Inevitably some people will reach a juncture in their careers and will feel unsure which direction to take. This may occur as a result of a number of personal or professional events such as lack of growth and development opportunities in the workplace, lack of career opportunities, redundancy, milestone birthdays, poignant dates, bereavement, lack of goals and the list goes on.
If the career crossroad feeling is left unchecked for longer periods of time, it can result in many negative feelings and experiences, such as total dissatisfaction in the workplace, low self esteem, dissonance and friction in terms of career values, lack of engagement, going through the work motions but not actively participating in the work at hand.
Another factor which may exacerbate the career crossroads experience is the present challenging and turbulent times. The turbulent economic time has forced many people to look at their careers constructively and sometimes out of circumstances rather than choice. It is also a time when many people may be attempting to reconcile their career values with business values and if this is lack of harmony then this can accelerate the process.
Like with many things, prevention is better than cure, which is why it is imperative to ensure any career strategy, incorporates the capacity and flexibility, to deal with the career crossroad scenario, if it were to ever arise. In the event that no thought has been given to a career crossroad scenario, it is a worthwhile in appreciating the factors or feelings associated which have led to a carer crossroad scenario. This thought process subsequently enables the individual, to take effective remedial measures.
What Factors Lead to a Career Crossroad?
There are many factors which lead to career crossroads and some of them have been highlighted below:
- Organisational restructuring
- Job redundancy
- Wanting to move to flexible working patterns
- Lack of career progression
- Need to honour personal commitments such young children, elderly parents
- Wrong choice of career
- No longer enjoying the work challenges
- Reaching a career plateau in a role and not being able to make the move to the next level
- Change in corporate culture
- Professional evolvement may mean an individual’s current employment situation doesn’t accommodate new professional growth
What are People Likely to Experience When They Reach a Crossroads?
The list is endless, in terms of what an individual is likely to face, if s/he were ever to reach a career crossroad. Some of those emotions and feelings are highlighted below:
- Frustration at being able to actualise full career potential
- Lack of motivation which affects both the personal and professional sphere
- Lack of clarity in terms how to move forward
- Lack of career satisfaction
- Dissonance as a result of career values being out of sync
- Career disillusionment and something is “missing” yet an individual is unable to pinpoint what is missing in his/her career
- Lack of career opportunities in the current workplace leading to feeling “locked in”
- Boredom
- Feeling unappreciated in the workplace
- Consistently “clock watching and wishing the time away
- Living for the weekend
- Feeling as if there are limited choices
- Lack of engagement in the tasks at hand
- Putting up with “second best” professionally
- The grass looks “greener” elsewhere
- Lack of loyalty to work
Overcoming the Career Crossroad Feeling
Confucius said “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life”. This is great for those people who know what they want to do when they first set out, but not everyone has a clear career strategy. More often than not, many people will engage in trial and error before selecting a role which suits their interests and needs.
What is most beneficial, if an individual finds s/he has reached a career crossroad, is to carry out a self assessment:
- It is important to get a good understand of the root causes of any career crossroad situation. Without this awareness, it is extremely challenging coming up with an effective solution and only the surface will be scratched. If there is no deeper understanding of the factors which have led to a career crossroads, then there is a great danger of the situation repeating itself in the future
- Identify skills set, strengths and weaknesses
- Looking at any future career paths as being a fluid process which will reflect the changes in an individual both personally and professional
- Seek the advice and services of professionals such as careers advisors and career coaches
In order for the above to be effective, it helps to:
- Adopt a positive mindset
- Have greater self belief
- Be flexible
- Being creative when coming up with a strategy
- Carrying out extensive research on careers and roles which are appealing
- Update resumes/CV’s to reflect changes. Most people will “dust off” an old copy and make superficial changes, but it is worth taking the time to update it diligently
Reaching a career crossroad need not be a daunting and scary process. Instead it can be seen as an opportunity for greater growth and development to reach new professional and personal heights
Readers may also be interested in reading appreciating career values in turbulent times and getting optimum results by working with a career coach.
References
Schein, Edgar. Career Anchors: Discovering Your True Values. USA: Jossey Bass: Rev Ed. March 1993.
Harry, Sean. & Arehart, Andre. Career Crossroads. OR: Jumping Duck Media. August 2008.
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