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