Ages & Stages:
Predictable Career Dilemmas Across the Lifespan
Challenges of Emerging Adulthood: Establishment
What do you want to be when you grow up?
A question you no doubt have heard since you were very young. And all your life, it has been easy to respond, “I’ll figure it out,” or make something up to get the adults around you off your back.
As you prepare to graduate high school or select a major in college, having a general idea of what kinds of jobs you might truly be interested in has significant implications for how your twenties will turn out.
But you feel overwhelmed by all the questions to which you have no answers.
What kinds of jobs are out there? How do I figure out which are right for me? What should I major in? Or even – who am I, and what options are out there if I don’t see myself as college material?
So many changes that require preparation.
You are an adult in some ways, which is both exciting and terrifying.
But you cannot keep avoiding these questions, or you will not be able to design the life you want.
I can help you find the answers, providing you with the space and structure to figure things out.
All dressed up and nowhere to go….
Congratulations! You made it through college, and wasn’t senior year great?
Now you are home, and school suddenly feels so far away. You really miss your friends and the freedom of being unsupervised.
You are not a kid anymore – but here you are, back in your room.
Jobless with no clear direction.
You don’t have a job; and, honestly, you are not even sure about the best ways to find one.
Your parents nagged you to go to Career Services, but you heard they weren’t so helpful from your friends.
So, you put together a resume once you got home. Over the weeks, you have sent out dozens to any job posting you think you can do. And – nothing. No interviews, not even an acknowledgement of receiving your application.
Circumstances are discouraging and scary.
Although you love your family, you are itching to move out into your own place.
All you need is for someone to give you a chance.
So, stop spinning your wheels and reach out.
I can help you launch your career and conduct a successful job search.
My approach starts with an assessment of what kinds of jobs to target based on your major and background.
We then work on representing yourself well in your resume and on LinkedIn, followed by how to network and sell yourself successfully in interviews.
You feel like you might have made a mistake.
You were excited to secure an entry-level job and nine months later, you hate it. It doesn’t tap into anything you studied in school, and the work is so boring.
You are happy to make enough money to support your apartment and are enjoying your new friends. But the daily grind is soul-sucking.
You look at the people around you, and it seems that everyone you know is happier at work than you… or maybe everyone you know seems unhappy at work.
All this causes you to doubt your decisions. Did you major in the right area? Are you expecting too much if you want to be happy at work? What would be better, and how do you get there?
You are frozen and becoming more and more discouraged.
Let’s address the issue together.
We can work together to examine the sources of your discontent.
The wrong job or company? What would make you happy anyway?
We can explore the options open to you as well as the pros and cons of each.
We can create a plan so that you are not just miserable and complaining all the time.
Mid-Career Dilemmas: Advancement & Maintenance
You wish you knew the magic formula to get ahead.
You are good at your job and are itching for a new challenge.
But you are not good at politics, and getting excellent performance reviews has not been enough to open new doors.
You are getting anxious and even a little desperate about being stuck where you are, and you want to better understand what it takes to climb the corporate ladder.
It starts with creating the right path to success.
Let’s work together to construct a path forward to increase your chances of getting promoted.
We will examine the culture of your company, including what you know about what and who gets rewarded.
Then, we will see if you can obtain better feedback about where you stand within your organization. Based on what we learn, we will design an action plan so that the people who matter are aware of your contribution and will endorse you for opportunities as they emerge.
I will be your cheerleader and guide, helping you learn skills that might be holding you back and making sure that you are following through on your plan.
I have helped hundreds of people successfully get ahead.
It’s YOUR Turn.
You have waited a long time for these days. All your children are in school – finally! And all this free time is such a luxury.
What do you do with the time? Lunches with friends, shopping, and tennis don’t seem to be enough.
You find yourself thinking a lot about your life before kids and the excitement of being part of a team that worked on complex projects. The stimulation of using your brain, creativity, and the camaraderie of winning made life seem thrilling.
Reentry has its challenges.
But it has been quite a while, and you are not sure that you can go back to those former jobs. So much has changed in the world. Has that left you behind?
How will you explain your years of raising your children in such a way that employers understand your strengths and your commitment?
How do you sell yourself in the job marketplace?
I help individuals who have taken a career time-out for whatever reason get back into the work world.
