Although it would be great if our career paths always progressed in the direction we want them to, that’s rarely the case. The fact is that career development and growth is challenging. If it was easy, we’d actually be stagnant. More often than not, you might find yourself feeling stuck… and not too sure how to move forward in your career.

If that’s the case for you, here are 5 ways a career coach can help you find career direction when you’re just feeling STUCK.

Career Dilemma #1: You have no idea what you want to do (but you know it’s NOT what you’re doing now).

If you’ve ever felt like you have no idea what you want to do with your life, take comfort in the fact that you’re definitely not alone! The vast majority of people struggle with figuring out what they want to do.

It’s a challenge because you may not know what you actually like until you try it. The process of career exploration involves a lot of self-reflection and research so you can make the best possible decision based on knowledge and experience.

This is a dilemma that can pop up at any point throughout your life too. Your values, needs, and priorities can change at different life stages. This might affect your career interests too, and cause you to decide to make a change.

To figure out what you want to do, you’ll need to do some serious self-reflection. This isn’t an easy process, and although it’s not impossible to do on your own, it’s invaluable to have the support of a career coach throughout the process. A career coach can help you narrow down your values, preferences, and priorities, as well as guide you through the process of exploring potential career paths. Assessments can support this process of self-discovery, as you can learn more about your interests, personality, current level of work engagement, values, work preferences, and other areas.

Here’s the typical process:

• Meet with your coach on an individual basis
• Complete exercises and research outside of the one-on-one sessions to learn more about your preferences as well as potential careers.
• Your career coach can guide you through this process, challenge any negative beliefs you may have, and keep you on track as you narrow down potential career options.
• Career coaches can also advise on the challenges involved in a career transition, such as educational requirements, the labour market, resume development, networking, LinkedIn Profile creation, and interviewing.
• Career Coaches with Human Resources expertise can provide further insights into what organizations require in many of these areas.

It can be a lengthy process to decide what career you’d like to pursue, but it’s worth it to discover a fulfilling career.

Career Dilemma #2: You know the job you want, but you can’t seem to get past the application stage OR the interview stage.

A lot of people are happy with the career path they’ve chosen, but when they start job hunting, find that they are either

a) sending out resumes and not getting callbacks, or

b) interviewing for positions and never getting the job offer.

This can leave you “stuck” in your current role. Although you may be happy with your chosen career, you might feel ready to leave your current company or current role for a variety of reasons. There may be little opportunity for career progression within your current company or department, or you may feel that you’ve gotten all of the experience you can in your current position and you’re ready for a new challenge. This is why it can be especially frustrating when you hit this point – you know you have the skills for the next opportunity, but you just can’t seem to get there.

Depending on how long you’ve been looking, if you’ve been sending out lots of resumes and you aren’t getting any calls – chances are there is an issue with your resume. A Career Coach can help you identify if there are any gaps between your resume and the posting – and support you in developing a resume that accurately highlights your experience and qualifications in a way that will catch the attention of HR and Hiring Managers.

Career Coaches that are also Resume Writers can create resumes on your behalf, which can be hugely beneficial as we all know that it’s extremely difficult to sell yourself on paper. Writing about yourself is difficult enough! A resume writer can work with you to understand your background and goals to create a document that will get you noticed!

Coaches with Human Resources expertise can provide further insight into what companies are looking for in terms of resumes. There is a lot of conflicting information out there about resumes, so it can be immensely helpful to receive feedback and advice from an HR Professional who has been involved in recruitment and hiring.

If you’ve been getting calls, you can safely say that your resume is working. If you’ve been getting interviews, but not getting the job, there could be room to improve your interviewing skills! Granted, you won’t always get every job even if you interview well, but there’s always room for improvement.

• A Career Coach can help you learn effective techniques and strategies for interviewing and responding to interview questions.
• You can learn special techniques for answering behavioural and situational questions, as well as communication strategies to ensure that you are presenting yourself in the best possible light.
• Career Coaches can also provide you with mock interviews so you can actually practice your skills in an interview setting, receive feedback, and learn how to further improve.

