There is so much choice and many different factors to consider when considering what career to follow, that it can be difficult to decide. The end-goal can appear to be so far away. This is where the zig-zag career is so helpful as it enables you to move along a path, reinventing yourself, gain lots of experience and develop new skills, keep your self-interested and motivated to move forward with your career.

I often have people saying to me they don’t know:

• What to do?
• What skills they need?
• What experience do they need?
• Where to start?

My tips for moving through a career are to:

• Capture your skills, experience, achievements, both work and non-work
• Create a collage of what is important to you
• Create a journey diagram showing where you are today and where you want to get to, plotting the known milestones along the journey
• Displayed this information where it can be easily and regularly seen
• Keep it up-to-date so that this key information is retained
• Talk to colleagues and friends about what you are interested in, or what they are doing
• Get support from family and friends.

Ideally work with a Career Coach as they will work with you to:

• Explore ideas and options for your career
• Look at what was enjoyable about the previous roles
• Understand your skills, strengths, achievements
• Understand what you want from the workplace
• Perform a gap analysis on where you are today and where you want to go
• Plot a journey to build on your strengths; develop new skills or strengths required to reach the end goal
• Work with you as you move along you career path, exploring the challenges, celebrating the achievements

Ask yourself:

Are you creating a record of all your skills, achievements, experiences? Is it up-to-date? What is the next milestone on your career path? Who can help you?
Thank you for reading this blog. If you would like more information or to get in touch, please fill in the contact sheet.

Thank you for reading this blog – Careers Zig-Zag or Ladder. If you would like more information or to get in touch, please fill in the contact form.