Travel as a powerful metaphor for careers

Aug 9

2 min read

When exploring career options or our next role we all have both external and internal barriers.

External barriers can be global or national such as general economic conditions, or closer to home such as changes in your industry or a restructure or redundancies at your work. They could also be more personal, but still external, such as a recent experience of grief or loss, or health challenges.

Internal barriers could relate to confidence, the need to acquire new skills, being uncertain about the direction you’d like to take, or an experience of burnout.

The words we use to describe travel can be a powerful metaphor for the challenges we face in our careers.

When we are driving or traveling by other means we come across:

· road works

· traffic jams, and

· cancelled flights.

When we do, we do not usually think that these were of our making or have feelings of self-blame or shame.

But when other circumstances, that are similarly beyond our control, impact our careers, such as a company merger that creates redundancies, the need to care for a family member, or sustaining an injury, people do very often experience feelings of self blame and shame.

It’s worth considering, in times when you’re struggling to remember your skills and find your confidence whether there are some parts of your experience that were beyond your control over recent years, did you:

· come up against a roadblock,

· need to take a detour,

· have to go the long way round, or

· come to a fork in the road.

These reflections will not immediately change a person’s situation. However, they can help to dramatically shift the way a person is feeling about job searching.

A shift in mindset can make it easier to reflect on roles you have enjoyed in the past, the things you have been doing well in your current role, and roles you might be interested in pursuing.