Time to take charge of your career.

Jan 24, 2021 6:46 pm

Hi !

I hope your first month of 2021 is going alright, despite the MCO 2.0 and everything else that is happening in the country (or the world, if you're based outside of Malaysia!).

In today's issue, I wanted to share a little about one of my career coaching clients.

I recently spent an hour coaching an accounting graduate about her potential career growth. She is currently working in a small financial services firm, where her role is very cyclical in that she is only busy and occupied during the last two weeks of every month. Even so, she talked about how her job felt repetitive month in and month out, because she essentially does the same thing over and over again.

She was thinking about making a move to a different place (possibly looking to get into a Big 4 company, or applying for a management trainee role), but she was not sure if it would be the right move for her. One of her concerns was because she wasn't sure how hard it would be to find a different role during this pandemic (valid concerns, understandably), or how she would be able to juggle the demands of working in a Big 4 auditing firm (which can be horrendous) on top of her part-time ACCA studies.

Staying in a comfortable job.

Aizan recently shared an article that I feel will resonate with her situation, and even with a lot of us (especially those of us who are currently working). The article, "How to waste your career, one comfortable year at a time", talks about how some people stay stagnant in a comfortable place because they're afraid to move on and try something new.

Now, our current climate with COVID-19 and the difficulties of landing a good job in the middle of a pandemic can definitely make it a little harder for us to jump out of a comfortable job for the sake of 'career and personal development'. Not everyone is privileged enough to be able to turn away from a stable job to pursue something else since we all have commitments to pay and people to support, and that's OK.

But quitting your job is not the only way to make a change in your career, and that is what I want you to really think about if you feel that you are in a similar position in your life.

Change can come in many different forms - from moving horizontally within your department or company or purely by taking on additional or new projects to give yourself a new challenge. You need to be able to feel that you are constantly challenging yourself and doing new things.

With my coachee, we talked about how it would be hard for her to manage her time between her part-time studies and potential work at a Big 4 company. Her studies should finish within a year and a half, so we explored potential opportunities for her to make full use of her time at her current company and listed down options for her to think about, which included:

talking to her manager to ask for training or development opportunities,
gaining additional experiences by attaching herself to a different department for a while,
job shadowing a senior staff in a different department to learn more

But, at the same time, she would need to also think about other skills that she needs to learn and develop in order to prepare herself for a potential move into a Big 4 company. So at least, even if she plans to stay at her current role for another year or two, she is taking steps to make the most out of her situation and not just staying complacent and waiting for opportunities to drop on her lap.

So, what about you?

What are you currently doing in your role now to ensure that you are not falling into the complacency trap? Are you constantly thinking about your future goals and the steps that you can take to ensure that you are developing the skills and competencies you would need to get there?

Be sure to always think about the long-term and where you plan to go next. People say that we should live in the present and focus on what we have now, but that does not mean that we cannot be proactive in creating opportunities for our future selves.

Necole giveaway winner!

In my previous email, I ran a giveaway for you to win a one-year subscription to necole, the AI-powered learning platform by Leaderonomics. Some of you replied to that email and shared your goals and challenges, and I really really appreciate it. I love hearing all the big things that you want to achieve and it helps me to understand more about you and what you value, so thank you to everyone who shared your stories.

Unfortunately, I only have one prize to give, and, as hard as it is, I can only choose one winner. So, let's put our hands together and congratulate Siti Nursyahira Mat Rozi for winning the one-year subscription to necole! I'll be in touch with you directly with your prize, and hopefully, you will utilize necole in your learning development this year. :)

To the others, fret not. InsyaAllah, as this newsletter grow, there will be more giveaways in the future.

p/s: We are at around 1,600 subscribers. If we hit 2,500 subscribers before the end of the year, I'll do another giveaway :)

New posts, and more!

I recently had a collaboration with Sudio for their new product release - Sudio Nio. This is my first ever product collaboration with a brand, and it comes at the right time as I was looking for a new pair of earphones. Feel free to read the post for my thoughts on the new Sudio Nio wireless earphones and get a 15% off code to use off your order on Sudio's website.