John, an IT professional who had not worked for six
months after having had a bad experience with his last
employer was looking to change his career. He was considering
becoming a Teacher having had some experience of lecturing
in the past. Once we examined John’s career values
it became clear that teaching would be totally unsuitable.
Together we identified that John really wanted to stay
in his field but needed to work at a much higher level
than he had been with a salary to match. This was quite
a revelation because when we first started talking John
thought that a pay cut was inevitable as he considered
that he was now unemployable at his previous level.
During our time together we worked on building John’s
belief in himself. This helped John to be really clear
about the kind of work he was looking for when he talked
to others about his job search. As a result he was contacted
for jobs he had only previously dreamed of. Also, instead
of taking a substantial cut in salary John has found
himself with a salary much higher than he thought
possible.
Knowing what you want works!
Ruth's Story
Whilst Ruth was in the "ladies" being sick from
stress, two of colleagues were outside taking drugs.
It eventually sank in - she couldn't go on like this.
Ruth, a young woman with high ambition found herself
in a job that she thought would be a launch pad to her
dream of being financially independent in three years.
The reality was that not only was the environment totally
unsuitable for her, to the point it was making her ill,
but the stress was so great that her life outside work
was suffering.
When we started working together Ruth wanted to find
a way to make the job “work”, but it became
clear that no matter how much she tried this job was
never going to give her what she wanted.
Once she let go of that we were able to work through
her career priorities; this lead to her landing a job
giving her lots of opportunities to demonstrate her
skills and grow at the same time, something that she
identified was really important to her. Granted the
salary potential wasn’t as high, but the basic
was considerably higher than her previous job. This
meant that she could start to get her social life back
on track, and, with a bonus potential that was easily
reachable for her, she was able to start re-paying some
of the loans she had.
The company was so pleased with her efforts that within
three months they were looking to promote her and also
expand her bonus scheme. She loved her new job and she
could still see the potential to reach her ultimate
goal but she was doing it in a way that honoured who
she was.
"you were brilliant- I couldn't have
done it without you"
Ruth
Comment:
This was an extreme
case - but how many people put up with a job that is
making them ill because they believe they wont get the
same salary elsewhere? Too many people
believe, falsely, that money is their number one
career priority and keep themselves trapped in a "good
job" because of it. If this is you, you owe it to
yourself to do something about it now! Do you know what
your top 4 career priorities really are?
Contact Gill for a
chat:
gill@caelumcoaching.com
Case Studies