Career Trajectory Claiming Your Identity

have you ever been asked what you do for

a living or what you plan to do

and find yourself bottled with stress or

anxiety

not sure of what to say

or simply didn’t feel proud of your

response

has anyone ever told you that you have

time to figure it out as a means to

comfort you

yet it did nothing

you still felt overwhelmed

or rather felt yeah that’s right i have

time i’ll figure this out later

and find yourself in the same shoes just

months after the fact

is this how you feel about your career

as a career coach i conducted thousands

of career development appointments

hearing qualitative stories about

various experiences

these stories from undergrads grads and

alumni

seem a lot like qualitative research

my method using an empathetic ear

what i’ve come to notice is that my

students commonly experience three types

of career anxieties

the first

looks like an empty road

filled with endless possibilities

students come to me not knowing where to

start or worried that they haven’t done

much towards their career

they come

looking for a formulaic step-by-step

guide

this

can feel like a scary place

then

there’s traffic for individuals that

have been proactive and involved yet

their thoughts are getting cluttered

they begin to second guess whether or

not the career they initially chose is

for them

and then

there’s a third

there’s those who knows what they want

but yet they come seeking validation to

help them justify if they’re on the

right path

this looks like a steady road of traffic

with a standard number of caution signs

and road rules to be aware of students

come to me as if i’m their career gps to

help them ease any fears or anxieties

the empty road is typically experienced

like this

counselors and universities call this

the senior panic where graduating

seniors are faced with that harsh

reality of

oh this is happening

life is about to get real and i’m not

ready

this isn’t limited to graduating seniors

nor limited to emerging adults who are

at the toddler stages of their career

this can happen to anyone at any point

feeling like an identity crisis students

come to me with help on how to narrow a

major unsure of how it converts to a

career

what i’ve noticed is that many have

adopted a brush it off type of attitude

of i have time i’ll figure this out

later

they hear this message time and time

again from their parents peers and

sometimes faculty

telling them that they’re young and they

have time

this is true they won’t magically figure

out their career overnight

though what i find is that this notion

of time

sets a precedent of delaying exploration

with commons like take your time it

fosters an attitude to take a back seat

encouraging a delay does a disservice

career explorers don’t have to have it

all figured out but it’s important to

encourage them to start somewhere

a career it’s just like dating

your soulmate isn’t going to knock on

your door like a pizza delivery and

neither will your career

opportunities won’t come to you you need

to make it happen

this brings me to planned happenstance

a theory by mitchell levin and crumbled

that talks about how one can create

unexpected career opportunities

a plan can generate your chances

leaving your career to chance won’t work

by pushing yourself out there and allows

opportunities and options to come to you

don’t wait around for grandiose moments

either

taking baby steps along the way can help

build skills so create yourself a plan

a plan builds momentum it can uncuff you

from career paralysis

a plan in motion triggers that aha

moment

i see this commonly when students go off

and experience an internship and they

start to learn whether or not the field

that they’re initially interested in is

right for them

if interested try it take on and apply

learning experience

do an internship a practicum study

abroad volunteer whatever

get yourself out there and experience

the world

get creative connect build skills

learn if you like it learn if you don’t

experiential opportunities in colleges

are continuing to rise

as experience is a highly influential

attribute on one’s resume

a 2019 nay study shows

that an internship within an

organization or relevant field

holds the highest influence on employers

hiring decision higher than one’s major

gpa

or leadership experience

but don’t get me wrong those are

valuable too

personally i’m the biggest advocate of

applied learning because i helped unfold

my own career path when i was in high

school i never cared for school in fact

the only reason why i went to university

was because all my friends were going

and when i was there

i didn’t know what i was doing i ended

up taking humanities thinking it was a

safe bet

one day i met with a guidance counselor

expressing my interest in teaching high

school ironically

it was really the only career i was

exposed to

it was a matter of seconds that he just

crushed my dreams telling me that with

the grades that i had i didn’t stand a

chance getting into any sort of

continuing education program

i was on academic probation it wasn’t

until i took my first gender studies

course i fell in love with academia

i began to learn about things like

systemic oppression patriarchy and

intersectionality

i learned about my own identity and how

i’m situated in the world

