Career obstacles and career management

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Cosmic Coaching Centre Corporate & Individual Career Solutions for Mid-Level Professionals & Executives


Once you feel the need for a change in your life, you

then have this strong

urge to make these

changes and face

whatever outcome comes

with it. But then again,

this just can’t be that

easy, thanks to all the

common obstacles along the way. This is what may

also happen if you are thinking of changing careers.

For those who are thinking of becoming self

employed, you need to be ready to face the many

challenges that should come to you. But one thing

that may surprise you also is the fact that aside from

the external obstacles you would be facing, the more

difficult ones to overcome are those within you.

You don’t think you are ready. If being self

employed wasn’t part of the career paths that you

created earlier in your life, you would naturally feel

hesitant to make a change. This is particularly true

for those who have had some sort of achievement in

their careers. Plus, if you don’t have a degree in the

industry you are entering, feeling less confident is

understandable.

What you can do is learn gradually. Take some time

to learn something about the career you are about to

start. Ask those who have the knowledge and

experience related to this field. There are some short

courses or training programs that you may get also

that will equip you with the basic skills you need.

The outcomes are so uncertain. You will be

wondering if you’ve made the right decision or not.

This need for security is innate to all of us. But at

some point, you have to accept the fact that there is

nothing guaranteed in life. We all should take risks

and be ready to face whatever the outcome is. As long

as we do what needs to be done at the highest level

possible, satisfaction will be ours regardless of the

results.

You are still not certain about what you want. As

any life coach would put it, you need to listen to the

voice from within. It is not enough that you spend so

much of your time trying to fulfill other people’s

expectations. Explore all the possibilities, meet

different kinds of people, travel several places, and

even do volunteering activities. Through these, you

will have an idea of where you will be happy.

Remember that it is important that what you are

doing is in line with your values and what can make

you happy.

Creating a career action plan is vital to developing a

clear and strong vision for one’s future, at least

professionally speaking.

Using this plan, you will

find it easier to figure out

what steps you should

take to ensure that your

vision will come into

reality. Don’t worry if

you still cannot consider yourself a success in any

way. The truth is that this form of planning for your

career is aimed at guiding you whether you are still

looking for your first job, or you have decided to have

a career change.

OBJECTIVE

A career action plan should enable you to determine

how you are going to achieve all your goals and


objectives in your career. What this type of planning

will do is help you in assessing your priorities and

interests so that you will not have a hard time

focusing on the vital parts of your own career. Also,

you will never have to share your career action plans

with anyone, not even your future employers. It is

you who need to see it as often as possible, so that

you can keep track of your progress. It is also

through this plan of yours that you will be able to

identify your career pathways.

FEATURES

There is no specific or special way you should create

your career action plan. It actually may have just a

couple of short paragraphs, or you may also go as

much as writing a few pages. What’s important is that

it covers all of the factors and aspects related to your

pursuit of your goals in your career.

Basically, a career action plan would include: specific

action steps plus a probable timetable for

accomplishing the goals; factors and aspects in your

own life that you think will either support or go

against your career goals; the likely hurdles you will

face and need to overcome; and the names of people

who you believe will be able to assist and guide you

towards the achievement of such goals.

BENEFITS

There are so many good reasons you would want to

devise a career action plan and act according to it.

First of all, this kind of planning will help you define a

very clear and structured strategy that you can use

whether you are in the stage of career transition or

you are simply aiming for advancement in your

career. Whatever it is, this plan will help you move

and take the necessary steps towards a very

rewarding career.

Learning how to control and manage your own

career is a must. This

means that you should be

able to identify what your

core values are, your

personal interests, and

what skills you have so that

you may determine also

what career opportunities

can excite you the most.

When it comes to the skills every worker has to

possess, there are several different types actually. As

you go on with your career, you will acquire a variety

of skills through the training and experiences you

acquire. Thus, before you start looking for the most

appropriate career and job to fit you, it is

recommended that you undergo some free career

assessments just to make sure you know what skills

you can apply in a certain job.

Identifying Your Best Skills

As you try to explore the opportunities offered by

various companies, you should first know what exact

skills are required. In order to assess which areas you

are really good at or which skills are your strongest,

you may try:

• using various career assessment tools online,

doing some assessment exercises, etc.

• asking your colleagues, family and friends

about what they think you are really good at.

• Seeking assistance from a career coach.


What Transferable Skills Do You Have?

Identifying your transferable skills is just as

important as knowing your best skills. Your

transferable skills are valuable in any kind of job or

industry. By knowing about it, you can broaden your

selection of the possible work opportunities where

you may put such skills into use.

What to Keep in Mind about Skills

1. Your skills will be the basis of employers in

determining whether you can do the job well or not.

You must be really good at a particular area. But

remember that having multiple skills in just the same

area will not automatically make you more desirable.

2. You should not hesitate to vary your skills. With

determination, you can definitely enhance your

present skills and even acquire new skill sets. All you

need is experience and enough practice.

3. Don’t be afraid to discover that you have

weaknesses. We all have our own weaknesses and

there is nothing we can do about this fact. What we

can do instead is try to address such weaknesses and

try to turn them into strengths.

4. There are skills that you don’t need to have. To

acquire new skills, you will need to invest. So before

you spend any amount of money to join any

mentoring programs perhaps, be sure that it is

worth your time, energy, and money.

As an employee, you only want to get better and

better at what you do. This is because the fulfillment

of your dreams and your career success basically

depend on how you improve as an individual and an

employee. Thus, you have to constantly search for

ways you may further

and acquire more skills.

Through performance

reviews, you get to know

which areas you still

need to improve on. But

how are you going to

handle a difficult or

negative performance review?

Performance reviews are dreaded by most of us.

Nevertheless, they could also a rewarding experience

if they are conducted on a regular basis. This way,

even managers or supervisors will have an easier

time dealing with assessment reports.

Tips for Making Performance Reviews a Valuable

Process

1. Talk to your manager and ask if he or she could

give you a list of what your objectives should be,

which are directly connected to specific corporate

goals. Then take a look at the objectives and connect

them to certain tasks that you will be the one to

perform. You should then turn this list into a

spreadsheet so that it will be easier for you to

prioritize tasks. This is another way of career

advancement targeting.

2. Ideally, you would want to regularly meet with

your manager to have an objectives review. But to do

this, you must keep the spreadsheet up-to-date. If

possible, you would also want to schedule a weekly

meeting in which you may talk about all the

workplace issues that need the attention of the

management.

3. After every meeting, be sure to incorporate all the

discussed details into your spreadsheet. Don’t forget

to give you manager a copy of the revised

spreadsheet.

4. When it is time for your own performance review,

ask your manager how things are going. Give him or

her a sign that you don’t mind them being direct to


the point. If not everything you hear is good, keep

your composure and continue to listen. Then calmly

ask your manager what steps you should take to fix

and improve things.

5. Always consider everything an opportunity to

learn. Even as an employee, you should not stop

learning. Your workplace may have skills training or

continuing education programs that you can actively

join. Never take criticisms against your boss. You

need to know where you perform poorly so that you

could turn things around in no time. This is one basic

ingredient of career advancement.