MAKING PURPOSEFUL CAREER

CHANGES
It all starts immediately we leave school, totally naïve and
unprepared for the world of work, and fortunately for a few, get a
job; after a while we discover that there is a gap between what
we do and who we are! “We hit a period when the desire for
change imposes itself with great urgency, as Herminia Ibarra
said, “we try to swap our old, outdated roles for new ones in one
fell swoop and we get stuck”

We get stuck because, again quoting Ibarra, we think that we can

leap directly from a desire for change to a single decision that
completes the career change process –most people make this
mistake, most do not realize that career change is a process that
begins with a forced transition (a transition that is self initiated).

According to William Bridges, A transition is the mental and

emotional process you go through coming to terms with a new
situation – in this case, the urgency of a career change. It is your
emotional reaction and the attitude you use in deciding to accept,
adapt or resist change.
“We are caught between the no longer and the not yet!”

Change is an event, and transition is your reaction to it. How you

feel about it and adapt to it. Transitions usually start with an
ending – a realization that things are not going to stay the same.
Change starts with a beginning, or in this case, a quality decision
to make a change.

Another way to define transition is – you’re not where you used to

be and you’re not where you want to be yet!

Career change is a transitionary process that could take up to

three years. In a memoir of her own career change, according to
Ibarra, Harriet Rubin, a publishing Executive writes, “It takes, an
average of three years, from the time a person decides to leave a
company until the day s/he walks out the door.”
During this transitionary period, a large chunk of the time is spent
making deep shifts in perspective and small adjustments in
course.
Making deep shifts in perspective entails becoming more than we
already are. Everything we’ve achieved so far is a direct result of
who we are! You cannot achieve more without first becoming
more – the most important part of our thinking takes place in our
perceptions, in the way we see, our outlook. During my career
workshops I usually tell participants that you cannot package
yourself beyond what you already are!

Steven Covey says, “We see the world not as it is, but as we are,
or as we are conditioned to see it. When we describe what we
see, we in effect describe ourselves, our belief systems, our
values etc”

The way to have more/do more is to become more – we become

and then we attract, we grow personally, increase our mental
capacities, and then we advance in our careers.

Making small adjustments in course will entail, in the words of

Ibarra, during something on the way to something else, so don’t
get obsessed about making the right decision. Make a plan to tide
you over for the next three years until you figure out your longer
term plan – you are more likely to act your way into a new way of
thinking than to think your way into a new way of acting.”

Begin by trying out new activities/experiment moving into a new

job without leaving your current job/ try out new roles or projects
on a small scale. Create new useful networks in the
field/company of your choice; pick up new relevant skills, find
new role models, join some new peers groups to guide and
benchmark your progress.

I would like to close this with the powerful words of John Gardner
who said, “Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the
answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is
something you build into your life. You build it out of your past,
out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of
humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and
understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things
and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to
sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only
one who can put them together into that unique pattern
that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and
meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of
success/failure is of less account.”

Your welcome to mail me or join the newsgroup below.

Kay Olufemi-Ayoola has been a practicing Career

Development expert and Coach for over 5years; he has
inspired thousands to reach personal and professional
fulfillment and transform their careers. Using individual and
group coaching, conducting hands-on workshops and
seminars and consulting with organizations , he coaches his
clients to advance up the corporate ladder quickly, and love
the job they have or land their dream job. Kay’s active
engagement in Human Resources and Career Development
began in the mid 1990’s as an undergraduate conducting
Personal Achievement Success Seminars (P.A.S.S) and Career
Talks, which were aimed at helping students maximize their
potentials regardless of prevailing obstacles in their
environment. He has extensive work experiences from
various Consulting firms and was Head, Human Resources
Vigeo Oil & Gas Limited, and Chief Operating Officer,
After School Graduate Development Centre before his
appointment as Head, Human Resources &
Administration, Spring Life Assurance Plc (a
subsidiary of Bank PHB). Kay is the founder and
Coordinator of Daystar Christian Centre’s Career
Development Unit – CareerPlus+ (started in 2004). He is a
frequent speaker at seminars conferences and has
published well over 60+ articles on Career Development,
Personal Branding, Career Change & Transitions and
Graduate Employability to date. He is the co-founder &
Executive toolkit: Peak
Partner of
Performance Coaches.
olufemikay@yahoo.com
08037207606