When talented professionals are feeling stuck or are at a career crossroads, it’s pretty normal for them to express a sentiment along the lines of:
- I wish a fortune teller could give me an answer
- I need a test that will solve things for me
- Can you just tell me the right path?
It’s painful to know you have gifts and a desire to make a contribution and to not know where to apply yourself. This situation creates pent-up energy and a feeling of major frustration.
No wonder so many people want their career direction to be resolved ASAP!
There are 3 reasons why our desire for this quick resolution backfires in the long run.
1. Loss of Internal Power
When we attempt to hand over our life’s direction to a third party, however well-intentioned, we’re actually throwing away both our personal agency and our personal responsibility. Yes, a quick solution might feel amazing, and a third party may occasionally point you in a helpful direction, but at what cost? If the lesson you learn is that you can’t trust your own judgment and that external resources are your best compass, you’re off-balance. You’ve just taken one of your most valuable resources, your personal power, and thrown it away.
2. The Answer is Only Part of the Solution
When we have the goal of getting clear on our career direction, that answer can feel like the most important thing. It is important, but tunnel vision around the goal of clarity completely misses the benefits of the journey of getting to clarity. New skills, insights, tools, strengths, and experiences are developed along the way. These byproducts may wind up being even more worthwhile. If we get a quick answer, we miss out on all of these benefits.
3. Career Placement Tests are Unvalidated Instruments
At a conference for career professionals, one established speaker explained that he sold career placement tests to people because people would buy them, NOT because they were effective. This is an unethical stance in my book. I share this with you because your hope in the possibility of a quick solution may entice you to go in this direction. To my knowledge, there is no validated career placement test that can substitute for a proven process that connects people to their power, generates helpful byproducts and teaches the long-term skill of career visualization.
Working with Cardy Career Coaching is not as simple as us looking into a crystal ball and letting you know what you should be doing with your life. Our process is not always easy. But it gets our clients results that are more meaningful and lasting.
If you’re ready to finally figure out your career direction, apply to one of our signature Career CLARITY coaching programs today! We’d love to help you envision the next phase of your career (no crystal balls involved!).
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