Written by: Tom Paine, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
I worked with a client earlier this year who was convinced she needed a career change.
She wanted to turn her back on the recruitment sector, a world where she’d created a strong reputation, and built a strong skill set.
For her, the job had become stale. She lacked purpose and was burned out. She was fed up with the day-to-day grind and sick of being bossed around by a controlling director.
From the moment she woke up, to the moment she went to bed, she felt very uneasy about her situation. She knew deep down that something in her life had to change.
Everything pointed towards the job itself. She felt happy in her life otherwise, she had a great support network and a loving partner.
For her, the only option was to totally change her career. Something I know too well, having made the leap myself.
Her next move was to hire a coach, and I was lucky enough to be selected as the person to guide her through this challenging time in her life.
So, I began our sessions by questioning whether this was something she wanted to do. And over the next four coaching sessions, we did a lot of work around her belief system and value structure, and this involved a lot of self-reflection.
Interestingly, this particular client had several ‘lightbulb moments’ during our sessions that lead to her knowing what she wanted.
Moments of realisation, similar to a light being flicked on in your head that gives you crystal clear answers to questions you’ve been trying to answer for a while.
I see this in most coaching sessions, my clients have awakenings they’ve been searching for.
We go through their past decisions, probing into why they made the choices they did. And I help them to question their perspective and I challenge their thinking.
On this occasion, the thinking was based around whether to turn her back on her career. What did she decide in the end
In this case, the realisation was that her values didn’t match up to the organisation she’d been working for. We reshaped her belief system so that she left the coaching process knowing that she could get a better job elsewhere.
And guess what?
She didn’t leave recruitment. She found a job working for a company that matched her values. What a turnaround from the first session.
By fully understanding who she was and what she stood for, she was able to assess her current job through different set of spectacles. It wasn’t the recruitment career that was the problem, it was the culture of her organisation that didn’t match up. She had been focused her frustrations in the wrong place.
My point here is that if you have career questions, I can help. Massively.
Time and time again, people leave my coaching process with a clear vision of where they are taking their lives. It’s incredibly rewarding to see, knowing that they didn’t have a clue what to do, to begin with.
The experience is there for you to take advantage of, but you must be willing to take the first step.
And sometimes the best step is to hire a coach with experience in this exact area. Interested to learn more about working with me?
Tom Paine, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Tom Paine is a Certified Life Coach, offering expertise in resilience, confidence growth, and relationship management. Professionally, Tom spent ten years working in the Recruitment sector. He built an excellent reputation as a specialist IT Consultant, eventually becoming a Business Manager, leading sales teams responsible for £8m annual turnover for global and SME organizations, relocating to London and Manchester. Tom’s sales team operated at 18 staff at its peak, ranging from Junior Consultants to Principals, Managers, and Team Leaders. Tom coaches people based on their needs, supporting them to overcome restrictions in their life. Tom's clients experience a renewed sense of confidence, well-being, and energy, enabling them to take control of their lives, to start living with happiness and fulfillment. He blends corporate experience, spirituality, and goal setting to fantastic effect.
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