Welcome. I am Beverly Landais, professional certified positive psychology coach trained by Barefoot Coaching and the Wholebeing Institute. I am the creator of the ‘Change your career and find fulfilment’ coaching programme.  Week One begins with a Self-Inventory that will provide you with a strong foundation upon which to build a brighter future. You can subscribe to Psychologies magazine to access the full course including videos and weekly journal workbooks for in-depth coaching. If you are already a subscriber, head to the Life leap Club page on the Psychologies website and register or sign in.

Change. Pivot. Reinvention. Crossroads. Transition. Considering a career move can be a daunting as well as an exciting experience. Long gone are the days when most people expected to join an employer and stay there for much of their working life. Nowadays, few people expect to have a ‘job for life’.  Modern technology, access to education and social change mean there is potentially more opportunity, flexibility and choice. However, there is also the recognition that individuals need to take responsibility for managing their personal and career development.

If you are considering a career change, a good place to start is with a personal SWOT analysis. Regularly used in business to gain clarity on important issues, you can apply the same technique to take stock of your strengths and talents, plan strategies to manage your weaknesses or threats and take advantage of any opportunities.

Begin by thinking about your strengths and weaker areas. Focusing on your strong points can help you see what careers might suit your talents. You can also consider which of your strengths are transferable skills that can be used in new or different careers. Your weaker areas can give you clues as to which jobs and careers you might like to avoid. Then you can use the results to plan personal development. This exercise also takes a bigger picture look possible opportunities as well as any threats, and this can help inform your choices about where your career might go. 

You might like to use the questions in the infographic below to guide you: 

Pause and consider – what did you learn about yourself during this exercise? How might you use your strengths to pursue new career opportunities? Think about how you might mitigate any weaknesses or deal with the threats and set out how you might do this. Turning to your opportunities, which are the top three that you could act upon? What might be the first small step that you can take to forward at least one of these by the end of the month? 

In the next article in this series, we will look at how you can develop a vision for your ideal career or dream job.