you start to get a sense of what you enjoy and dislike as you can start crafting your ideal job description.
Get really specific of what you’re looking for
I found it really helpful to create a Venn diagram of the domains I was really interested in focusing on. A career coach told me that she didn’t understand my direction after viewing my LinkedIn. I have done lots of things over the years and as a generalist, this can confuse people.
So to get clearer on my personal brand I drilled down my domains to:
- Innovation (design thinking, strategic design, service etc.)
- Education (learning and development, facilitation etc.)
- Social and environmental impact (solving complex societal problems, social justice, sustainability etc.)
Having defined these domains made it much easier for me to search for roles.
Roles don’t necessarily have to tick each domain but as long as they meet at least two – I am happy.
Since refining these, I’ve developed two more criteria:
- Security (a salary that meets my needs)
- Great culture (I really like working with an enjoyable and kind team)
What would you put on your list?
I hope that these resources help you to find a better role. It’s a process, so take care of yourself. There will be something out there for you.
Let’s also acknowledge that is a privilege to be able to change jobs. Many of us have commitments at home or a lack of opportunity that restrict mobility. I wish you all the best and hope that through strategic conversations with your manager you can reach a place where your current role is more manageable.
I write about self development, and innovation. Thanks for checking out my blog. Let me know in the comments what else you’d like to read about!
Photo by Luis Villasmil on Unsplash
Comments
2 responses to “Career got you stressed? Check out these podcasts and feel better”
Great recommendations!
Thanks Angela!