I’m a career coach for women changing direction AMA

[Angliski]

Hello

I’m a career coach with 15 years experience of heaping women find the right rile and change direction. I also have a newborn cluster feeding so am pretty bored. Ask me anything!

Helping women find the right role! Grrr

What do you think is key to the decision making process when it comes to changing careers?

Also, is there a reason you specialise in female clients only?

What should I do?

What would be a good job for a disillusioned teacher to consider?

@RAOK I'm considering leaving nursing to become a teacher. Am I mad?

I love the teaching bit - it’s just the management I find tricky!

@GrassyGreen I work with both men and women - I just find many more women come to me. I think the world of work at the moment is dehumanising for everyone but it is women who are less likely to endure it and who also feel the overwhelm of the 24h ‘on’ culture more Because of the additional load of caring responsibilities. I guess I like helping women get more freedom. That they deserve this because work was designed by men for men.

Second question- I have a little formula. Careers are a combination of using your skills, in an area of passion to pursue a goal/impact that matters to you. You will be happiest when you do these three things in an environment that suits your working style. I call this the career equation. Working out these four components is crucial to make a good choice.

Which leads me to your third question. What is it about your skills and passions and sense of success that is met/unmet by teaching? What makes you think nursing would fill those gaps?

Both nursing and teaching are constrained by the same environmental factors- bureaucracy, low levels of funding, government bullshit. Can you cope with those?

@RAOK see above! Working culture is important - could you move to a school with more autonomy/ less management bs? Have you looked into alternative school environments? I consider myself a a teacher - I just work with adults in the professions rather than kids - could you transfer teaching skills to a different context where the environment suits you better?

Apologies for delay in replying - wee baby and baby brain means I forgot! Plus first time out with a baby- it took me thirty minutes to change him in Tesco! Overwhelm! Lots to learn!

@nachthexe see career equation above. Most people fell into career rather than chose it. Before you can choose you need a clear set of personal criteria. Make a list to all four elements of equation and then we can work our what jobs suit that.

How to value not-directly-relevant-experience?! I'm late 40s and considering a career shift - to a related area where my experience is relevant ... but there's also lots I don't know. I'm struggling to know where to pitch myself: what's the best way to judge this?

Skills- what are you good at?
Passions- what do you love to do/learn about / be around/care about ?
Impact- how do you define success on a personal and professional basis?
Environment- what does the vibe and work style need to be like so you can be your best and do your best work?

How much do you charge the average client, in total? How much do you earn?

It seems like a job where it’d be hard to make a decent amount.

What do you advise people who are totally lost? I’m in my 40s, can’t (and don’t want to) go back to the only thing I’m qualified to do (nurse) and have no idea where to turn to make a living.

@AndwhenyougetthereFoffsomemore Here’s a practical way to test it.

Take a job description for the kind of job you would like to do next - in this new profession.

Get three coloured markers.

Highlight all the qualities and skills they ask for in either green yellow or red.

Green - yup I have totally done that/got that
Yellow- I’ve done that but in a different way/context/diff audience
Red- that is a gap

Then see from the colours where your experience covers it, where skills transfer and where you have gaps.

Then work our what stories you would tell for each - the evidence of your greens, the transferable skills of your yellows and the gaps of red - with red - what could you do before the job or on the job to address that gap and how would you be proactive about that. Everyone wants to learn something new in a new job, otherwise it wouldn’t be a stretch - so it is fine to not cover everything.

Great employers hire for the person. Knowledge of a field can be learned quickly, new software or skills can be acquired. Being a can do, proactive, responsible, smart and hardworking person cannot be taught. As an employer- your greatest challenge is always finding good folk.

Does that help? What are you thinking of moving from and to?

Jobs for people who hate people :)

@BabbleBee see equation above. Make a long and generous list under each. Do this first.

Then... Take out everything that you like but don’t want to earn a living from. See what’s left- consider - who does this?

Look at sites like icould.com where lots of people talk about their jobs for inspiration. If you have always been in one profession your first task is to learn more about all the other jobs out there.

Consider, what is it that makes you feel most productive and alive?

So I like talking to strangers and solving life problems. And explaining ideas. That’s why I am really good at what I do. How about you? Outside of work, what are you a natural at that you just have to do?

Thanks for starting this thread. What advice would you give someone who is looking to move up from a standard 'operations' role into management? I feel like everyone else is progressing in their careers and I am sitting at the bottom of the pile. I need to start moving with some direction but i don't know where to begin. I'd really appreciate some pointers, thank you! (And good luck with your cluster feeder!)

@Dozer I’ve been doing this 16 years and work with senior professionals making major life changes mostly so my 121 rate is quite high. But I also do a lot of pro bono work and videos and free talks to share with everyone.

I do make a good living from it but I also run a Company that does this work for big firms in a workshop setting and do keynotes/write books - so income is not from coaching alone.

Thank you, that’s really helpful.

I’m very bound by my husband’s work hours, looking after children including a disabled child. There’s not a lot of room left for me! But I’ll definitely get thinking in a different way now, thank you.

@Helpwithdilemma101 thanks for asking. Hmmm some of this may be company specific. Hard to tell. How lonbg have you been where you have been? What’s the culture like? Who gets ahead and why?

Sometimes it is necessary to move to a new place/department/angle to get a break. It’s also useful to ask the question of someone you admire in the field- how did you get here? How can I gain experience e.g managing projects or people temporarily so I can show what I can do?

Also- Are you clear what you would bring to the company? Who needs to see you and know about you? A lot of what makes for a move is social capital plus visibility plus pro activity ... all of those you can really take action on!

I had a really bad experience at work over 2018/19 where I was left to fend for myself in a role with no support or recognition and left with a lot of shit to deal with despite bringing in and managing our biggest ever project. No recognition. One year on and I've just been promoted due to someone else's change of circumstance, but I am still really angry about what happened and can see the same things start to happen again. How do I move on from the anger and stop it happening again? This should be a really positive thing for me but sadly isn't.

@BabbleBee these are all important factors for your environmental fit- I need flex, I need these hours, I need to be around for my family. The more you start thinking about what you want, need and can bring - the more you are able to go find it.

Think about when you choose a school or a shoe for your child, or a home for your family. You had a list of criteria roght? You knew what you were looking for - so it was easier to find. Same with work. Where you look is where you go. So it’s very, very important that you ask the right questions - how cna I have fulfilment and flexibility, not the wrong ones like - why do I suck at this job? The latter will make you depressed, the former, inspired.

@jakeyboy1 I hear you. I’ve been there.

Are you working in the same firm with the same people? When you say - I can feel it happening again- say some more about that?

In my own personal experience, I got fired from one job and when i went to the next one I didn’t want to say no to anything. I got too much attention and too much work as a result and totally burnt out. Looking back, I didn’t know how to set my boundaries about what was possible or how to take care of myself first, so I could then do a good job for others. Is boundaries a thing/pattern for you at all? Does this occur in wider life?

Would need to know more to offer more specifics otherwise making assumptions!

@goldenorbspider web based home working with only email contact.
Or professional hermit.