Phases and Stages of Your Career

This article has been written by Dan Howells and Josh Fletcher and will present a different perspective and encourage you to reflect on where you are right now and what lies ahead.

Understanding not just where you are now, but what lies ahead will empower you to make great personal and professional decisions you can be proud of in years to come.

Throughout all our lives we have some well-defined phases that we pass through.

• Early childhood
• Middle Childhood
• Adolescence
• Early adulthood
• Middle adulthood
• Late adulthood
• Death and dying

In each of these stages we have different:

• Needs and wants
• Preferences
• Priorities
• Feelings towards time and how we use it
• Relationships with self and others
• Motivations
• Behaviour

This list is as long as our imaginations. The point here is to get you thinking about the natural stages and flow of life and visualise it almost as a continuum which we travel along at different speeds.

Your career is no different.

There are a couple of very important key points to make here before we go deep on the stages and phases of your career.

1. You need to have a clear understanding of where you are in order to appreciate what the next steps and stages are
2. You cannot skip stages or phases without some kickback further down the line. Respect the phases

The 4 phases of your professional career

We have broken down the phases of your career into sections which fit somewhere along a professional continuum.

Career periodisation, planning, mapping, development or whatever term you choose to use is not an exact science. It is more that some or all these things begin to alter and there is a natural evolution along the continuum:

1. Needs
2. Wants
3. Desires

These are both professional and personal and will get a fair bit of discussion in this next section.

Phase guidelines

These phases are general commonalities which tend to exist in performance practitioner roles. They are not set in stone, and they do differ from some. They also tend to represent more of a continuum where you pass through but can regress with job changes or changes in direction on your career path. You may also feel you are between phases, that is just your place on the continuum right now.

Phase 1

BREAKERS-searching for the first step on the ladder

• Willing to work long hours for low pay
• Willing to intern/work unpaid
• Often have multiple jobs in order to make ends meet
• Typically, 19-23 years old or have a low industry age
• Completing College/Undergraduate/Post graduate studies
• Willing to move around the country for a job
• Give up social life/social activities easily for work
• Work is top priority

Phase 2

SURVIVORS-climbing the ladder

• In search of career progression, fighting hard for it
• Willing to move to other areas of the country in order to get to a promotion/progress
• Often still willing to work long hours for not enough money (becoming upset about this though)
• Spend time questioning their decisions relating to their progression
• Always on the lookout for the next step
• Can be impatient for that next step
• Typically, 24-28 years old
• Thinking more and more about stability and ‘settling down’
• Still giving up social activities for work and lifestyle taking a back seat to work

Phase 3

THRIVERS

• Often managing a team of individuals
• Head of department or lead type role
• Typically, 28-35 years old (can be extended)
• Very conscious of work-life balance, often struggle to maintain it
• Feelings of a desire to be their own boss are not uncommon
• Easily identify faults in the system
• Can feel insecure about job security
• Aware and frustrated about frailties of their job/industry
• Often have a family or family on the way
• Finances and remuneration have risen up the priority list
• Often actively seeking other income streams

Phase 4

RE-DEFINERS

• 35 years old +
• Typically, in head/lead roles or managing a department
• Can be or become exasperated by their job/industry during this phase
• Looking to divorce their time from their income
• Seeking passive income streams
• Actively seeking/building a pathway out of their job/industry
• Had enough of the uncertainty which can come with their job/industry. Taking action stage
• Often have responsibilities such as mortgage and family
• No longer prepared to sacrifice work-life balance
• Strong desire to enjoy and be fulfilled by their work
• Often a strong family first mentality

What next?

To make truly create the career path that you want, you need certain things to be organised and clear…

• What stage of your career you are in personally and professionally?
• Understand the core competencies of the industry and where your gaps are. See HERE.
• Periodise your personal and professional development. See HERE.

Collectively these elements make up the fundamentals of Career Periodisation. Simply put, this is…

“Breaking down the core competencies of the industry into smaller and manageable
chunks in order to map out and positively influence your career.”

on a personal level is just part of the start process. You have to be comfortable with that just to manage your own expectations. The key is linking your current phase of your career, with the core competencies of your role, against where it is you want to be.

In the coming weeks myself and Dan Howells of Collaborate Sports will be releasing the Career Periodisation for S&C Coaches Manual, which is going to map out the exact process described above so you can create the professional pathway you aspire to and set yourself apart from the competition.

To stay ahead of the pack and get access to all early-bird specials and launch information, register your interest HERE.

We look forward to helping you create your unfair professional advantage.

Dan & Josh