In these times of uncertainty and change, hope can be a critical mindset to cultivate, helping to strengthen your resilience to navigate what lies ahead professionally.
Career pathways are far less linear than they once were. People are increasingly embarking on multiple careers because they must stay in the workforce longer and adapt to technological changes that constantly reshape future job opportunities.
This uncertainty makes a career change emotionally challenging. Many confront these issues mid-career, often due to a job loss.
So why is hope a vital lifeline during a career transition?
Hope is an optimistic state of mind in which we expect a positive outcome. Put another way, hope develops when we can see multiple pathways to achieving our desired goals and are motivated to pursue different pathways to get there.
According to Charles Richard Snyder, who developed a theory of hope, there are three components: goals, pathway thinking and agency.
Here is the concept applied to a career transition.
Career Transition Goals
Goals are the focus of a person’s ambition or effort, an aim or desired result. Goals are game changers in anchoring and directing hope.
In a career transition, we often fail to spend time understanding the problem we are trying to solve, like so many situations, jumping immediately into action mode.
Spend time clarifying what you are working towards. Beware of having a singular career goal only defined by a particular title or the next position on the ladder.
Remember, our careers and identities can become intertwined. Watch out for goals driven by only wanting to replace what was lost, which can create blind spots in our perception of the options available to us following a redundancy.
Career goals can be more nuanced. Start with essential things like your financial needs, but take the time to reflect, particularly with the benefits of age and experience. We can get stuck in old narratives that have not been updated since our careers started.
Career Pathway Thinking
Simply put, pathway thinking is when a person can generate multiple routes toward achieving their goals.
This includes a plan for managing and overcoming obstacles on these pathways. The theory is that multiple pathways can make a goal seem more attainable.
Pathways thinking is a call to cultivate different career options through new experiences, such as talking to people outside our immediate professional networks, creating learning assignments and work-related projects, and, most importantly, being open to what emerges.
We often see only one pathway or take a linear approach when making professional plans. I will pursue this first path; if that doesn’t work, I will look at other options. Pathway thinking is about exploring different career options concurrently.
Increasingly, career development can embrace the AND, whether it's a side hustle, part-time role, education, or the sorts of projects you put your hand up for at work. Pathway thinking challenges the idea that one job can satisfy all our needs.
Also, with the consolidation of organisations, senior roles are becoming scarcer, and therefore, people will need to look beyond the vertical climb as the only measure of competence and success.
Agency Thinking in a Career Transition
Agency determines whether you believe you have what it takes to pursue the pathways to achieve your goals or, put another way, "you believe you can do it."
Our mindset can be particularly challenged during a career transition, especially when so much is outside our control. For example, the feedback we receive after an interview can confuse and undermine our confidence.
Navigating these challenges highlights the role of a growth mindset in a career transition.
Psychologist Carol Dweck described the concept of fixed and growth mindsets, which explain how people perceive their abilities, handle challenges, and approach learning.
Please don't assume you always bring a growth mindset to situations; we can have a growth or fixed mindset at different times, and it can lead us to respond in distinct ways.
In a fixed mindset, we unconsciously believe that our abilities and intelligence are innate traits that cannot be significantly changed. Challenges like career disruption can threaten our status, identity, or self-esteem. With this mindset, we can focus on self-protection and rationalise situations, e.g., where we underperform in an interview or want to "stick with what we know" and are less open to exploring new career possibilities.
In contrast, with a growth mindset, we believe our abilities and intelligence are developed through dedication and hard work. A growth mindset can help turn a career transition from a daunting challenge into an opportunity for professional growth. By embracing challenges, valuing effort, and continuously learning, you will be better equipped to thrive while discovering a new career path.
Whether you have been forced into a career transition through redundancy, are stuck in a career that no longer fulfils you or is in the early stages of your job, hope theory and pathways thinking is a powerful way to strengthen your mindset on your career development journey.