Crossroads

Are you at a crossroads? With your career, job search, life in general? We work and work madly to get somewhere, but when you put your head up to see where that is, it's not quite where you thought. How did that happen?

I'm sitting at a crossroads myself. I've been shooting in several directions and waiting for something to tell me that I'm on the right path.

I worked many years in IT and went into management and consulting. I think I was good at what I did. I seemed to be respected by my peers, staff and clients. But as I moved around (that's called job-hopping), because I could in the tech area I was an expert in, I found it eventually eroded my corporate climbing ability.

Now not everyone is a climber, and I don't profess to ever want to be the big cheese anywhere. But it would be nice to have earned that nice corner office.

So I have no one to blame, not even myself really. I didn't feel that I wanted to climb in any company I was in. But I have found in the last few jobs I have had, I was coming in at a level lower than my experience should have allowed me. I'm not getting egotistical here. I looked at my peers or those a level or two above me and compared experience.

What did they have that I didn't? They stuck around and rolled with the punches. Good for them. Staying power never seemed to be my strong suit. Now, I was the most loyal employee you could ever ask for. But slight me in the least, ignore my efforts, hold back recognition and I was brushing off my resume. Yeah, yeah, job hopper.

I have on several occasions tried to make it work. Hang in, talk to the boss or even HR in one case, to try and make the place work for me. I gave it my all. But the cards weren't in it. So I moved on before things changed. Part of it is I can bore easily.

So, here I find myself at a crossroads again. I like the part-time gig I have going doing career coaching. I find it rewarding and the people have been great. I have even adjusted to being a contractor/consultant and not being an on the payroll employee.

So why do I find my mind thinking about going back on the employee list? Well part of it is that the part-time gig doesn't quite meet the old salary level expectations. I have been searching for other part-time gigs to fill in the gaps. This would be ideal, if they were out there. But hey, you know what the job market is like, right?

I now have one foot down the consultant road looking for more work and the other starting back on the search for a full-time opportunity. Of course, it never hurts to have options. But I wish I knew which path was the one I wanted for the long run. Not just the one that helps pay the mortgage.

There really are a lot of things to consider when job hunting. Staying focused is one that gets harder the longer you're out looking. But try to keep the parameters of what you want in check. Just because you could do the job, doesn't mean you would want to again.

Keep driving forward in whatever direction seems the best. Or a couple if that's an option. I've found that my varied interests can actually compliment each other. They might seem at first glance to have no overlap at all, but they can if worked properly.

And sometimes you just need to let one path roll along on its own for a little while which could give me a little time to explore another one. The roads may eventually meet up again. I might need to force them somewhat.

But that's what makes us unique. Good hunting!

Life Skills Coaching third module

Day 1

One more time! I embark on the third module for the Life Skills Coaching course at George Brown. The ultimate goal is to gain the certificate for the program.

I reflect back to when I originally decided to start this journey and my thinking at the time was to just see how it goes. The course was just a week of time and if I didn’t like it or felt it wasn’t what I wanted, I could just not take the second module.

After the first module, I came away with the motivation to keep going. I was originally looking for a coaching program to help with my one on one coaching clients. This course was focused on groups. But I liked it.

Understanding group needs and working towards meeting those needs was very interesting. In module 2 we worked at building lesson plans. Keeping it simple and trying to build a lesson that will only run 2 hours seems to be challenging. Who knew? I’ve taught longer course workshops, but I thought a shorter lesson would be easier. Not so. Seems working a lesson plan to fit the time frame does take some work.

So we started module 3 tonight and there was only one other person from the module 2 that I took. In a way this was good as I now get to meet a whole bunch of new people. They all seem to know each other as they have worked together in the earlier modules.

In my module 2 there were 3 new people to our group that was already familiar with each other. It brought some interest to the group; the group discussions were lively and more interesting. So now I’ll see what it’s like from the other side in being the new guy.

The group was very welcoming. There was lots of great disclosure between the group members. The intention for tonight was for us all to get to know each other better. Oh, and we learned what to expect for the rest of the course.

I must have not been in the 'here and now' when we talked about the third module in earlier modules. I certainly don’t remember anything about an exam. Even the journal was a surprise, but that’s not something unexpected. I am looking forward to doing a lesson. Not quite sure how to choose what lesson topic to pick or whether I even get to pick it.

So I try not to worry about it for now, cause I tend to start planning what I’m going to work on. I was probably working on this as soon as heard we would need to do one. But I currently have no ideas in my head right now. So maybe I’ll be able to read the group and come up with something that the group needs.

Next week we’ll find out what night of the course we’ll present our lesson. From that I guess I can gauge what kind of lesson would suit the group depending on if it’s earlier or later in the course.

And I’m kind of missing the intensive week. I haven’t done a night course in many years. That alone is an adjustment, but I liked the intensive. It was concentrated learning. So now unthink and adjust to the needs of the group.