What’s your career status? Part 1

What’s your career status? Thinking this through is a valuable starting step to help you work through identifying what you need to do to you achieve greater satisfaction in your career.

In this discussion, I’ll be covering six categories of career status. I first want you to take a guess at where you stand, and then we’re going to go a little deeper into examining what those statuses look like. In a later blog, I’ll give you an energizing plan for each of those status areas. This is important because the better you’re awareness, the better your choices. And as you make better choices, you see better results. Which of these statuses best fits you?

Status 1: “I’m pretty happy in my career right now and want to keep things moving forward well.” You’re generally pretty satisfied. You would like things to keep motoring along, maybe along the same track that you’re on right now and you want to do what you can to preserve that situation.

Nearly 50% of people are pretty happy in their jobs. Factors that go along with being happy and wanting to keep progressing are that you’re in alignment with your values. Any time you’re feeling frustration either professionally or personally, it could be because one of your main values is out of alignment. Another factor is that you’re making good use of your priority skills, that the gifts you’ve been given are being put to good application. And that you see potential to grow.

Status 2: “I’m feeling a little flat and bored in my career and want to figure out how to grow in a meaningful direction.” You may be looking for a little more challenge or for work that is more significant. Nearly 50% of people will leave a job to go to a different one if they believe it’s going to offer them more meaning, even if it’s a pay cut.  Meaningful work is a top priority for a lot of people, and often when you’re feeling flat, it is because the work does seem not as meaningful as you want it to be. Your job tasks could be acceptable, but you’re hoping for more challenge and meaning.

Status 3: “I have some specific ideas for how I want to grow in my career and I’d like to talk with my boss or manager about those next steps.” You don’t have a vague feeling of dissatisfaction; rather, you have some concrete ideas that you’d like to act upon.  Almost 80% of employees are afraid to have a career conversation with their boss. You have some clear ideas on how you want to grow, but maybe you’re unclear on how best to present those to your leadership team.

Status 4: “I’d like to define some new career directions.” You may not be happy in what you’re doing at all right now, and you’re looking for something different. Nearly three quarters of adults in the workforce would like to switch career paths if they knew where they were going and that it would make sense. Factors tied to that is that their current job doesn’t fit their desired interest or skill and they are looking for options that will be a better match for them. Another interesting data point: We calculated that we’ve supported over 5000 clients in the last 20 years, so I’ve had a lot of conversations with career-minded professionals. Very consistently, about 70% of adults are not clear on how they want to progress professionally. It might be switching paths or staying on the same path but they’re not clear whatever it might be.

Status 5: “I have ideas about career directions that interest me, and I want to explore them to be sure they’re a good fit.” For Status 4, you didn’t even have an idea of what those options might be, and number five you may already have some ideas about options, and want to take some steps to vet them out. This goes along with stats from Status 4, where 70% of people are interested in switching career paths. Some already have ideas on how they’d like to switch. To get clear on those career options, they’re open to researching to see which ones will be the best match for the long haul.

Status 6: “I want to be prepared to talk about my successes and accomplishments in an upcoming meeting with my manager, in a job interview, etc.” This may be a specific goal, such as a performance review coming up or you’re being considered for an internal promotion and you want to get ready to share some specific accomplishments. 60% of people on average will prep for a performance review or an interview, but a huge chunk of people go in unprepared and that can definitely impact the outcome. Factors that tie that: Are they able to articulate relevant progress and successes and to be able to communicate those effectively to decision makers?

Which status was most on track for you? Make a note, and check out our next blog on how to make progress on your specific situation.