Are you having trouble finding a career that you’re passionate about and that also fits your lifestyle?
If you answered yes, I know exactly how you feel!
I tried over 20 different careers before I found the perfect fit for me: Leadership & Career Coaching. Prior to finding my dream job, I tried being all of the following: singer, television researcher, English Teacher, Aircraft Validation Analyst, and Medical Insurance Trainer.
I developed our Career Exploration process because I wanted to help others avoid the trial and error that I went through.
Our Career Exploration Process marries multiple things you need to take into account when choosing a fulfilling career that aligns with your values, personality, and desired lifestyle.
Aligning Your Career and Values
Values are the most important thing to take into consideration when you’re seeking a meaningful career. Martin Seligman, a scientist and founding father of the Positive Psychology movement, discovered that when we use our values in our work, we feel a sense of gratification. Gratification equates to meaning, purpose, being in a state of flow.
All of our Donna Schilder Career Coaching clients take Seligman’s Values in Action Inventory, which helps you identify your top 5 values. We use those values to uncover career possibilities and then to evaluate those possible careers. This allows you to compare possible careers against each other to choose a career that will create meaning, purpose, and a life you’ll love.
My VIA showed that my top five values are Curiosity, Love of Learning, Caution, Creativity, and Social Intelligence. When I look back, some of these careers had none of my Values in Action and some even violated my values. In my current career I leverage all of my values!
Career Coaching Helps People Gain Clarity on Their Career Path
Our career matrix allows you to see which careers would align best with your values.
Let’s look at an example:
Joan, a bubbly, hardworking Fullerton grad, who was a technical editor, was feeling lonely and unfulfilled. When her coach had her take the Values in Action Inventory, 3 of her top values were:
- Creativity
- Love of Learning
- Social Intelligence
When Joan looked at her current job, Technical Editor, she realized that it did not align at all with those values. There was no creativity, very little learning, and she wasn’t using social intelligence because she mostly worked quietly with documents, rarely interacting with other people.
Joan worked with her coach to create an extensive list of possible careers.
Then, her coach helped her narrow down her options to 3 by using our Career Matrix. The final three options were Creative Writing Teacher, Private Investigator, and Event Planner.
She chose Private Investigator and is now happily building her business!
Joan didn’t wait for a new job to fall into her lap. Instead, she hired a Career Coach to support her, and then she put in the time to find a fulfilling career path.
She found that when you are sure about what you want to do, taking action becomes much easier. Joan found her dream job and smiles when she wakes up to go to work every day!
“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” – Rosa Parks, Civil Rights activist
If you would like to finally find your dream job, click on the red Book a Consult button below and see how career coaching helps people gain clarity!
Donna Schilder
Donna Schilder