Written by Britt-Mari Sykes, Career Counsellor
Britt-Mari Sykes Ph.D., CDP is a career counsellor and founder of CANVAS Career Counselling working remotely with clients across Canada.
Consider “change” for a moment. What is your first reaction? What changes have you experienced in your career life? At what stage of your career did these changes occur? What were the contexts? Did you initiate change? Did you have to accept a change? How did these changes impact your career?
Change is a reality in our career lives
Movement and change are natural characteristics of life, but we often want to experience our career lives with less change and more stability and security.
As we build and maintain our careers, we will inevitably encounter, respond to, initiate, and integrate change continuously.
Where do we encounter and initiate change?
Some examples include:
Changes in the job market
Changes in the demand for certain skills
Changes within a specific work environment or profession
Changes in personal work experiences
Changes in roles and responsibilities
Changes to our skills, capacities, and expertise
Changes to our goals, aspirations, and interests
Changes in our career choices
Changes in our career identities
Changes to the meaning work holds for us
Changes in other areas of our lives that impact our careers
Changes in our motivation and engagement with work
A dynamic balancing act
Our careers could more accurately be described as a dynamic balancing act that includes:
A search for stability and security
Having a place in the world facilitated by access to education, training, and opportunities for work and advancing our career pursuits.
A desire for new experiences, career growth, and personal development.
Personal experiences of meaning, fulfillment, contribution, and purpose.
When we initiate change
While we desire stability in our career lives and rely on the job market to provide opportunities, we also want our careers and work roles to evolve, expand, and ideally align with our current stage in life. This includes incorporating the unique experiences we’ve had and the skills, knowledge, expertise, and perspectives we’ve developed.
Because of this, we often feel the need to initiate change in our career lives.
Consider the following statements:
“I am stuck.”
“I no longer care about the work I do.”
“I have outgrown this role.”
“I feel like my skills are stagnating.”
“I no longer feel connected to my work or career.”
“I want work that better reflects my strengths and who I am at this stage of life.”
“I want to learn more; I want to expand my knowledge base.”
“I want to experience different work roles.”
“I want to contribute to the world differently.”
These statements reveal changes in our motivation, engagement, expectations, and aspirations. On a deeper level, they highlight the shifts, movements, and changes that occur in our relationship with work and career.
When we acknowledge and reflect on these internal shifts, we can better assess the changes we desire, why we want them, where in our career lives we can intentionally bring about change, and how these changes can align with the current job market.
Accepting change opens space in our career lives
Accepting the reality of movement and change within a career life creates space at any stage to work with the dynamic balance between maintaining stability and initiating change.
We can do this by:
Reflecting on changes and trends within the job market and understanding their current or potential impact on our careers.
Being attuned to and mindful of our desire for change, including the contexts and personal experiences driving that desire.
Assessing the evolution of our skills and expertise while identifying potential gaps, current interests, and opportunities for further development.
Regularly evaluating and redefining our relationship with work and career. This includes exploring the meaning of work and the career currently held for us.
Paying close attention to shifts in our attitudes toward and engagement with work and career, assessing our motivation and commitment to our current role.
Examining how we work, what we control, and what we bring personally to our roles.
Re-imagining what we could further develop, what we may want to experience, which skills and experiences we could leverage, and where we could contribute.
Reflecting on change
Try these sample reflective questions:
How have you navigated, adapted to, and/or managed changes in your career life?
When has change been welcomed and opened possibilities in your career life?
When have you initiated a change in your career life? What specific change were you seeking? How did you bring about the change?
Did a particular career decision or choice instigate change?
When have you resisted change? Why? Did resisting change help or hinder the flow of your career life?
When has change been challenging? Why? How did you navigate the challenge?
Are you currently experiencing change(s) in your career life? Start a career conversation. Contact Canvas Career Counselling here for more information or to book a consultation.
Britt-Mari Sykes, Career Counsellor
Britt-Mari Sykes Ph.D. is a Career Counsellor and founder of CANVAS Career Counselling working remotely with clients across Canada. Britt-Mari offers a reflective and strategic process to clients, one that integrates their lived experiences, values, and aspirations. This experiential approach to career counselling helps clients gain greater clarity and perspective and design practical steps towards a more meaningful relationship with work and career.
