I frequently meet clients who will say that their career progression has stalled.
When they first started their job they were enthusiastic and delighted to have got the role. The first period of time was a big learning curve, lots of new things, lots to learn and all very exciting.
Then, after a year or two or three, things seemed to get monotonous, tasks were boring and just no enthusiasm can be mustered up. They can’t understand how it’s all gone so wrong for their career progression and is there any repair job that can be done?
As sure as night follows day the next statement will nearly always be; “I am not sure what kind of a move I could or should be making but the only thing I am certain about is that it’s not more of the same.”
This is usually the last resort after continuous disappointments in work. Things have not progressed, responsibilities or promotions have passed you by and tedium sets in. ‘Get me out of here’ you think.
However if you do get out of there it’s no guarantee that the same won’t happen again in the next place you go to. So think and think hard of the sequence of events that brought you to this point in your career.
If you think back to the career progression you’ve made since you joined your present company it’s probably reasonable to assume you applied, were interviewed and got the job.
Clearly several people liked you, your style, and your experience and agreed you’re the person for the job on offer. More likely than not you were given assignments or projects to look after, which brought you to where you are now.
So, being hard, factual, pragmatic, or any other adjective you can think of, and ask yourself has your performance being poor, good or excellent since you joined the company?
You may have started on day one like a greyhound out of the traps, doing great work and full of enthusiasm, but in the absence of any recognition, did you start to wane and slow down, becoming noticeable despondent? If this is the case I suspect that you now find your work uninteresting and your work doesn’t give you any satisfaction.
In this situation then it’s within your own remit to do something about it. Do some further training and, if your organisation is big enough, go to HR and explain what type of training or progression you are looking for. They will usually know exactly what you need as you can be sure you are not the first person with a request such as this.
If, on the other hand, there is a clash between you and your line manager then, again, do something about it. Don’t do nothing and let the problem fester. I would suggest you look at not what you do but how you do it. In other words think about how you “manage up”. Can you make changes that will help you manage your manager?
Of course, it could also be that you have out grown your role. Sometimes, it’s just not possible to make career progression without moving jobs. In which case, dust off your CV and get ready to job hunt.
Colm Cavey has over 24 years’ experience in helping people change careers and find the kind of job they want. Colm can review your CV, help you organise your job hunt and provide one to one interview and presentation coaching or all of those elements together in a full Career Change programme. To find out more about Colm you can contact him directly on 086-3017207 or via his company Professional Career Consulting