Yes, this client has 10 children (not a typo). He has a stay-at-home spouse, but still he was adamant that his early mornings, evenings and weekends were off-limits for family time or work emergencies. His day job was at a Type A investment bank so he couldn’t break away during the workday. That left zero time for his job search.
Yet, he was also adamant that he needed to launch a search. His employer was probably going to restructure his group. Bonus was flat the last couple of years (and for bankers, the bonus can be well over 50% of your total compensation). He individually felt like he was losing influence at the company.
Perhaps you can relate – you’re already stretched with existing professional and personal commitments (even if you have fewer than 10 children) and have zero time, zero energy left over to work on your career.
The thing is, whether you regain traction at your existing company, look for a new company, change careers altogether — whatever you decide to do is going to take time, energy and focus. It may also take money if you join a professional membership, go back to school, step up your networking coffee dates, etc.
While my client felt like he had nothing left to give, he finally admitted that he had to give something — carve out the time, energy, focus somehow — or nothing would change. If you don’t marshal your resources towards your career goals, they won’t happen.
As it turned out, my client’s spouse was more than happy to earmark some morning, evening and weekend time for his next career move because she was sick and tired of him hating on his current situation. She wanted a change as much as he did (bonus tip: enroll your household in your career goals. The people who love you want to help!).
My client spent his extra time stepping up his networking both inside and outside the company. We took a two-pronged approach: 1) regain traction at his current company; 2) expand his options with other companies. As it turned out, once he started getting interest from the outside, it made him realize how much he still loved being at his current employer. Luckily, with our two-pronged approach, he was able to get a more secure, expanded role (with bigger bonus) right where he was.
Helping my clients figure out how to maintain their existing commitments and still move forward with their job search, career change or promotion campaign is a key part of how I coach to get results. If you want to be more productive with your time and efforts, book a Jumpstart strategy session to help confirm your priorities and figure out what to focus on.
