“Skateboarding and some great teachers changed my whole life,” Jay Mandarino, CEO of CJ Group of Companies, told Career Buzz listeners (June 17, 2015). As a child Jay had many problems and almost didn’t make it. But skateboarding “helped me learn self-confidence and to believe myself.”
Confined to bed after an injury in his early 20s Jay started selling printing jobs. Continue reading
“If you are working you should get paid,” Gokce Ucar told Career Buzz listeners (July 29, 2015) when I interviewed her in the Izmir airport on a recent trip to Turkey. When she graduated university, Gokce, like many Turkish new entrants to the job market, she reluctantly did an unpaid internship to get a toehold into the job market. The internship led to paid work after six months. Basak Yanar, a Turkish-Canadian researcher joined us on the show to compare and contrast Canadian and Turkish early career experiences, and to share her fascinating career story. Continue reading
Many of the young clients that come into my office seem to be struggling with making the transition from post-secondary school into the real world. They are the young adults who have just successfully graduated from their College or University programs but struggle to make the next step. The reason behind their hesitation is not what you may think it is initially. Many of them struggle to even get past putting in applications for job postings. The job search terrifies them not because there is a lack of jobs necessarily but because they do not feel good enough or they completely feel lost on what career is for them. Struggling with self-identity or self-esteem issues is what holds them back. I’ve even seen clients who have entered into programs that their parents have picked out for them. These young adults feel trapped in a world that doesn’t hold true to themselves. Regardless, the question remains the same: why are these young adults suffering a transitional crisis so early on? We mostly hear jokes and passings about mid-life crises. We hear frequently about empty nest transition crises. However, we rarely hear about young people suffering a crisis in their 20’s. This is often referred to as a quarter life crisis. Continue reading
Change is inescapable in life. It follows us wherever we go, and at each stage of our lives. Some of us are better suited to manage change than others, and some even thrive in times of transition. But for others, change can be a source of anxiety, stress, and discomfort. Sometimes we see change coming, and can brace ourselves for the fall out, or prepare ourselves so things can transition more smoothly. Other times it is unexpected or thrust upon us with little to no warning, and can leave us completely lost and disoriented.
Students, no matter their level of study – whether they be undergraduates or post-docs – are under a great deal of stress and pressure. How can I as a career counsellor provide support and strategies to these students to help them manage the multitude of changes that will be thrown at them throughout their academic lives and beyond?
With the academic labour market such that it is right now, I am seeing an influx of clients who are transitioning out of careers quite unexpectedly. Many of the graduate students and post-doctoral fellows that arrive in my office, started out on their academic path with a certain goal in mind. They were going to be professors. They would contribute to an existing body of research and literature on their topic of specialization, and they would mentor, coach and teach junior academics to follow in their footsteps. The Canadian academic labour market has become increasingly saturated with PhD qualified academics, but vacancies for tenure track positions are becoming scarce. There are a slew of reasons as to why this is happening, and sometimes I will share these with the student, but that’s not really of importance at this stage. Providing an explanation as to why the labour market is how it is doesn’t do much to ameliorate the situation for the individual faced with abruptly changing the course of their career and life trajectory. Instead, I focus my energy on the individual in front of me, and the situation they are experiencing. How can I support this individual to cope with this transition, and develop skills that will hopefully allow them to navigate future transitions? Often I incorporate into my counselling practice the 4 S’s of Transition Theory as discussed by Goodman, Schlossberg and Anderson from their work titled “Counseling Adults in Transition (2006). I use this model to help guide the questions I ask and the direction that our conversation takes. Continue reading
We know that people often change jobs. In fact research show that’s on average people switch careers 5 to 7 times in their life. I am currently in this transitional phase and would like to share with you some of the angst I am feeling during this time.
I have had the anxiety that many teachers face when moving positions or schools but working within the same board has always made that transition easier.
Now, I found myself changing my job for the fourth time in 7 months. I have not lost a job, nor have I been fired, but that does not mean it is not stressful. The first job change came when I left my permanent job of 15 years to relocate our children and I to where my husband was working. I did find a job quickly, (job number two) in a great community but the pay was $30,000 less. WOW. We thought we could do it and we discovered pretty quickly that 5 people will struggle on two low incomes. So, as great as my job was I knew I would have to move on as soon as another job became available. That other job came quicker than I thought it would and so within 2 months of the first move I was off again. I took job number three, said goodbye again and moved on as a substitute teacher in the local board. Money went up, bills got paid and now, only a few months later I am facing another possibility: stay as a substitute in the position that I will probably have for a year and hope it leads to a more stable job down the road, or apply for some permanent positions that have recently crossed my desk. Again, I enjoy my position but it is not a permanent job. Do I stick it out and hope for the best or apply for others positions again? ARGH. I apply and thankfully, after several job moves in a short period of time, I am happy to report I have a permanent, stable career in my field. I am extremely glad that I made the decisions I did and that I am now in a better place financially and professionally.
However, perhaps my personal health took a bigger toll then I realized. Here I am again moving jobs, packing up my stuff, saying goodbye to great coworkers and moving into a new job. This is the third move and fourth job time since January 17, 2015. I did not realized how much stress I was under until I finally allowed myself to relax. I am now noticing that my shoulders are extremely tight, my migraines are coming back, my bite plate may need to be replaced and I have gained a bit of weight. Right now I have a headache and feel like a could sleep for days. AHHHH…the joys of career and life changes. Remember to take care of yourself!!
