Many of my clients think they don’t know what they want next in their career. Yet, when I ask them about it, they are able to tell me. So, I get curious and ask myself, what’s the real barrier to your career change success? I often ask them:
So, what’s stopping you from making the change?
The following are among the most common reasons:
I’ve checked out job boards and the job I want doesn’t exist
My skills aren’t strong enough
My experience isn’t recent enough
My knowledge isn’t expert enough
Another employer wouldn’t be flexible enough
My response is usually “how do you know that?”
I notice the tendency career changers have to make assumptions about potential employers or clients and what it is they want and don’t want, but until you ask the question directly, how do you know for sure?
If you think you have an idea about what you’d like to do next, explore the options thoroughly. List your perceived barriers and by each one ask, “is this true?” If the answer is that you don’t know, go and check it out.
Why can’t I think about this logically?
This is a question one of my clients asked me the other day. She is a highly intelligent, articulate woman who had created so most of these barriers to her future career before she’d even got off the ground with it. She had almost thrown away her dream career from the very outset because of one thing, her biggest barrier was her
Confidence
Confidence plays a huge role in the career change process. If there is any part of you that lacks confidence, you will more often than not seek safety by creating barriers.
It saddens and disappoints me that many of my clients have had a difficult boss who left them thinking they weren’t capable enough / expert enough / dedicated enough. They might not have deliberately done so, but if your confidence is already low for whatever reason, an ill informed comment can be taken personally.
If feedback is offered constructively, then listen. But if you’re feeling bombarded by negativity in the work place, its very hard to retain perspective. And, its an excellent sign to get out sooner rather than later.
The more your confidence is chipped away, the harder it is to get in the right frame of mind for a career change. Trust me, I’ve been there.
How can I help?
Quite simply, confident people achieve what they want more easily. So, if you’d like help deciding which of your barriers are real or perceived, or your confidence has taken a bashing, then do yourself a favour and contact me for free, no obligation cheer leading in the form of a 40 minute chat. To find out more barriers to successful career change take a peek at AOL’s suggestions.
Wishing you every success!
Sandra