#blogjune Post 18 - 8 years

Today (well almost today) marks 8 years since I was offered the current job I'm in.  I had a telephone interview and then a few weeks later was invited to have another "interview" face to face in Grafton.  We booked overnight accommodation in Bellingen because we thought, why not see the place anyway regardless of if I'm offered the job or not.

Consequently, I was offered the job that day (although I didn't accept straight away) and we drove on into Bellingen.  It was Crazy Market Day - basically Bellingen has their monthly markets and the shops offer discounts and it only happens in June - and it was funny seeing the diverse people walking the streets.  We were in a kind of daze thinking that we could be moving to this eccentric place.

We stayed overnight at the Bellingen Valley Motel and was in awe of the beauty of the place.  I accepted the job and the rest is history - so they say!

8 years on and I'm now going through an assessment of where I want to go/be career wise.  I'm not sure if it will be here for much longer.  Still pondering and waiting.  Perhaps a new chapter is on the horizon.

#blogjune Day 3 - Reflection

I have mentioned in previous posts how much I am enjoying having a running coach and actually achieving results.  To me it's an awesome process.  Coach this is my goal, help me work to it!  Coach - follow this program, provide feedback and work together.  Ultimately, I am the one doing the work.  But the coach is doing the assessment of how I am going and how to tweek the program based on the feedback I'm providing.

All of this reflection about my running coach led me to think, would I get the same result with a career coach?  What things would I need to reflect on?  How would they help me?  What would they need to know about me in order to establish a good, effective relationship?

I'd love any readers to jump in with comments, thoughts etc regarding careers coaches as I really don't know much about them and how it all works!

Other than the running coach reflection bringing about these thoughts, I have recently been reflecting on where I want to be with my career - which brought me to the career coach thing.

The move to where I am now was where I needed to be at that time in my life.  After 8 years, I'm not sure if this is still where I want to be.  As my daughter gets older the focus changes.  For a while it was all about family and it really still is, but it slowly starts creeping back towards what makes me happy.  Well really it is still about making the family happy but the focus is shifting slightly.

I'm hitting the big 40 next year, is this the organisation I want to be working for?  Is this the position I want to be working in?  Is this the place I want to be living?  Do I have gaps in my skills/knowledge that I want to fill, but can only be filled if I move to a different position in a different organisation?  And always, the pull of family and friends in Qld is constant.

Sounds all very self absorbent, doesn't it?  But I'm sure others have had these thoughts or are having them.  I think it is good to reflect on where you are and where you want to be.  I've been ignoring it for a while but I think now is as good as time as any to put myself out there and see what happens!