How Career Coaching Changed My Life
March 29, 2015 - 7 minutes readHow many of us have entered into a career or taken a job just because it seemed a sensible thing to do? Or because our school careers advisor thought would be good for us? Only then to find ourselves in a ‘rat race’, not enjoying what we do but not doing anything about it?
This was me until 2 years ago. At school my careers advisor told me that I would make a good accountant or banker (I was good at maths and economics), and my parents agreed that this would be a sensible option. So I did my degree in economics at University, then at the age of 21 I secured a job at a bank on their graduate programme. Whilst I rose quickly through the ranks to senior management, earned a decent salary and received great benefits, I never felt fulfilled, sometimes feeling quite unhappy and often said to myself ‘there must be more to life!’.
Where are you?
So what stopped me from doing anything about it? The key reasons were (which I have subsequently realised are common for lots of people)…..
- Fear – Fear of the unknown. What job could I do? How would I pay the bills? What if I wasn’t successful?
- Limited self-belief – Low confidence in myself or appreciation of my unique strengths and capabilities.
- Lack of knowledge – Not knowing what jobs were out there, what companies might need my skills or how to approach the job market.
Then after nearly twenty years I was faced with redundancy. My role had fallen away and I was granted 3 months gardening leave to consider my options, which boiled down to staying and applying for other jobs in the bank, or leaving to pursue other opportunities. Yikes! Whilst I was upset, angry (and feeling a whole range of emotions) I wasn’t really surprised. Since returning to work after having a baby I knew deep down that I was in the wrong job, I had an unsupportive boss and my confidence was at an all-time low.
As part of the redundancy arrangements the bank offered ‘out-placement’ support , which consisted of a series of career transition training workshops (on CV writing, searching the market etc) plus three coaching sessions with a careers coach. I was assigned a lovely lady as my coach and threw myself into the workshops and coaching straight away.
Then after only two weeks I got a call from the bank offering me another role in the same department! Having had a couple of coaching sessions with my coach I knew in my head, heart and gut that the right thing for me to do was to face my fears and leave the bank. I got great satisfaction from turning the job down. It still felt scary, and I had a long way to go, but it also felt empowering and freeing. For the first time in a long time I felt in control.
There is a lot more to tell about this significant period in my life, however in this blog I want to focus on how coaching has benefitted me and how it has transformed my life. Whilst it seemed expensive, I decided to pay for some additional coaching sessions as I recognised that this was going to be the most important investment that I was ever going to make in myself.
Coaching not only helped me identify my purpose and direction, but it also equipped me with many life long skills;
- Increasing my self-awareness and appreciation of my strengths, qualities and values
- Lifting my self-esteem and self-confidence
- Removing and reframing my limiting beliefs holding me back
- Giving me back the feeling of empowerment and control
- Enhancing my focus and motivation to achieve my goals.
It has totally changed my perspective on life and the world around me, for the better. It removed all of my fears. It gave me the strength and courage to follow my passion and set up my own business. In the last 18 months my friends and family have commented how much happier and content I look. They are right. I now feel fulfilled and truly happy in my chosen vocation. I love what I do, I am great at it and I am getting paid for it! It’s like a dream come true!
As a fully qualified coach, I specialise in careers and confidence coaching because, not only can I identify with others who are in the same, or similar, position as I was but also because I have the passion, skills and know-how to help them. I use a variety of coaching techniques to help them identify their purpose and achieve their goal in a way and at a pace that suits them. My services include mentoring, providing advice on the practicalities of job searching, such as how to write the perfect CV, creating the right first impression and approaching the market.
It is very hard to understand or explain the value of coaching unless you have experienced it. I hope that this blog goes a small way to explaining this.
If you would like to discuss how I can help you and ask more about my career and confidence coaching services then please contact me on 07554883026 or marie.haycocks@certanovo.com or sign up below for your FREE 30min Discovery Session.
I would love to help you.
Love from
Marie x
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