Who can I talk to professionally to seek career guidance as someone in their 30's?

wherearewe45

We had a career guidance counsellor is school but that was a lifetime ago. I really need a change up or new direction in life but I don't see any optiond in front of me. I'd love to be able to talk to a professional and try get on a new career path. Currently working but not happy where I am and I really need to move.

whiskeyman

There's a good few career coaches around.
Be sure you select career coaches and not life coaches.
Everyone seems to be a life coach these days.

humberklog

whiskeyman wrote: »

There's a good few career coaches around.
Be sure you select career coaches and not life coaches.
Everyone seems to be a life coach these days.

That's the fault of the Career Coaches.

Maybe we can help...


What do you want in life?

wherearewe45

MikeOxsgreen wrote: »

Maybe we can help...


What do you want in life?

A job that I enjoy, not that I know what that could be. I'm in a role currently with insane pressure and I'm in the process of getting a promotion where it'll only get worse. Its natural progression for me within this company but I don't want it but it'd make things better for everyone else. I'd quit in the morning if I could.

Be right back

wherearewe45 wrote: »

A job that I enjoy, not that I know what that could be. I'm in a role currently with insane pressure and I'm in the process of getting a promotion where it'll only get worse. Its natural progression for me within this company but I don't want it but it'd make things better for everyone else. I'd quit in the morning if I could.

What kind of work are you currently doing?

wherearewe45

Be right back wrote: »

What kind of work are you currently doing?

Environmental management and consultancy. I'd be happy to get out of this sector entirely.

wherearewe45

wherearewe45 wrote: »

We had a career guidance counsellor is school but that was a lifetime ago. I really need a change up or new direction in life but I don't see any optiond in front of me. I'd love to be able to talk to a professional and try get on a new career path. Currently working but not happy where I am and I really need to move.

Any decent recruitment/contractor agency will be able to give you that kind of advice, and it'll be relevant to the employment market.

ancapailldorcha

Deleted User wrote: »

Any decent recruitment/contractor agency will be able to give you that kind of advice, and it'll be relevant to the employment market.

In my experience, recruitment agencies will just try and shove you into the first role possible regardless of how you answer their questions about what they want.

The career coach suggestion could be a goer, OP.

Lu Tze

wherearewe45 wrote: »

Environmental management and consultancy. I'd be happy to get out of this sector entirely.

I packed in a consultancy role similar to yours before Christmas after 8 years. I had made the decision I had to go after 8 months where I could count the number of weekends on one hand (including Christmas) where I wasn't working on something. Changing to something different but still technical.

Hoping it works out, but if not, still happy I left, the stress and pressure was too much, it only took 8 years to realise it wasn't for me. Some people thrive in it.

ancapailldorcha

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

In my experience, recruitment agencies will just try and shove you into the first role possible regardless of how you answer their questions about what they want.

The career coach suggestion could be a goer, OP.

Whereas for me, both Hays and Hudson (accounting/finance recruiting/contracts) were excellent for suggesting extra development avenues while I worked for them (when I asked for the info)

I suppose it depends on the industry.. but it shows in a decent recruitment agency.

biko

Youtube influencer is a popular choice these days.

razorblunt

wherearewe45 wrote: »

We had a career guidance counsellor is school but that was a lifetime ago. I really need a change up or new direction in life but I don't see any optiond in front of me. I'd love to be able to talk to a professional and try get on a new career path. Currently working but not happy where I am and I really need to move.

Do you know anyone that’s made similar moves (to what you think you want to do) ask them for a bit of mentoring.

biko

biko wrote: »

Youtube influencer is a popular choice these days.

There was one on This Morning today. She deemed herself essential for peoples mental health and was on a working holiday in Dubai taking videos of herself on a camel.

Seems to be doing well with 11.5k followers.

LimeFruitGum

A former employer paid for career coaching sessions as part of a redundancy package. I was the only one who showed up and the coach just talked about himself the entire time. If I asked a question about my CV or interview practice, he turned it back to himself again. Pure useless, I got nothing out of it. I probably can’t name them here but anyway, screen a coach’s reviews as tight as you can. I admit some bias here, it just seems to me like many people go into coaching after a similar career burnout & post ****e on LinkedIn. I would want to see some qualifications.

