By David Shelby
It was a cold December morning and I was in the old neighborhood – a stark four-block corridor of glass office towers, condominiums, and chain restaurants. I grew up just west of here, and was back for my initial consultation with Career Coaching Company X.
Why was I visiting a career coach? The simple answer is my boss. In the months leading up to my consultation with the career coach, he had become increasingly concerned about my lack of productivity and the quality of my work. We talked about it, and he decided that I should see someone.
Career coaches, career counselors, and passion mappers (all members of the career transition industry) are in high demand these days. Catchphrases like “Learn to Embrace Change” are popular, and promote a work atmosphere that emphasizes satisfaction, flexibility, and short-term thinking over permanent employment and job security. In part, this philosophy stems from the current economy, where global competition has resulted in layoffs due to downsizing, and temporary and/or part-time work is more common than full-time employment. But demographic change has also played a role. Boomers are choosing not to retire and instead seeking out fulfilling, post-retirement careers. At the other end of the age spectrum, the next generation to hit the workforce, Generation Y (born between 1978 and 1987, and also known as the Echo Generation or the Millennials) has garnered a reputation for leaving a job the moment it doesn’t suit them – or their schedules.
Unfortunately, I’m not old enough to retire, nor am I young enough to be a carefree Millennial. And I don’t agree with every tenet that underpins this freewheeling view of the workplace. If people weren’t interested in some sort of permanence in their lives, agriculture would never have been invented and we’d still be chasing antelope across the African plains.
Career coaches have suffered in the credibility department in recent years. Indeed, in her book, Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream, Barbara Ehrenreich paints a decidedly unflattering description of the profession. The first career coach described by Ehrenreich uses dolls (characters from Wizard of Oz) to illustrate her points. (That pretty much sets the tone for the rest of her book!)
But “Doug,” founder and head coach of Career Coaching Company X, didn’t strike me as being huckster. And anyway, I wouldn’t have expected him to be one. I had sought Doug out because his company had a good reputation and because I enjoyed reading his blog.
Before my appointment, Career Coaching Company X asked me to consider two questions: Why did I seek the company’s help? What did I expect to get out of the exercise?
My answers to those questions were used to jumpstart my conversation with Doug. I decided to be completely honest with him about my visit, and told him I was there due to my boss’s concerns (and so I could write a first-person article about being counseled by someone in the career transition industry).
Doug talked about his professional background and told me an anecdote about building his house. Before they broke ground, he and his wife spent a year discussing the plans with an architect. The lesson: Most of us won’t give something as important as a career transition the same type of attention. We then looked my résumé, my career path to date, and my current job.
I wasn’t disappointed. Doug’s comments were intelligent and measured, and I certainly didn’t sense any insincerity during our interview. More importantly, what he said was on the mark.
We both agreed that the main reason for my problems was my lack of engagement with my work. I was bored with my job, and my day was spent sitting in front of a computer screen, so I hardly ever interacted with my coworkers. Neither fit with my personality or my career expectations.
He suggested two counseling packages. The first focussed on the basics and involved a personality/career assessment, a job search, and a thorough critique of my résumé and cover letter writing skills. The second included a broader look at how to market myself. Doug suggested the second package and offered me a quote. I told him that I’d have to discuss this with my boss, who was funding the project. His response: “Ultimately, the decision isn’t his to make … It’s yours.”
Eureka! I suddenly realized there was no reason for me to be visiting a career coach.
True, I was bored with my work. But the real problem was that I wasn’t willing to admit this to my boss. Whenever we discussed the issue, I looked for ways around it. “No, no.” I would say. “The work is interesting – really.” Things progressed from there. “Something else must be bothering you, then. What else will you do? ….” I could have avoided causing my boss frustration if I had I just accepted the truth. My job was boring, I didn’t like my work environment, and there was absolutely nothing that I, or my boss, could do to change that fact. It was time to quit. But rather than simply admitting this, I went to see Doug, the career coach.
My performance was likely also affected by the fact that I was also holding down two jobs. A lot of people have two jobs these days, and some, like me, hold jobs in different fields. My day job provided a stable and generous income, the other didn’t. But my day job bored me, and the other, though it meant longer hours twice a week, energized me. Managing both was becoming difficult and my day job was definitely suffering.
Talking to Doug, it occurred to me that I already knew my career goals, and I realized I was staying in the day job for the wrong reason. So the questions I now faced were how to achieve my goals – and how to find the courage to admit it was time to quit my day job.
I chose not to work with Doug, the career coach. Why? I needed to do things for myself. My day job had fallen into my lap, and I had never really thought about whether it fit with my career aspirations. Whenever I had doubts, I ignored them and continued my work. I always knew that I was unhappy, and I already knew what needed to be done to find work that would be more fulfilling and suitable for me, but I never left myself the time to do things like networking and a serious job search. Now was the perfect time.
In the end, I found that courage and quit.
If things are bad in the future, I might consider visiting Doug again, but first I need to make the effort myself.
