Are you ready to let go?
This was the main question in our last post. We wrote about “Midlife Letting Go” to introduce our relationship series which will kick off next month.
But first, let’s finish up our career series for September.
From Midlife Career Drive to Midlife Career Transitions to Midlife Career Crossroads. Now, we have arrived at the Midlife Career Bridges.
You’ve arrived at your crossroads and you’ve made a decision. You’re setting out on your new path, what happens next?
This new path will require you to improve and grow as you attempt to fit into this new identity. However, this does not mean that you will completely abandon everything relating to your old career path. There are some values, experiences and skills you gained in your previous career path that remain relevant in this new journey. You will need to chronicle all the transferable skills you acquired and begin to locate places and situations to use these skills. What you need at this time is a career bridge.
A career bridge is a link between two possible career ladders:
- the one you have built with skills, experience and strong network and
- the new one you have chosen to develop
First, let's use our main example in career crossroads (job change and career transition)
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Now, that you've read career crossroads, let's continue
If you choose a job change, building a career bridge will be a lot easier. You can easily identify the similarities in your previous role and the current. Without thinking twice, you know the skills you possess that aided you in your previous role and will remain relevant in your new role.
But what if you chose a career transition? A new role and new profession.
This is a whole new world for you. You have left your job family and your job industry, but that does not mean you cannot make use of those skills you have built. What do you do?
Consider your previous role and ask yourself these questions
What was my job description and the critical job processes?
What were my monthly tasks and expected outcomes?
What was my job level (entry,middle, senior)- how much influence did I have ?
What were the skills, knowledge and attitude required?
How much of the skills did I possess and effectively use?
What experience and knowledge did I gain?
Why did I quit this job and career?
Examine this new role and ask yourself these questions
What is my job description and what are the job processes?
What are my monthly targets or goals?
What is my job level (entry,middle,senior) -how much influence do i have and what level of decisions can i make ?
What are the management skills required?
Do I possess any of these skills and can I use them effectively?
Now look at your answers side by side ask yourself this question
Are there any similarities and differences?
When you are able to discover the differences and similarities in the two answers, you will then know:
The skills you have built previously that will serve you in your new role.
The level to which you have to improve on those skills to fit your new role.
The new skills you will have to develop for effectiveness in your duties.
What experiences you can bring as a great advantage on the new job.
You are not a rookie, you have transferable skills, you have technical and process knowledge from your previous experience, you have administrative skills and team management skills, you also have ability to deal with stakeholders and customer service skills, so these skills and more will form the pedestals for your career bridge. Be confident and move up and forward and be ready to take on these new challenges.
Go ahead and use these to build bridges between your old career level or path and your new career level/path.
“Time and again, seek to acquire knowledge but always ensure to derive gain from the knowledge you retain. Knowledge gained is never useless and knowledge retained should never be fruitless.”
Are you enjoying our career series? You will enjoy our Midlife Encounters Book Series 1: Rainbow Experience even more.
ANTICIPATE!!!
Did you enjoy Career Bridges? Can you guess the title of our next post for the career series?
Let us know in the comments.
Do you need help building your career bridge? Do you need to talk to someone?
Click the button below to contact the author.
Article by:
OyeStir (The Midlife Coach)
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