The first job slump crisis occurs when you have taken a job in a field which you heretofore thought would be your career of interest, only to discover that you made a huge mistake! This crisis is a strategic career management glitch in your planning.
Typical situations like this happen when you grow up in a family where your mother or father had a career in some field, such as engineering, and, as a child, you want to follow in Mom’s/Dad’s footstep.
When you are finally in such a job, you find out that you simply don’t like it and quickly find yourself in misery.
This is a very common career crisis, and the graduate schools – particularly the MBA programs – are full of individuals who are taking the next step by “radically retooling.”
It’s important to know, however, that a benefit of focusing on learning the “Critical Skills” after the first career crisis (The first job) is that those skills travel with you and will help you throughout your career.
During coaching for this crisis, we focus on the critical skills as well as the impact of the “Doom Loop.” At this time, individuals begin to realize that the Doom Loop will travel with them as well – and it’s even more liable to accompany you if you are really smart! That seems odd . . . but it’s true, and during the coaching we discuss the whys and wherefores of that phenomenon.