What do you do if you can’t sort it out? What happens when you become so fed up with trying to figure out next steps? You and I both know there is a huge cost to this kind of storm that might be brewing inside you.



Often, people tell me they’ve been thinking about a career transition for weeks, months, or even years. Trying to sort out how to transition from where you are into a rewarding, fulfilling career takes time, consideration, and due diligence. Maybe you’ve contemplated hiring a career counselor but you don’t really know what’s involved.



That’s okay because most people don’t. Today there are a plethora of highly trained career coaches and counselors dedicated to helping you identify your passion, change your career course, and find your dream job.



The absolute first step in the career transition process is understanding more about you and what makes you tick. This enlightment process involves, in part, taking a deep look at what interests and motivates you, what you value, and the skills you truly enjoy using, among other important factors, including your personality type. There are many ways to uncover insights about yourself including utilizing online assessments, card sorts which address your values and motivational skills, as well as journaling. In fact, at Georgetown University’s Executive Coaching Program, all of our executives were required to engage in journaling. It has been shown that those who take time to self reflect will ultimately self correct.



Career assessments will lay the very foundation of your career exploration. In order to make a successful career decision, other components of self-knowledge will need to be investigated, including your interests, education, and preferences as well as an understanding of the economy, labor markets, and employment practices.



Once you have gained more insight, you and your counselor would begin to brainstorm job and industry options. After that, research, research, research! Once you know yourself more completely and your available options, you can begin to make informed decisions about your career goals after you perform more due diligence, which involves comprehensive and ongoing research.



While you are developing job search strategies and evaluating factors to help identify new career options, there are a number of derivatives from the overall process of career counseling.