Discover Your Ideal Career Path: A Comprehensive Guide

Are you taking care of your career? How often do you think about it your ideal career path, your professional growth? Your career is more than ONLY a job. It is a significant part of your life, your identity, your stability and your overall life satisfaction and fulfilment.

I always say: Life is too short to live an unfulfilled professional life. Let’s face it, you spend more time at work than at home. But why is it so important? Let’s dive in, shall we.

Understanding Your Career Path

Did you ever analyse your career path? Where did you start and where you are now? Where do you want to be? How would your ideal professional life look like? Interesting questions that we don’t ask ourselves as we are so trapped in our Hamster Wheel, day and day out.

Now which type of career paths do exist?

1. Linear Career Path : Moving up in a single field or organization, gradually taking on more responsibilities and higher positions
2. Lateral Career Path: moving between different roles and industries, gaining broader range of experience
3. Spiral Career Path: changing career roles and jobs on a regular basis, in each role gaining more experience in different fields.
4. Entrepreneurial Career Path: starting and growing your own business focusing on innovation and your own personal growth and your services you want to offer

In which one do you see yourself at this stage of your professional life? Are you aspiring for more? Was it right fit in the beginning and now it feels not so good anymore? Happens to every professional.

3 Steps to Identify Your Ideal Career Path

1. It starts all with you, assessing yourself: What do you like the most, what is your message, your values, your strengths. Correct, I am talking about strengths and not weaknesses. Quite often we don’t even know what we bring to the table and undermine our abilities and skills. I always us the “Personal Map “and some questionnaires and challenging questions, triggering you for looking deep inside yourself. This is what it is about. Daring to question yourself.
2. Career options: Have you ever checked outside your company and organization, what does exist as new job roles, new enterprises? I know, you are in your wonderful little bubble, and it is safe. You have options, you just need to explore them.
3. Setting career goals: What we write, we invite. This is how our brain works. Set your own goals as you are the CEO of your own company. SMART, long term, short term and check out your quick wins.

Networking

Number 1 unspoken success factor in your career path. Inside and outside your organization. You need to build relationships. I always mention, work smart and not hard. Hard workers are normally not visible. They do they job and go and its fine.

You need to create your own credibility and visibility. Participate in company afterwork events, town halls anything which the company organizes. Utilize all options and resources that your company offers. Not only will it be for networking, but it will also be for your own personal development and upskilling yourself. Wherever you want to move with your career path, check out what events and networking events are happening in your town. It is essential to build your network not whilst you are working rather than when you need them. Network with intention.

Analysing your network is essential. Make use of my “Networking Wheel” , which instructions and questions for you to assess where you are standing with yours and what do you need to do to be more diverse.

Seeking Professional Support

Career coaches do provide the guidance and clarity you need to advance in your career path. It is a journey, and the career coach is your companion, like a sports coach who does throughout the life of the athletes. Career coaches can accelerate your career, create your brand together with you. My proven framework “Drive & Thrive Your Career might be a great place to start and I would be delighted to be your professional life guide, whilst navigating through change and adversities.