11 Career Coaching Tips

One of the favorite parts of my career is to coach and advise others where ever they are on their own career path. I’ve greatly enjoyed all of these conversations, it’s a mutual exchange where I always come out inspired and learning something new too.

In fact, this post and another were inspired by a recent career coaching conversation I had with a person looking for advice on how to reboot their career after some bumps in the road. To them I say, thank you for the inspiration!

I’ve jotted down my personal perspective and tips I often share during my mentoring/coaching conversations. This is a broad set of approaches I’ve personally considered in my own career which may help you define/modify your career or perhaps recognize that a career path is rarely straight forward. From my suggestions, take what works, leave what doesn’t.

First and foremost, recognize that a career path is rarely straight forward.

Growth Mindset

It all starts here. Lots of info on the web about fixed mindset vs growth mindset. Continuous learning, receiving feedback and pivoting your approach is critical to one’s growth and success. Who I was and how I led teams 20 years ago is very, very different than the leadership style I have today (thank goodness!).

Authenticity

While you need to listen and learn from feedback, don’t let it change too much of who you are. Learn about your core strengths and weaknesses. Play to your strengths and continue to work on minimizing your weaknesses. And, be yourself (unless you’re a bit of an asshole, then change that part).

Personal Brand

As much as I don’t like the idea of branding a person, there is something to be said regarding how we are perceived vs how we think we are presenting ourselves. There is often a disconnect. Humans are complex and we need to consider not only our physical appearance and communication style but also our digital presence. If you are on social media, how many of your comments are negative vs positive? How many are original points of view vs following the herd? I don’t have any right answer here, just to say that if you’re struggling with landing the first interview or getting an offer, it’s worth doing some self reflection on how you’re showing up.

Networking

I used to hate the term networking, well, maybe I do still hate the term. But I am a big believer in the essence of networking. You never know how someone in your network could change your life (and vice versa). I can count only two jobs I got without knowing someone since I started working when I was 13 years old. Only TWO! All the other jobs I’ve had are through someone knowing someone and introducing me. Networks matter.

Personally, I’m an ambivert. I can spend time with strangers, lots of friends, or in one on ones, but eventually I need to retreat, regroup and recharge. I genuinely enjoy hearing people’s stories and the interesting and complex lives they’ve led. I also enjoy offering help to others when they are struggling or looking for advice. See more below about paying it forward.

Consider how much networking you can handle (in person or online) and balance it with time to recharge. The time together is rich and there’s an added bonus that someone you meet or keep in touch with now could be your foot in the door to your dream job in the future.

Energy

What gives you energy? What drains you? As we grow the responsibilities of our jobs we often find aspects that we cannot avoid that suck the energy out of us. Some days can be draining and that’s going to happen no matter what level you are in your career. The key is listening to your body and remembering to give yourself time to recharge (hopefully with healthy lifestyle choices).

Environment

Equally important as energy is environment. As you identify what you enjoy doing it’s critical to consider the peripheral aspects to the activities you enjoy — Indoors? Outdoors? Leading? Facilitating? Collaborative? Conversational? Solo? Working with physical tools? Or digital tools? Daytime? Nighttime? Back office? Center stage? Figuring out the environment that suits you can be achieved through informational interviews of people in the various environments or taking an internship or job to see if you like it. Just remember to reflect and form your personal perspective on your needs.

Keep an Eye to the Future

Look for the jobs that may become outsourced — use them as stepping stones if needed, but don’t invest too much of your career there. Focus on finding jobs that will not be outsourced or commoditized. I am grateful for having been witness to the outsourcing of the CD-rom industry early in my career. This has driven many of my career choices ever since.

Life Detours

Expect the unexpected. Set aside a savings for when the economy tanks, when you can no longer tolerate your work environment, when a family member gets sick and needs your focus, or if you get sick.

I put myself through college, which wasn’t easy, but it taught me the need for savings. My car sat broken and unused for over a year because I couldn’t afford to fix it. That’s when I started saving. It started with having one month’s rent in the bank, then 2, 6, 12 and slowly over time I had a few years’ worth of cash socked away. Turns out I needed it. Often. I’ve dipped into savings for many reasons: multiple recessions, family illnesses, layoffs, moving abroad, buying cars, and buying/selling homes. Life happens, savings eases the burden of the unexpected.

Mourning

Life detours can also include illness and sometimes death of family and friends. Our careers might get sidelined for these important life events and work relationships could become frayed.

We need to be present for our family/friends in their moment of need. And, we need to give ourselves the time to mourn their loss afterwards. It’s incredibly cruel that our societal norms in the US make illnesses, mourning and grieving even more difficult. Time boxed to 12 unpaid weeks for FMLA and only 1 or 2 days off for bereavement (if you’re employer offers these benefits). Whatever you can do, try to give yourself the time to be there for family and time for yourself to grieve (even if your employer or coworkers are unempathetic).

Celebrating and Paying it Forward

When you’ve landed the next step in the process, the interview or finally get the offer you’ve been waiting for — celebrate! This can be a simple text message or small gift to a mentor or friend or it can be a new outfit for the new job or a fancy dinner. It’s important to celebrate each milestone and thank your family and friends for their support and patience.

While you often cannot truly return the favor to your mentors or network contacts, you can pay it forward by helping someone else in their career challenges too. Say yes to mentoring others. It’s rewarding to everyone involved.

Stepping Stone Career Goals

I wrote a post about the importance of stepping stone career goals, but the short of it is to set reasonable, actionable goals and give yourself time to achieve them. My career has been a mix of serendipity and intentionally designing my career by identifying career milestones and goals.

Hopefully my tips and personal perspective resonate and help you with how you choose to design your career with intention.

How about you? What are the career coaching tips you find most helpful? And which ones from my list might you try for yourself? Leave your ideas in the comments.