Career Counseling
Jul. 25th, 2006 05:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qosRemember how -- once upon a time -- I used to write about starting up a practice as a spiritual director?
Yeah, I had kind of forgotten that too.
*facepalm*
On Monday morning I was driving in to work, and as I turned to pull into the parking lot I felt a knot of resistance in my gut about being there at all. The next moment I thought about my recently-expressed ambivalence about returning to school, and then it occurred to me that I need to get a handle (again) on what I want, and then take some more decisive steps to move in that direction, or I'm going to end up working at [deleted] forever, with no meaningful vocational activity to enrich my spirit or my bank account.
Monday afternoon, I had my Q2 performance review.
Quarterly reviews are new this year, and are supposed to include a career planning discussion.
I had not used the new online form to prepare, so I had not completed those questions, so Jeannie handed me a print-out and said, "You need to think about these questions, and we'll discuss them the next time we meet."
Then she said that she knew we'd talked about some of this before, and that I'd said I was content to stay where I was, because I liked the flexibility, but she wanted to re-visit that. There had to be something else I wanted to do. I forget how the initial stages of the conversation went, but she asked me, "What do you really want to do? It doesn't have to have anything to do with this place."
"What I'm going to school for, to be a spiritual director."
"And how long until you can do that?"
I confessed that while I have a couple of years of classes left, technically I could start right now, because there's no licensing, and I've already been told by my pastor and my own spiritual director that I'm ready. It's simply a matter of getting out there and connecting with clients.
She then asked me several business questions about who my clients would be, and where I would practice, and etc., and I was able to answer all of them.
And then we talked about self-confidence, risk-taking, and how she would be willing to discuss a more flexible work schedule with me if that would help me have more time to meet clients.
What I came away with was not only a sense of her solid support and encouragement, but a realization that she's going to hold me accountable for my stated goals. She doesn't want to lose me, but she also doesn't want to see me stay here, in a job that gives me little satisfaction. ("It would be a real shame if five years from now you were still doing this same job.") And she's going to do whatever she can to support me in moving forward.
And that's a really good feeling.
And I find it a fascinating bit of synchronicity that the conversation followed so quickly after my thoughts that morning.
So I need to get my notes back out, and work on my plan again and start taking actual steps toward my goal, not just think about it. I spoke with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
_storyteller_ last night, and he has committed to helping to hold me accountable, as well as providing his usual support and encouragement.
Because really, left to my own devices, I would get very little done.
Yeah, I had kind of forgotten that too.
*facepalm*
On Monday morning I was driving in to work, and as I turned to pull into the parking lot I felt a knot of resistance in my gut about being there at all. The next moment I thought about my recently-expressed ambivalence about returning to school, and then it occurred to me that I need to get a handle (again) on what I want, and then take some more decisive steps to move in that direction, or I'm going to end up working at [deleted] forever, with no meaningful vocational activity to enrich my spirit or my bank account.
Monday afternoon, I had my Q2 performance review.
Quarterly reviews are new this year, and are supposed to include a career planning discussion.
I had not used the new online form to prepare, so I had not completed those questions, so Jeannie handed me a print-out and said, "You need to think about these questions, and we'll discuss them the next time we meet."
Then she said that she knew we'd talked about some of this before, and that I'd said I was content to stay where I was, because I liked the flexibility, but she wanted to re-visit that. There had to be something else I wanted to do. I forget how the initial stages of the conversation went, but she asked me, "What do you really want to do? It doesn't have to have anything to do with this place."
"What I'm going to school for, to be a spiritual director."
"And how long until you can do that?"
I confessed that while I have a couple of years of classes left, technically I could start right now, because there's no licensing, and I've already been told by my pastor and my own spiritual director that I'm ready. It's simply a matter of getting out there and connecting with clients.
She then asked me several business questions about who my clients would be, and where I would practice, and etc., and I was able to answer all of them.
And then we talked about self-confidence, risk-taking, and how she would be willing to discuss a more flexible work schedule with me if that would help me have more time to meet clients.
What I came away with was not only a sense of her solid support and encouragement, but a realization that she's going to hold me accountable for my stated goals. She doesn't want to lose me, but she also doesn't want to see me stay here, in a job that gives me little satisfaction. ("It would be a real shame if five years from now you were still doing this same job.") And she's going to do whatever she can to support me in moving forward.
And that's a really good feeling.
And I find it a fascinating bit of synchronicity that the conversation followed so quickly after my thoughts that morning.
So I need to get my notes back out, and work on my plan again and start taking actual steps toward my goal, not just think about it. I spoke with
_storyteller_ last night, and he has committed to helping to hold me accountable, as well as providing his usual support and encouragement. Because really, left to my own devices, I would get very little done.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-25 01:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-26 12:41 am (UTC)I've never had a problem at work due to personal information that I've shared, and I've never felt that I was stabbed in the back.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-25 04:14 pm (UTC)Yeah, I figured it'd push itself forward again ;>.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-25 04:30 pm (UTC)*impressed*
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-26 12:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-25 08:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-30 08:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-30 08:28 pm (UTC)And I get regular reminders of why that was!