in my final year of university i ended

up pursuing a practicum where i had the

opportunity to work in a violence

against women agency where i did public

education for various communities

if it wasn’t for this project to come i

never would have considered doing my

masters

and when i got there

i ended up taking on a number of

teaching assistant opportunities just

one after the other

and several years after i ended up being

the instructor of that very practicum

course that inspired it all

so i can’t express enough the value of

applied learning

as it can help unfold your path

personal barriers and limited resources

may restrict you from obtaining access

to applied learning experiences

and this is where networking can come in

your favor go ahead reach out to people

as scary as that may sound

learn from others who can share their

insight find yourself a mentor

or at least

start by doing research on the field to

learn if it’s right for you it also

takes diligence

you can expect after one or two tries

that an interest will stick or that

you’ll become talented at it

a couple of dance classes won’t make you

sway like sinatra

nor getting a bad grade on a test won’t

doom you from the subject

interested

keep

trying actions can change your thinking

just thinking about it can’t make you

active

this brings me to the caught in traffic

scenario where one has been proactive

but is starting to second guess if that

career is for them if unsure about your

career take an inventory

ask yourself

what excites you what do you enjoy about

this type of work what do you dislike

how does it match your personal values

where do you see yourself in five years

how can you challenge social barriers

that are limiting you

what’s holding you back

rule it out reflection can help make

meaning of your path a common tool

you’ll find in many career centers is an

online personality assessment it’s a

short quiz that matches you to careers

and or highlights your personality

strengths

these may be helpful as they may drop

key traits that you may agree with about

yourself

though

were much more complex than the list of

top five key words that describe us

we’re shaped by lived experiences that

influence our decision-making styles for

intersectional complex human beings with

layers to unpack

we also have personal barriers that may

restrict us from taking action

thus reflection is key

if unsure about your career

ask yourself

why

but don’t stop at that basic answer you

might give yourself

ask the why of the why

this brings me

to the third scenario

where one comes seeking validation

they have a map but they’re just not

quite sure how to use it effectively

when we critically challenge the answers

to our whys by digging a little deeper

we develop certainty

for example

i once worked with a student who is very

amiable driven a real go-getter a true

people person he came to my office

telling me that he’s interested in

pursuing a job in public relations and

marketing like this guy public relations

well that’s a given it wasn’t until 20

minutes of our job search appointment

that suddenly things started to change

he casually slid the idea of applying to

law school i was stumped whoa whoa law

school where did this come from

how did he go from pr marketing to law

school

suddenly this became an exploration

appointment

well the reason why he was attracted to

law school was because his sister was a

lawyer and he was attracted to the

income and credibility that come with

the title

so then i challenged him with a series

of delving questions

i asked him so what do you want to be

known for

his response

to be successful and a good hearted

person

okay

so then i asked him

how do you define that success

his response

um to have a comfortable lifestyle a

good income and own a nice home

so then i asked him

do you want to be known for having a

good income and owning a nice home

that’s when it hit him he didn’t want to

be a lawyer what he wanted was an

opportunity to take on an executive

director-like role working for a company

where he could manage and lead a team

what he needed

was not advice from his parents about

what career to pursue but rather a

chance to critically reflect on why he

wants this to begin with

he needed to take a self-inventory the

beauty about asking why of the why

is a chance to critically challenge why

do we want this to begin with

this can be applied at any stage in

one’s career

whether you’re in the exploratory stage

stuck in traffic

or seeking validation

so here’s what i hope you take away from

today’s talk don’t give yourself

permission to coast and allow time to

just zip right by

plan happenstance

create yourself a plan but do something

with it

try apply learning take a self-inventory

learn about what interests you

reflect

ask yourself why but dig a little deeper

and ask why again

and finally enjoy it

this is a process that can help you

refashion your internalized narrative of

yourself we’re all authors of our lives

creating narratives from our past

experiences

when faced with dead ends in our careers

and are unsure of what steps to take

it doesn’t mean we don’t know ourselves

and our desires

it simply means

that we’re facing a writer’s block when

designing our next steps

it is using these narratives and

reflecting on them that can help invite

answers

thank you