Even Easter Bunnies Can Benefit from Career Development Support

Translation: Employment Exchange (Jobs Centre). Tuesday after Easter

When I saw this meme over the weekend, I couldn’t help but smile not only because it is funny and cute, but also as a Career Development Practitioner, I had a moment of imagining walking into work for a day full of individual face to face career guidance/development sessions with a room full of fluffy Easter Bunnies (okay, maybe there was too much Easter egg hunt and relaxation atmosphere in the air).

The more I thought about it though, the more I came to think about how Easter Bunnies just like so many people could benefit from career development support provided by professional qualified Career Development Practitioners at different times along their career journey.

Perhaps like the Easter Bunny you might face:

• Seasonal work coming towards an end, and no future career plans in place
• Feeling lost – your job has become embedded so deeply into your sense of self, that you don’t know who you are without it
• Feeling burnt out from inflexible project end dates and demands
• Feeling anxious and unsure about other job opportunities
• Career transitions into new occupations / industries
• Lifting and shifting your skills and experiences into other opportunities

How do we go about rediscovering who we are, when we face career transitions and loss of self-identity?

By taking time to engage in targeted self-reflection activities and pondering questions, leads you to self-clarity, which is akin to building your house on the sand. It can collapse easily when storms hit (and they do throughout a person’s career) if you haven’t embedded strong foundations (don’t have ‘self-clarity’) before you build your house. Building materials include:

• Skills
• Interests
• Personality Types
• Values
• Education and where it is taking you

Self-reflection is key in gaining a strong sense of ourselves across all pillars of our lives, especially these days when things are so busy and many people are in transitions. Yet we often don’t take time in an intentional way to engage in self-reflection about our career, and how this is coherent to our sense of self, until situations change that force us to make career pivots.

Creating a master list of key achievements/experiences with quantifiable data can assist when engaging in career exploration and career transitions. Knowing how these experiences and your skills can be lifted and shifted (transferred) into different occupations/industries and identifying areas for upskilling is beneficial in helping you remain competitive now and in the future.

What about networking?

Just like the Easter Bunny, your network will be wider than you may initially think. A Career Development Practitioner can assist you with developing skills and strategies for effective networking

Tip: How to identify your skills and experiences beyond the surface level

How often have you said or heard people use the phrase “I just do . . . ” or something similar when talking about what they do. Sometimes this maybe due to being bound by confidentiality agreements. Other times however, it may be due to people not taking the time to reflect on all the elements that are involved for example in completing tasks. Let’s take the Easter Bunny again for example. What are all the tasks, experiences and skills required to ensure everything is ready for Easter hunts? Off the top of my head I can think of the following few, but I am sure if we dug more deeply, going down the rabbit hole there would be more to add to this list.

I regularly make situations fun

I am physically active

I have taken a lead role

I have done fundraising, volunteering, charity work

I can handle stressful situations

I have helped to organise an event

I have maintained a job

I regularly play games

• Leadership
• Organisation
• Communication
• Logistical planning
• Project management
• Observant
• Improvisation
• Stock control
• Quality assurance
• Quality control
• WHS/OHS
• Sense of humour
• Sociable
• Confidence
• Presentation
• Positive attitude
• Perspective
• Coordination
• Willing to try new things
• Brave
• Experimentative
• Commitment
• Positive role model
• Can-do attitude
• Dedicated
• Self-motivation
• Problem solving
• Reliable
• Integrity
• Decision making
• Inclusive
• Strategic
• Teamwork
• See the big picture
• Creative thinking
• Planning
• Perserverance
• Passionate
• Empathy
• Enthusiastic
• Proactive
• Strong work ethic
• Enterprising
• Inspiring
• Motivating
• Adaptable
• Growth mindset
• Calm under pressure
• Reflective
• Face challenges head on
• Flexible
• Prioritising
• Resource allocation
• Budgeting
• Record keeping
• Resilience

Wow, this is a pretty impressive list of experiences and skills! * Inspired by Katherine Jennnick’s ‘What’s Your Strength?‘ card deck

A professionally qualified Career Development Practitioner can help you to gain self-clarity and explore career options that align with your needs and aspirations. Where will your career exploration lead you?