The same is true for interview coaching. You can sit down with an HR Professional who has conducted interviews and managed the hiring process for organizations in order to get an understanding of what HR Pros, Recruiters, and Hiring Managers are looking for in an interview.

Career Dilemma #3: You’re ready for a promotion, but you have no idea how to get there.

You’ve been in your current role for a number of years, and you’ve really worked hard. You’ve learned a lot and you think you’re ready for the next step in your career – maybe moving into a leadership role. The reason you’re stuck is that you’re stagnant – and no one else seems to be ready to give you that opportunity to move to the next stage.

It’s easy to feel stuck if you’re in this situation. How do you move to the next stage of your career if nobody will give you a chance?

A Career Coach can help you to develop a strategy to get to the next step. It can be invaluable to get a third-party point of view to gain perspective on what you can do to get to the next stage in your career. A Career Coach can support you in identifying actionable steps you can take to work towards your career goals, hold you accountable, and guide you through any challenges you might encounter.

Assessments can also be helpful in this regard. Often people can overcome challenges in their career development by building on their existing communication and leadership skills. Many assessments such as the Work Personality Index, Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, and Multidimensional Emotional Intelligence Assessment, can help you to identify areas to work on. Leadership, communication, and conflict management skills can always be improved, and a Career Coach can help you identify strategies to improve in these areas and grow your career

Often people tend to hold themselves back in their career development without realizing, and if you’re feeling stuck, you might be actively resisting some of the steps you need to take to get to the next level. A Career Coach can provide that outside perspective to help you identify where those challenges might be. Whether it’s building relationships inside your organization, further developing your skills, or taking on new challenges – a career coach can help you identify what you need to do it and hold you accountable so it gets done – helping you to advance your career faster.

Career Dilemma #4: You’ve landed your dream role in management – but you don’t actually know how to be a successful manager.

When you finally move into the management role you’ve been eyeing, it can be extremely exciting. You’ll feel like you’re finally getting the recognition you deserve. But it can be challenging, too. Being a manager is likely a completely different skillset from what you were doing previously, and often organizations only provide limited training to support your leadership skills development.

Dealing with people is not easy. And as a manager, you’ll be dealing with a team in a completely different way. You’ll be holding people accountable for their work while still trying to maintain a positive and supportive relationship with them. This is NOT an easy thing to do for anyone. The good news is – everybody can learn and improve their leadership skills.

Assessments can be really helpful in learning more about your personality as a leader and where your strengths lie. Assessments about crucial leadership skills, such as the Leadership Skills Profile, Work Personality Index: Leadership, and Leadership Character Insight Assessment, as well as assessments about communication and conflict management, can be very eye-opening. You’ll learn more about your preferences and strengths, as well as how to build your skills in areas of leadership that do not come naturally to you.

A Career Coach can provide a third-party perspective on your current performance and challenges as a leader, and offer you strategies to build on your existing skills. This can also be helpful in learning to see the perspectives of others and learn how to coach those who have different work styles than you do, which is extremely important for a leader.

If your organization provides 360 degree feedback, this can be invaluable in your leadership development. While it can be hard to hear constructive feedback, receiving it from everyone around you (especially those who report to you) can help you learn about what you’re doing well and where you can improve. As a leader, being able to take an honest look at your own strengths, preferences, and areas for improvement is crucial for you to continue to build your skills and grow.

Career Dilemma #5: You’re experiencing a workplace challenge and don’t know how to deal with it.

Workplace challenges and stressful situations are inevitable. Whether you’re dealing with a challenging workplace culture, not getting along with a boss or teammates, experiencing communication challenges, or feel like your work is going unnoticed, a Career Coach can provide you with unbiased feedback on how to navigate the challenges.

You can also get feedback on what you’ve been doing right and strategies to better navigate challenging situations at work. A Career Coach with HR experience can provide you with a unique perspective on how things are viewed from a management and corporate perspective in order to help you make the best decisions going forward.

As a Career Coach, Chartered Professional in Human Resources, and a Professional Resume Writer, I’ve supported clients in navigating hundreds of challenging career dilemmas. If you’re interested, you can learn more about my services here: Career Coach Vancouver.