At one point or another in life, many of us have found ourselves at a career crossroads. And it can be a confusing, frightening and even overwhelming time.
But handled well, you will look back and see it as the launch pad of a new, exciting direction in your life – in a career that fits perfectly with your skills, desires, values and needs.
As an experienced career management coach, speaker and trainer, Jane Jackson has guided over a thousand clients through a career change, and now she shares her experience in a new book Navigating Career Crossroads.
Why are you at a career crossroads?
There can be many reasons why you may find yourself at a career crossroads:
You may be unhappy in your current role or career and need a change.
You may have been made redundant by your current employer.
Your previous role or career may no longer work for you now you’re a mum.
Whatever the reason you have arrived here, you may go through similar emotions and thoughts as you cope with change (or the prospect of it) and the process of finding a new path in a career and job you love.
Some of the common feelings and experiences you may recognise during a change in your career can include:
Not being sure of what you want to do next.
Not feeling confident in your abilities.
Being overwhelmed at the job hunting options.
Applying for jobs but not getting them.
Unsure about how best to present yourself.
Not making the best use of online job hunting tools.
Being unaware of what makes you employable.
It’s easy to feel stuck or lost
It’s easy to feel stuck or lost at a career crossroads. What is your perfect job? And even if you know what it may be, how can you get it?
Over the past 14 years, Jane Jackson has provided career transition, interview skills, CV writing, negotiation and presentation skills coaching to more than 1,000 clients. And now she’s packed her knowledge, experience and advice into a helpful book.
Navigating Career Crossroads is the definitive manual to thriving when changing career direction. It’s easy to read, packed with useful exercises and templates, and anecdotes and examples that bring Jane’s experience to life.
Follow the book’s advice and you’ll be better equipped to cope with change, and successfully attain a new role that you love and matches your values, skills and needs.
Follow seven steps to success
Navigating Career Crossroads follows Jane’s seven essential steps for career success. CAREERS covers:
Confidently manage change.
Assess what makes you tick.
Resumes and marketing communication.
Express your professional image.
Explore job search strategies.
Relate your value and impress at interviews.
Strategies for career success.
Throughout the book, Jane explains and guides you through each of the steps, and helps you to:
Learn how stress affects your confidence
Conduct a life inventory
Assess your values
Analyse your motivatations
Identify your skills and knowledge
Define your dream role
Understand your achievements
Refine your verbal pitch
Create a new CV using templates
Write a cover letter using a sample template
Create and use a LinkedIn profile
Use LinkedIn for job research and applications
Perfect your visual image
Search for a job online
Impress in job interviews
Prepare for and respond to interview questions
Know what to do after a job interview
Negotiate for the role you want
How can this book help you?
The intention of Navigating Career Crossroads is to help you:
Feel worthy and of value, confident of your capabilities and able to handle the multiple changes in your life.
Discover your passion, and feel confident about your new direction, clear on what you’re capable of.
Be well prepared to launch your marketing campaign, to expand your network and interview effectively to secure the career of your dreams.
And it’s certainly full of common sense advice and strategies to ensure that you should indeed be able to identify and secure a rewarding and fulfilling new career direction.
Why we like Navigating Career Crossroads
Over the past 18 months we’ve read a lot of advice on career change, and written several articles to help mums cope with it.
Jane’s book is a fantastic digest of the best advice and strategies we’ve read on dealing with career change. It’s a genuinely useful manual with advice and exercises you can put into practice straight away, and a step-by-step format that gives you a proven process to follow.
Where can you buy it?
You can buy Navigating Career Crossroads on navigatingcareercrossroads.com or through Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com and Amazon.com.au.
Please note that this is not a sponsored feature, but a genuine, honest review of Jane’s book. We have received no financial benefit or reward for this article.