Are you a professional who is yearning to make a mid-career job change? Have you been advised to seek the services of a career coach? Although the field of career coaching is relatively new, it’s growing fast. More mid-level executives are experiencing the benefit of having an empathic, smart, and discrete person at their side.

Why Do You Hear More About Career Coaching Now?

My view is that new professions are generated organically in response to social and cultural change. For example, lawyers became necessary as soon as people needed specific rules to govern their relationships. Management was formalized when organizations became complex enough to require a uniform set of principles. Similarly, career coaching is emerging because of rapid social, technological, and professional change.

People need help in understanding and exploiting a vast array of unforeseen opportunities. For example:

  • What does “traditional career thinking” mean when people can expect to live 25-30 productive years beyond the traditional retirement age?
  • How will we communicate with billions of people instantly or start a successful E-enterprise with a person in another country that we may have never met?
  • What will it mean that people in the 21st century will routinely live more than 100 years? If the world is flat and both decreasingly hierarchical and male-dominated, what do these new realities mean for professional and personal opportunity worldwide?

Significant social change creates stress as individuals try to find their place in an unfamiliar landscape. In this environment, fundamental questions arise naturally, such as what work will satisfy me? Or how do I create a legacy that means something?

Professional Options and Priorities

Increasingly, people are seeking guidance about who they want to become and how to exploit opportunities undreamed of just a generation ago. Skilled coaches can support people through this personal and professional self-examination. Career coaching enables people to understand their work preferences better as they change over time. Do I want to supervise other people, do I prefer working in large or small organizations, how much money do I need now, and what skills do I have to bring to the party?

The purpose of a career coaching relationship is to bring clarity in evaluating professional options that often satisfy competing objectives.

“I like the work I do, but management changes are shifting the direction of my projects. I’m not sure I will be comfortable with the new assignments.”

“I have been very successful in my work, but I want to learn new skills and find a more challenging direction.”

“I love my job, which is both rewarding and demanding, but at this stage in my life, I need to have more personal time.”

An experienced and empathic career coach partner will help you sort out the real priorities in job choices. Your coach can guide you from confused thinking into a clear vision with the practical tools necessary to turn the vision into reality.

Peter Sherer is a nationally recognized career coach who offers clarity and confidence to mid-career and senior executives in transition. In just two short days, his rigorous assessment tools enable his clients to identify a meaningful assignment that uses all of their skills and experience. Learn more and get in touch with Peter today.