I managed to change industries a while ago, as I was also doing nutty hours with highly entitled clients and a spineless senior management team who let the client walk all over them. I didn’t use a coach, but I knew I wanted a better work life balance, without losing career progression.

I sketched out my likes/strengths vs my dislikes/weaknesses. So I am good at change management & spotting issues/risks, but I realized I would happily never go on another client call again. So ‘non-client facing, no account mngt’ became a non-negotiable screening criteria for example. It took me a few months to pivot out of my Tech niche, plus a Springboard diploma, but I landed a role in manufacturing in 2019. It has worked out really well. Paid more than in Tech, I am getting promoted & another pay rise next month, and there’s no overtime culture. Everyone starts going offline from 4.30 until the following morning. As it fecking should be, let’s face it.

ancapailldorcha

Deleted User wrote: »

Whereas for me, both Hays and Hudson (accounting/finance recruiting/contracts) were excellent for suggesting extra development avenues while I worked for them (when I asked for the info)

I suppose it depends on the industry.. but it shows in a decent recruitment agency.

Depends on the sector I suppose. My experience is mostly negative. I think I've met one or two recruiters who actually cared but most of them would just try and dump me into anything expedient for them.

Taxuser1

wherearewe45 wrote: »

We had a career guidance counsellor is school but that was a lifetime ago. I really need a change up or new direction in life but I don't see any optiond in front of me. I'd love to be able to talk to a professional and try get on a new career path. Currently working but not happy where I am and I really need to move.

Career coach would be a good choice. My wife is one. studied hard to be one as well after 15 years in recruitment/talent acquisition in tech. Professional courses, hours of pro bono work and exams to be qualified under one of the main accredited bodies. It is a thing. I never knew it existed until she left her own job and became one. Not a mentor, I’m told, not someone who’ll tell you what to do but will allow you to tease what you want to do out of you by your own discovery of yourself in your career. I had a few sessions just to assist in pro bono hours but it did make me challenge myself to pull the finger out and focus on what I wanted in my career. Very helpful generally and of course it sounds like I’m plugging her but no, I think any career coach can assist you.

expectationlost

wherearewe45 wrote: »

We had a career guidance counsellor is school but that was a lifetime ago. I really need a change up or new direction in life but I don't see any optiond in front of me. I'd love to be able to talk to a professional and try get on a new career path. Currently working but not happy where I am and I really need to move.

Institute of Guidance Counsellors

See below a list of our members who deliver guidance counselling in private practice
https://igc.ie/private-practitioners-listing/

postpandemic

wherearewe45 wrote: »

We had a career guidance counsellor is school but that was a lifetime ago. I really need a change up or new direction in life but I don't see any optiond in front of me. I'd love to be able to talk to a professional and try get on a new career path. Currently working but not happy where I am and I really need to move.

I changed industries last year after about 23 years in a competitive industry. I paid a career coach and they didn’t help. I talked to about three different recruiters - not much help. Then I reached out to people in various industries on LinkedIn and was surprised at how unhelpful / suspicious they were.

In the end, I fell into a new industry with oodles of new concepts that I am still wrapping my head around. It’s not as fast paced and exciting as my last career, but it’s better pay, better conditions and I’m happy. As it happens, you can teach a old dog in her thirties new tricks!

Sometimes people can give you a nudge in a direction, but ultimately, I’d do some research and then go with your gut.

Wishing you all the best with whatever you decide to do. You get one life, so live it as best you can! (So preachy, sorry!)

wherearewe45

wherearewe45 wrote: »

Environmental management and consultancy. I'd be happy to get out of this sector entirely.

Is it the environment type work?
Or the consultancy sector?

AA/EIA stuff?

wherearewe45

It's environmental monitoring work. No experience in AA/EIA or any of that

I'm moving towards a management role but I've no interest in the technicalities of the job. I'd like to say I'm not interested but if I do I come to the end of my tether in this job. I'd leave in the morning if I could

Be right back

wherearewe45 wrote: »

It's environmental monitoring work. No experience in AA/EIA or any of that

I'm moving towards a management role but I've no interest in the technicalities of the job. I'd like to say I'm not interested but if I do I come to the end of my tether in this job. I'd leave in the morning if I could

What kind of work would you like to do? Office work? Helping people?

Ted_YNWA

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Thread moved to Work & Jobs from AH.

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Bearcat1

The Bearcat once quit employments to become a youtuber. That didn't work out well for the Bearcat