Blog

Surviving and Thriving Through a COVID-Driven Reorganization

In our careers, we often have little or no control over organizational changes. We can control how we frame them in our minds as part of our more significant career stories. While corporate restructuring is nothing new, COVID-driven reorganizations can be incredibly sharp and brisk due to the uncertainty and urgency sweeping through many industries. Read more

How to Overcome Career Inertia and Begin Imagining a Satisfying Future

What do you do when "good enough" is a bad fit? It's the plight of anyone with career inertia. After conducting research, Dr. Brent D. Rosso and his colleagues discovered that finding meaning in one's work has been shown to increase motivation, engagement, empowerment, career development, job satisfaction, individual performance, and personal fulfillment. And yet... Read more

The Plan for When You Don’t Love Your Job Anymore

It's possible to outgrow a dream job. This is something that professionals don't talk about enough. Many people stay far too long in roles that they aren't thriving in because they feel like they're "supposed" to be happy. What happens when you stop loving your work? Read more

Has the Pandemic Altered the Way You Think About Your Future?

What do you know about the future today that you didn't a year ago? For many people, the upheaval and distress created by the pandemic are beginning to give way to new clarity. While it's not a gift anyone would have asked for, this clarity can help us to navigate an ideal next step in our career. Has the pandemic altered the way you think about the future? Let's cover some key areas to focus on when examining this question. Read more

Why It’s Essential To Know What Motivates You

"What motivates you?" The answer to this simple question can make a huge impact on your life. Here's why.

One of the first conversations that I have with clients has to do with motivation. Before beginning our coaching, I ask clients to complete a "Key Motivators" exercise, where they identify the things that motivate them. I've noticed that many people have a hard time with this.Read more

Why a Peak Career Experience Might Be Hiding a Clue to Your Future

Let's talk about how the best moment in your preceding career could hold the key to where you're going next in your professional path. For most of us, there are some truly golden moments where we're able to bring together all of the pieces to pull something off in a truly career-defining way. Can you identify a moment that you consider to be a peak career experience? Hold it in your mind for a moment. Next, we'll mine for gold buried within your golden moment. Read more

Finding New Opportunities in This Perfect Storm for Change

There is little doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic will go down in history as one of our time's defining events. My career coaching experience leads me to focus on how this pandemic will change the workplace – now and in the future.Read more

Navigating Your Career During Economic Uncertainty

Everyone is affected by the global pandemic. Organizations are experiencing disruption as forecasting revenue is increasingly difficult, leading to significant layoffs. So what does that mean for your career plans? Read more

Career Success During a Political Transition

Starting in November, thousands of people in Washington will be directly impacted by a leadership shuffle – even if the same party remains in power. Political transition means that some significant changes may be underway. For those who are seeking to transition to new careers, this political transition can be a golden opportunity. Read more

A Sense of Purpose Is the Key to the Good Life

Everyone wants to create the Good Life. The unsettling conditions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have not altered our desire to achieve a sense of well-being. Perhaps those conditions have even increased our yearning for the Good Life. Read more

Your Retirement: How to Start Thinking About It

Has the pandemic pushed you toward considering your retirement? The COVID required limitations on social interactions, changes in the workplace such as career job loss, furloughs, and remote work are examples of the kinds of disruption many professionals are experiencing today. It may be the opportune time to evaluate your current work experiences and consider options, including retirement. Read more

Career Reassessment During the Pandemic: Finding Your Ideal Job

Several outstanding people have come to me lately because they have been furloughed, or their positions have been abolished. The usual response at first is financial panic as mortgage payments and college tuitions dominate. After the initial shock, many discover that the pandemic provides an opportunity to reassess what they would love to do. In some cases, they find their "ideal job."Read more

How to Achieve Personal Growth and Survive a Career Transition

I recently posted an interesting article on my Experience Matters Facebook page from the New York Times called “Feeling Stuck? Five Tips for Managing Life Transitions," in which the author lays out his prescription for surviving what he calls "life quakes." I have always looked for ways to use these life transitions to achieve personal growth. Read more

Finding Career Change in COVID-19 World of Lockdown and Social Distance

As we find our way through the COVID required limitations on social interactions, many professional workers are dealing with significant changes in their status. Job loss, furloughs, remote work are examples of the changed circumstances. Within the disruption, some have been able to use the time to evaluate the current work experiences and consider options for a career change in COVID-19 world.Read more

How to Survive Unwelcome Career Changes

Career changes can either be at our behest or thrust upon us. In either case, they can be upsetting. Unwelcome career changes require different coping strategies than changes that are intentional and planned. Read more

Being Smart About Your Career During the Shutdown

We are learning how the COVID-19 shutdown affects everyone, but not in the same way. Situations change quickly, bringing intense challenges as well as singular opportunities. For some, the shutdown may provide a time to evaluate their work experiences and consider options for a career change. Read more

Your Career Coach Can Help You Function at Your Best

In my work as a career coach, I have learned that any change can be challenging. In many cases, changes cause us to reevaluate who we are at a fundamental level. We now live in a period of rapid social, technological, and professional change. Increasingly, people seek 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 type of personal and professional self-examination. Read more

How Career Coaching Facilitates Mid-Career Job Change

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. Read more

Experience Matters When We Live to 100

In my work with professionals in planning midcareer transitions, I often wonder why this type of career reassessment and redirection is so challenging. Why is career change after years of successful performance not considered a reasonable next stage? It seems to me that we focus much more on the years completed than the years ahead. Read more

What Are You Seeking in a Career Change?

