making purposeful career changes kayode olufemi-ayoola

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  • 8/14/2019 Making Purposeful Career Changes kayode olufemi-Ayoola

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    MAKING PURPOSEFUL CAREERCHANGES

    It all starts immediately we leave school, totally nave andunprepared for the world of work, and fortunately for a few, get ajob; after a while we discover that there is a gap between whatwe do and who we are! We hit a period when the desire forchange imposes itself with great urgency, as Herminia Ibarrasaid, we try to swap our old, outdated roles for new ones in onefell swoop and we get stuck

    We get stuck because, again quoting Ibarra, we think that we canleap directly from a desire for change to a single decision that

    completes the career change process most people make thismistake, most do not realize that career change is a process thatbegins with a forced transition (a transition that is self initiated).

    According to William Bridges, A transition is the mental andemotional process you go through coming to terms with a newsituation in this case, the urgency of a career change. It is youremotional reaction and the attitude you use in deciding to accept,adapt or resist change.We are caught between the no longer and the not yet!

    Change is an event, and transition is your reaction to it. How youfeel about it and adapt to it. Transitions usually start with anending a realization that things are not going to stay the same.Change starts with a beginning, or in this case, a quality decisionto make a change.

    Another way to define transition is youre not where you used tobe and youre not where you want to be yet!

    Career change is a transitionary process that could take up tothree years. In a memoir of her own career change, according toIbarra, Harriet Rubin, a publishing Executive writes, It takes, anaverage of three years, from the time a person decides to leave acompany until the day s/he walks out the door.During this transitionary period, a large chunk of the time is spentmaking deep shifts in perspective and small adjustments incourse.

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    Making deep shifts in perspective entails becoming more than wealready are. Everything weve achieved so far is a direct result ofwho we are! You cannot achieve more without first becomingmore the most important part of our thinking takes place in our

    perceptions, in the way we see, our outlook. During my careerworkshops I usually tell participants that you cannot packageyourself beyond what you already are!

    Steven Covey says, We see the world not as it is, but as we are,or as we are conditioned to see it. When we describe what wesee, we in effect describe ourselves, our belief systems, ourvalues etc

    The way to have more/do more is to become more we become

    and then we attract, we grow personally, increase our mentalcapacities, and then we advance in our careers.

    Making small adjustments in course will entail, in the words ofIbarra, during something on the way to something else, so dontget obsessed about making the right decision. Make a plan to tideyou over for the next three years until you figure out your longerterm plan you are more likely to act your way into a new way ofthinking than to think your way into a new way of acting.

    Begin by trying out new activities/experiment moving into a newjob without leaving your current job/ try out new roles or projectson a small scale. Create new useful networks in thefield/company of your choice; pick up new relevant skills, findnew role models, join some new peers groups to guide andbenchmark your progress.

    I would like to close this with the powerful words of John Gardnerwho said, Meaning is not something you stumble across, like theanswer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is

    something you build into your life. You build it out of your past,out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience ofhumankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent andunderstanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the thingsand people you love, out of the values for which you are willing tosacrifice something. The ingredients are there.You are the onlyone who can put them together into that unique pattern

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    that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity andmeaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance ofsuccess/failure is of less account.

    Your welcome to mail me or join the newsgroup below.

    Kay Olufemi-Ayoola has been a practicing CareerDevelopment expert and Coach for over 5years; he hasinspired thousands to reach personal and professionalfulfillment and transform their careers. Using individual andgroup coaching, conducting hands-on workshops andseminars and consulting with organizations , he coaches hisclients to advance up the corporate ladder quickly, and lovethe job they have or land their dream job. Kays active

    engagement in Human Resources and Career Developmentbegan in the mid 1990s as an undergraduate conductingPersonal Achievement Success Seminars (P.A.S.S) and Career

    Talks, which were aimed at helping students maximize theirpotentials regardless of prevailing obstacles in theirenvironment. He has extensive work experiences fromvarious Consulting firms and was Head, Human ResourcesVigeo Oil & Gas Limited, and Chief Operating Officer,After School Graduate Development Centre before hisappointment as Head, Human Resources &Administration, Spring Life Assurance Plc (asubsidiary of Bank PHB). Kay is the founder andCoordinator of Daystar Christian Centres CareerDevelopment Unit CareerPlus+ (started in 2004). He is afrequent speaker at seminars conferences and haspublished well over 60+ articles on Career Development,Personal Branding, Career Change & Transitions andGraduate Employability to date. He is the co-founder &

    Partner of

    Executive toolkit: PeakPerformance [email protected]

    mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]