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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). 

journaling, career vision

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. 

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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. 

career vision, sharethelove, expat

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.

Katharina von Knobloch

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

Kate from Share the Love, expat, expat wife, expat life

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motherhood, career planning, working mum

THE CONCEPT OF INTENSIVE MOTHERING

Most mothers struggle with juggling the different roles in their life. How to enjoy work while also caring for children? How to deal with public opinions about being a good mother? How to encounter colleagues at work who diminish your level of commitment? Many academic papers are researching the manifold challenges of motherhood. Today, I want to introduce you to the concept of intensive mothering and its effect on the working mothers‘ experiences focusing on the paper by Lamar and Forbes (published April 2020) called „A phenomenological investigation into the role of intensive mothering in working mothers‘ career experiences.“

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Motherhood & Career Planning – Deciding on a family model

Becoming a mother most likely creates a shift in your perspectives and your priorities in life. Like with any other major life change it offers the possibility to reflect on the path behind and provokes the question of What next? While mother AND father are facing a new era, it is especially challenging for the one who pauses a career and becomes the major caregiver. In this blog post, I reflect on the different family models and how to decide what’s best for you.

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repatriation. covid, epidemic, expat

Moving countries during an epidemic

5 weeks in our very own repatriation journey I want to take the chance and reflect. How does it feel to move back to your home country? How does someone adjust to a culture that is familiar but distant at the same time? Oh, and yes, let’s not forget that we are all trying to create a new normal in times of Covid19.

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coronavirus, expat, families

How expat families are coping with the coronavirus

2020 had a rough start in terms of global news. The outbreak of the coronavirus was one of them. The sheer amount of media coverage (on all levels of quality) and the uncertainty that the virus outbreak brought to many lives also affected expat families around the globe but specifically those closer to the area of origin. I was wondering, how expat families are coping with the challenge, how they made their decision on whether to stay or to go „home“, and what they have learned from the current situation.

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moving, expat, container, moving overseas

Mastering the international move

Moving overseas is a stressful time, especially when the two Cs (Children & Container) are involved. With our own move shortly ahead, I want to summarize all the tips and tricks I received from other experienced expats and that helped me the last time we have moved countries. This list of tips is tailored to families moving with a container. Often there are professional moving companies involved and while that is a huge help in can also lead to many misunderstandings and hiccups along the way.

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expat, flug, flight, plane, repatriation

Repatriation is a bitch

Repatriation is one of the most underrated and intense phases of the whole process of temporarily living abroad. In this blog post, I want to show why that is, what you can do to prepare, and what you can expect. As always, I have used a mixture of academic papers, articles, and personal stories from within the expat community to create a valuable and comprehensive resource for you.

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expat, living abroad

Life abroad: Perception vs. Reality

The perception of our lives abroad often differs tremendously from reality. While life abroad definitely brings along a lot of joy, happiness, opportunities and exciting experiences, it also comes with a price tag. Like everything in life, there are two sides to a coin.
The idea of us sitting along the pool sipping a margarita might feel far away for you. For your friends and family back home, this might be the picture that they have in their heads.

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grateful, thanksgiving, reflection, coaching

I am grateful for…

Thanksgiving is around the corner reminding us to get together and reflect on what we are thankful for. As a German and vegetarian, the traditional version of Thanksgiving is not really my turf. However, it’s a great time for reflection and creating awareness of how lucky we are despite the daily stress we might have. 

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intrernations, expat, study 2019

Internations Business Solutions Study 2019

Recently, InterNations Business Solutions published its new survey about expats around the world. This time they dedicated a whole section to the relocation spouse and presented her demographics, personal situation, needs, and wishes for their time abroad.

With over 1,300 relocation spouses interviewed, it is one of the most comprehensive surveys out there. That’s why I find it highly relevant to talk about the results – so let’s have look inside.

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expat, paper, career, career planning, expat partner, expat spouse

EXPAT PARTNER CAREER PLANNING: HOPE & DISILLUSION

Recently I stumbled upon one of the best, recent academic papers about Dual-Career Planning in expatriation. The paper „Expatriated dual-career partners: hope and disillusionment“ by Agnieszka Kierner perfectly illustrates how hope vanishes when career goals are not met during an international assignment.

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