3. Working with individuals

 

At Career Constructors, we find that most career-oriented individuals seek us out to help them provide advice, context, and support around addressing a major career challenge they are facing. While there seems to be an unlimited number of scenarios that one can be faced with in their career, we have found that they generally fall into 4 major career categories:

• Currently employed, but not very jazzed about your work: you might be coasting, bored or stressed;  possibly you see yourself as underemployed. At this point you don’t necessarily want to leave your organization however you definitely need to figure out how to get more excited about work, get the chance to do more meaningful work, and reap the rewards of your greater contribution. In a word, you’re looking to leverage and build on your innate “intrapreneurial” capabilities.

• Actively in a career transition: you’ve either decided to leave your work, or perhaps the organization has made that call and laid you off. You might be trying to re-enter the workforce after having completed a family obligation or schooling obligation, wanting to change industries, or some other situation. Regardless, you need to navigate through the uncertainty of a major career transition and discover your perfect job!

• Out on Your Own: You’ve left the traditional role as an employee and embarked on your own. You might refer to yourself as an independent, a freelancer, a consultant, a contractor, or possibly some other term. At this point, you’re looking for help in crafting your own way in the work world; you want some training to be a more successful “Free Agent”.

• Seeking post-career purpose: While you have formally retired from “your job”, you know you have more to give back and you are keen to start thinking actively about what to do for your “next chapter”. The possibilities seem almost endless — how do you put some structure and discipline into the process?

• Fine-tuning only — looking for specific targeted help: of course, people also seek us out to help with specific elements of their career activities, such as CV reviews, cover letter design,  interviewing skills, networking help, and negotiating strategies. Over the years, we have discovered that quite often these are “just” symptoms, with the root cause being an ineffective overall career development strategy. So when you talk with us about some “fine-tuning”, be prepared for us to push you to ensure any work we do together is effective, addresses the true root cause of your career challenge, and is not a wasted effort.