Is that all there is?
You are in your 40s or 50s, not a rookie by any measure.
You have worked at several companies and been promoted a few times. You know the ropes. And yet – while work is OK, you do not feel fulfilled or excited any more.
You are grinding the days out in order to get a paycheck. You often feel restless and sometimes bored. The thought of decades of this is depressing.
Are the best days of your life over?
Maybe corporate life has lost its luster.
Perhaps, you are completely sick and tired of corporate life… the ridiculous initiatives from corporate that make no sense, the political culture where you always must watch your back, and the sense that you can never be yourself.
Getting through the week is just exhausting, and you often feel like you are on a hamster wheel.
You need to believe that there are better options out there for you. But how do you find the energy to look for them?
And your kids are coming up on college. Maybe this is not the best time to make a change.
Perhaps burnout is getting the best of you.
Over the past ten years, you have heard “do more with less.” And every time there are layoffs, the remaining employees just wind up with more and more work to do.
The days are simply not long enough; and you can’t imagine how you will take a vacation, even though you know you badly need one.
You no longer have time to work out, and your diet leaves something to be desired. You are beginning to develop health issues, related to stress… back issues, high blood pressure.
You are a little scared, but you don’t know how to make a change.
If you wanted to find a less stressful job, could you take a step backward and let go of some responsibility? How would you pull that off?
These are all variations on a work-related midlife crisis.
You have made choices along the way that may not be working well for you anymore. You may not even know what makes you happy anymore.
If you are experiencing any of these dilemmas, I can help you.
Since you are no longer the same person that you were in your twenties, maybe it is time to make some changes. We will go back to basics and have a deep discussion about your current lifestyle in general, including parts of your life that bring you joy. What is fulfilling, and what is not? What are your “pain points”?
Then, together we will think about how big a change makes sense? Would a different job make a difference? Maybe you want more time with friends, have an opportunity to give back, or need to carve out more time for self-care?
We will seek the best options for your lifestyle and needs while considering practicalities so that you can expand joy and fun.
Post-Career Dilemma: Renewal
What’s next?
Finally, you have arrived at the finale of your career and are likely experiencing many emotions.
Maybe, you are counting down the years and cannot wait for the minute that you are the master of your schedule and can sleep late any day of the week.
You may be excited about having the time to explore interests you never had time for and get to projects that wound up as New Year’s resolutions year after year.
You may feel satisfied with your achievements at work and very proud of your accomplishments and the close relationships you built over the years.
You also may be nervous about this big change.
Afterall, you have been working continuously for 30-to-40 years.
You may have a lot of concerns about retiring, such as not really knowing what you will do with all that time.
What if you don’t really have any hobbies?
Your closest friends are at work, and you worry about being isolated and lonely.
You may wonder about where you will find meaning at this stage of your life and worry that your best days are behind you.
Emptiness and feeling unfilled set-in.
Maybe you retired a few months ago and find that your life feels empty and unfulfilling.
The days and weeks are long, and you feel lonely.
Spending so much time with your spouse has revealed unexpected conflicts and tension.
You find yourself eating and sleeping a lot.
Maybe you feel a little depressed.
Perhaps, it wasn’t your choice.
You may be disappointed or even devastated because others dictated the end of your career, and you were not prepared.
You may feel bitter about what happened to you and are clinging to your identity at work, even if that is not a realistic option for the future.
You feel stuck and unable to let it go in order to move on.
Regardless of the feelings, finding satisfaction is possible.
We can partner up to design a satisfying lifestyle for your specific needs at this stage of life.
You may want to get together before you retire to learn about how to plan for a satisfying next chapter. We can discuss your ideas about “the meaning of life” and construct a lifestyle that will meet your needs including physical, social, spiritual, and even financial.
If you are having a hard time adjusting to retirement, we can examine the sources of your discontent. We can take a hard look at who you are now and brainstorm different ways of getting out of your rut.
And finally, if you are retired but not by your own choosing, we can discuss what you have lost and what your grief and anger are all about. By addressing your deepest feelings, you will take a first step at rebuilding your future.
I want to help you build a better tomorrow.
Take the first step, and let’s have a conversation. Please call me (215) 321-1331.
We’ll figure out a time for a free 20-minute consultation.