In my role as a career coach, the topic of career change usually comes up for active discussion. I meet with all of my prospective clients for a complimentary hour. I start by asking if they are thinking about moving to a similar job, or are they looking for a change of focus. Many are surprised to admit they have run out of enthusiasm for their work of more than 15 years. Read more

Want to Have a Job You Love in 2020?

What's on your mind as you head off for work each day? How does the thought of how you will be spending the next eight or so hours make you feel? Are you excited, or do you experience a low-level dread in the pit of your stomach? Worse yet, has this feeling been a regular feature of your daily routine for months? Read more

Why Do People Stay in Jobs That Are Unsatisfying?

There are a whole host of reasons people stay in jobs that are unsatisfying. These positions don’t suit them or produce so little meaning that they are profoundly disappointing. There are cultural, financial, and personal forces that militate against taking bold career moves toward a more satisfying career. My clients prove the exception to these rules and I am inspired by their courage every day.Read more

Why Most Women Think They Should Change Their Careers

According to a recent study by InHerSight, seventy-three percent of working women are interested in changing careers. I was not surprised because this supports what I have been consistently hearing from my many women clients for the last several years. Read more

Hanging On or Being Bold: Your Midlife Reappraisal

There is something about approaching 50 that naturally brings up a fundamental midlife reappraisal of all the essential elements of life. It often starts with the realization that we are likely to have lived more than half of our available years. So with varying degrees of intentionality, we question the status of our relationships, our career, and whether we want to stay put geographically. Peggy Lee’s song lyric “is that all there is” speaks to this uncertainty as many of us wonder whether we need to lay down some new track. Read more

The Mechanics of a Successful Informational Interview

As I said in my previous blog - How to Prepare for Successful Informational Interviews - a significant challenge for anyone seeking a new career is not knowing the options. Investigating career possibilities in midcareer often feels both urgent and riskier than in the early years when you were getting started. One way to explore the opportunities available to you is to use informational interviews. Read more

How to Prepare for Successful Informational Interviews

Many of my clients have in common a deep dissatisfaction with their current positions and know that they need to make a change. For some of these executives, the prospect of making a career change is as unsettling as their career discontent. Mid-career change can be challenging but ultimately very satisfying for those with the courage to pursue it. Read more

What Kind of Career Change Do You Need to Make?

When Management Changes, Is It Time for You to Go?

Clients often come to see me because recent management changes have left them much less interested in their current assignment. It may be that a planned or recent reorganization has either changed their function or the context in which they work. One client was blunt. "After the dust settled on the reorganization, I was left with fewer good people, and my shot at a decent bonus looked out of reach. This isn't what I signed up for". Read more

What Happens When You’ve Outgrown Your Job?

Why would a midlevel executive at the height of a successful career consider a career change? One of the frequent reasons I find in working with clients is some version of “I’ve outgrown my job.” The particular task of making a midlife career change involves a process that includes vigorous and intuitive self-assessment, as well as a thorough investigation of possibilities and, finally, a choice.Read more

Is the Ideal Job a Solution for Mid-career Transitions?

When you find yourself in a job that no longer fits your skills and interests it's time to rethink what you really want to do. Investigating career possibilities in midcareer often feels both urgent and riskier than in the early years when you were getting started. A career move at this stage can seem daunting. Finding your ideal job is a process that can be both exciting and uncomfortable. Read more

Is This All There Is? Overcoming Career Discontent

What happens when a successful professional feels like they are in the wrong place at the wrong time? Their work begins to lose meaning, and they no longer look forward to going to the office. The challenges and accomplishments of the past seem unconnected to the present day. Their career discontent grows slowly.Read more

Feeling Stuck in Your Career? It’s Time for Plan B

Mid-career change can be difficult. Plan A, on the other hand, is familiar. You have a career and are moving forward while you buy a house, send the kids to school, and try and save a few bucks for retirement. There’s an assumption working here, that your career will continue to provide personal and financial satisfaction as long as it lasts. What if instead, as you approach your mid-50s, your work starts to lose meaning or the road ahead looks like it is not worth taking. Read more

Is Launching Your Own Business the Best Option for You?

When most people leave jobs, either voluntarily or not, one question can be: Do I stay in the business I am in now, or do I try something new like striking out on my own? So what does it take, and is the solo professional life for you?

How to Find Clarity After a Successful Career

In my practice as a career coach I recently saw a client who was considering leaving her 30-year career. She said, "I don't know how to even begin thinking about moving on." She is a talented professional who has had a lot of career success and is accustomed to feeling clear-headed about making decisions. Facing a transition after a successful career, she needed to know where she was heading rather than just what she was leaving.

How Should Boomers Reinvent Their Retirement Years?

The baby boomer generation is reinventing “retirement,” but there is no roadmap. Boomers are designing their plans for what to do after their first career as they go along. No new news here. Boomers have rewritten the rules for every stage of life since elementary schools exploded with this Howdy Doody lunch box crowd. Read more