Benjamin Guth loves making a difference so when the rules for Canada’s temporary foreign worker program changed, Benjamin started MobilizeJobs.ca to put unemployed Canadian youth to work. He told Career Buzz listeners (May 27, 2015), “I get to send them on adventures. It’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.”
How the clues apply to you: That podcast also featured the fascinating career story of engineer and successful startup co-founder Jon Fishbein, who shifted careers when he became “really bored” with one of his jobs. His question to himself can be your question to yourself: “Is this the contribution I want to be making?” And another question inspired by Ben Guth: “What is the most fun I can have at work?”
Download and enjoy learning from the whole podcast.
Launch — or relaunch — your career adventure or someone’s you care about by investing an exploratory consultation with one of our amazing team of career professionals.
When Dr. Marcia Sirota was “too nice” she lost sight of her own wants and needs, and her personal life fell apart. That led her to shift her psychiatry practice, and found the Ruthless Compassion Institute to focus on the “nice versus kind” conundrum.
“People go to extremes in how they deal with themselves and each other,” Marcia told Career Buzz listeners (May 13, 2015). “They’re either too hard or too easy on themselves. And when dealing with each other they’re too tolerant of mistreatment, or too aggressive.”
How the clues apply to you: Marcia’s fresh perspective is finding balance between these two opposing points of view. Stop being “nice” and pleasing others at the expense of your own wellbeing. “Be kind to yourself, which is being honest but loving; be kind with each other which is caring but setting limits and boundaries.” Now, take that perspective into your workplace.
Download and enjoy learning from the May 13, 2015 podcast, also featuring Judi Walsh, the “habit interpreter.”
“We often get lost in our head when we’re trying to change things in our lives and communities,” Lodro Rinzler told Career Buzz listeners (April 26, 2015). Author of The Buddha Walks into the Office, Lodro spoke about the importance of meditation to help you “come home to who you are, your true self and innate wisdom.”
“When the breeze of change or uncertainty or fear hits a mountain, it deflects off the mountain,” Lodro said, referring to the “weightiness” of our innate wisdom. On the other hand, those of us “not confident in our innate wisdom, we’re more like a leaf in the wind. We get carried wherever the winds of change take us.”
How the clues apply to you: Be who you want to be. Let Lodro guide you in this brief mandala exercise.
Listen and learn from the whole interview, also featuring Mike Fenton on where a degree in sports marketing and commerce can take you.
“What did you dream about doing when you were a child?” When someone asked you “what do you want to be when you grow up?” what did you say?
As a career counsellor, I often want to ask this question to new clients, as a way to get them telling a story that is easy and fun to tell about themselves. But for those I work with who are mostly in mid-career, who feel frustrated with the status quo yet confused about how to start making positive career shifts, the question might be too much to ask. Here’s the kind of story I usually hear at the beginning of our sessions:
“I used to love my work. Now I’m burned out. What happened?”
“I really just fell into my first job and ten years went by.”
“I used to think this work was creative. Is it me who changed or the job?”
“It used to be a great job. Stable income. Decent work. Now, I wish I’d left years ago. “
It’s a story of being stuck, feeling somewhat helpless, wanting to change but ambivalent about risking any trade-offs. Still, underneath it all, I can sense a deep yearning. Yearning for purpose, passion, motivation and all the other things that a dream promises. So I don’t want to deny anyone their dream. It’s a matter of timing, and building up some confidence to trust themselves that they can locate a dream again, one that matters today.
One of the concepts I work with is the Map and the Compass. It’s a metaphor that came from Steve O’Donahue’s book about navigating change, captured in his own story of crossing the Sahara called Shifting Sands.( http://www.amazon.ca/Shifting-Sands-Guidebook-Crossing-Deserts/dp/1576752801). He offers the image of a desert as a more realistic way of capturing the experience of change and risk taking, rather than the more common image of climbing the mountain. Continue reading
You can gain so much by hearing other people’s career stories, but you have to listen carefully and in special ways. After interviewing over 300 guests on Career Buzz, and hearing thousands more stories in our CareerCycles practice, I’d like to share these five ways to listen and learn, next time you hear a career story — like on Career Buzz this Wednesday 11 to noon, or by listening to our amazing archive of career stories.
1. Listen for clues and inspired actions. It’s not one thing after another, it’s one thing because of another. Listen for clues that people followed which led them to take action. Clues can be external like a conversation with a friend, or internal, like a thought or feeling about the situation.
2. Notice changes in working identity. As we progress through our careers and lives, we change how we identify ourselves. Identity statements sound like I am a… or I was a… For example, I was an engineer; now I’m a career professional and entrepreneur. Changing working identity doesn’t happen easily, and if you understand how someone else changed their working identity, you’ll have clues about how you can change yours.
3. Understand their lessons learned. I like to ask Career Buzz guests what they learned about making career and life choices from their own lived experience. Listen to their answers because you can gain a lot from others’ hard won self-awareness. It can save you years. If you listen to archived Career Buzz stories, it’s the last question I ask.
4. Borrow relevant language, especially about strengths. After helping thousands of clients, I’ve noticed how hard it can be for people to name their unique strengths, skills and knowledge. That’s why I always ask Career Buzz guests what strengths they draw on to be successful. Their surprising answers can help you name your own strengths.
5. Tune into yourself to integrate what you learned. We live in a fast paced world super-saturated with stories. It’s too easy to hear one and quickly move on to the next. Stop! Listen! Ask yourself: What have I heard that’s relevant to my present situation and will help me in my career and life?
If you need help figuring out what your own story is telling you about next steps, try an exploratory consultation with one of our amazing team of career professionals.