Create a career vision that inspires you
Many people dream of radical career changes, but only a few follow through. A move abroad often forces us to take the leap and jump. Whether this is because you are not able to continue your former career abroad or because moving overseas finally empowered you to take the risk. In this blog post, I will introduce you to some career-shaping techniques that I learned from fellow career coaches along my journey. So great that you are interested in this topic and want to know more. If you don’t want to work on your career vision alone, our weekly mastermind groups will be the perfect fit for you (more info). Share with us in the comments where you are struggling right now and what decision you are going to make.
Also, check out the free download at the bottom of this article to work on your very own vision for your career change.
Brainstorming about your career vision using Journaling
The first step of each change process is always getting aware of where you are right now and defining the scenarios that are wandering around in your head. Journaling can be a great process to get all the thoughts in your head in order. There are no rules for journaling. All you need is a sheet of paper and a pen and some time. I personally prefer to have a small notebook just dedicated to the topic of career planning. In the beginning, the blank page might be intimidating. Remind yourself that it is not a handwriting contest nor does it has to look like a fancy bullet journal in the end. The first pages are just to get rid of thoughts, and if you are fancy for some more structure, you can use the following pages to establish some order or use my free template (link in the bottom).
Helpful questions to trigger your process of creating a career vision
In the world of coaching, we always talk about powerful questions that will start a particular thought process. While, questions are most powerful when used strategically in a conversation with a coach, you can still ask yourself some questions in a kind of self-coaching setting. Here are some examples for potential questions. Choose the one that speak to you:
- What do you like about your current job/ your former job?
- What do you entirely dislike about your current job / former job?
- Take an average day of the week (not a Monday or a Friday but maybe a Tuesday or Wednesday). Now imagine you are on your way to work. What would this day ahead look like? What tasks would there be to do, what kind of phone calls, what would be the team structure? Imagine a Tuesday you would feel comfortable with, and that would make you look forward to work. List all the small things that come to your mind.
- What skills do you currently have and love?
- What skills would you like to add? What was a skill you not only always admired but that you also would love to incorporate in your daily work?
Write down all the thoughts you have and before moving on, take your time and reflect on what that means for your ideal work.
Get ideas for job titles and do a reality check on your career vision
Many Career Coaches recommend making a reality check. In my opinion, there is one step missing before deciding on what career path would be realistic to pursue, and that is the brainstorming phase of the potential career paths itself.
A simple yet effective approach is to scroll through LinkedIn and browse through the profile of friends and friends of friends to get an idea of different professions. Look at their education to understand how much time and effort is needed for certain careers. The LinkedIn search bar gets more functional every day, and it works excellent with different keywords about potential careers. With all this knowledge write down your different career ideas and test it against requirements, skills, and your perfect Tuesday you worked out before.
Who would be your perfect colleagues?
This is a great way to make your thought process less abstract. The type of people you want to surround yourself tells a lot about the career path you are searching for. Do you like to work with fast-paced, entrepreneurial people? Or do you prefer to have the first-hand contact with people from very diverse cultural backgrounds? Are you more looking for traditionalists or thought-provoking people? Be honest to yourself and don’t just state „fast-paces“ because it sounds good – maybe fast-paces is exactly what you don’t want.
Also, think about in what setting you would like to work? Are you ok with working alone or do you prefer larger teams? Would you prefer working from home, from the office or maybe even a mix of everything? What kind of environment fosters your creativity or efficiency? Think about your personal preferences and write down what comes to your mind.
Writing down your career vision
So now, put together all the writing you have done so far.
As an example, I would like to share my career vision with you. With everything that I am putting out on SharetheLove, I try to be as authentic and genuine, I can be. Therefore, I not only put together all the useful information I have found on the internet and from talks with recruiters and other career coaches, but I always test the exercises myself. In that way, I can work along one of my core values of being genuine and enabling to others. I hope reading my vision might help you with yours and you will be inspired by.
My vision is to be surrounded by people with a global mindset that cherish diversity and that inspire me with their different forms of lifestyle and backgrounds. I want to add real value to the world by empowering women to strive professionally when moving abroad. I want to market global views and cultural diversity as I am a firm believer that we all act better and feel more comfortable when we are open to one another and cherish different cultures. I want to work in a modern, entrepreneurial and fast-paced environment that enables me to learn each day. It is important to me to have a creative part in my life where I can express new ideas to a community. I am my best when I am authentic and genuine. For that to be possible, I spend my valuable time on projects I want to support and the topics that I am passionate about.
Join our next Mastermind Group
The mastermind group is a space where academic research, coaching exercises, manifestations, and recurring check-ins come together to work on your personal and professional development.
The mastermind group is a weekly appointment in your calendar that holds you accountable for your actions steps. I as a coach will check in with you in between sessions and the intimate group gives you the platform to present your progress.
The next group is starting soon so hurry up to save your spot if you want to join.
In case you don’t like a blank paper I designed a couple of pages for you to write down your thoughts. It contains all the steps we discussed in this article and you can download it for free by clicking on this button. I wish you all the best for your career planning and hope you found this exercise useful. Let me know in the comments below or shoot me a direct message with feedback or questions. Love to hear from you!
Thanks for sharing the love and stopping by
