The beginning of a new year is a great time to take stock of your work life. How was work in 2022 – were you happy or unhappy? What would you like to change?
In this blog, long-time Two IP friend and career coach, Pamela Macphee of CareerShift, shares her insights into what areas are useful to think about if a change in career or work situation is on your mind.
A lot has changed in the world of work since the emergence of COVID-19 three years ago but at the same time a lot has stayed the same You may have enjoyed the benefits of remote working during the pandemic but you’ve probably still had to work extensive hours to meet your billing targets.
Or maybe you’ve realised that although you’ve been at home more, this hasn’t resulted in more family time and you’ve realised how important that is to you.
Regardless of your circumstances , many peoples’ relationship with work itself has changed over the past three years.
Our work makes up a large part of our identity – much of our time is spent working, preparing for work, and recovering from work. The location of our working lives may have shifted, but for many in the IP profession, the demands of work in a traditional firm continues to be all consuming and dominates our focus and time, leading to unhealthy habits and little time to devote to anything else.
It’s important to evaluate where things are in your career as we start off 2023, because how you feel at work has such a big influence on how you feel in all other parts of your life. When you’re happy from a work perspective, the knock-on effect to better health and a happier personal life is evident.
Sometimes a change is needed.A change in role, a change in organisation, or a change in lifestyle. A career coach can help you work through these options and then help you implement the changes you require to make that change a reality. There are five key steps we would encourage you to take if you are not happy with your current work situation:
What is really driving this feeling of ‘needing a change’?
We would encourage you to be honest with yourself about what specifically is making you feel like this. Is it the work you are doing, the people you are surrounded by, or maybe the working arrangements or hours you’re needing to work? It can of course be a combination of factors, but it is important to be honest with yourself about what is driving this feeling of dissatisfaction. Talking to an external party such as career coach can help with this process.
What are your transferable skills and competencies?
Examining what you’re good at and what you enjoy are great places to start when thinking about what you might want to do next. Think about scenarios when you feel you are operating at your best. What skills are you using or what situations are you in? Maybe you get a buzz from meeting and building relationships with clients or maybe you enjoy the technical work in your expert field but not the line management side of your role. By identifying what you like (and don’t like!) and what you do best you are better equipped to find situations where you can do this more.
Research your options
Even in the IP Profession there are a range of options open to you. Two IP featured on a CIPA webinar last year which explored different working models in the profession. If you’ve been in private practice for a while you might feel that moving to another similar practice is your only option but there are many different avenues to explore. Don’t be afraid to reach out and talk to your network or contacts as well. People are usually very willing to share their experiences and provide you with a picture of what different ways of working look like in reality.
Market yourself
Once you have a clearer idea of what is important to you and what option might be best suited then you can use the power of Linkedin to make yourself visible and connect with people in that field or company. Again, a career coach can help with that but an up-to-date and compelling LinkedIn profile allows you to connect with people and spark conversations which can help flag up opportunities.
Keep the end destination in mind
In an environment where there is a ‘war for talent’ it can be easy (and tempting!) to take a comfortable option offer whether that is a promotion, a move to a similar firm or even an in-house role. I would encourage you though to keep reminding yourself why you are doing this. What was it that initially made you rethink your career and what option has the highest likelihood of addressing that for you? Creating a picture of what you want your future life to look like can really help with that. Keep coming back to that vision and checking in that you are getting closer to achieving it.
If you would appreciate an external, expert perspective to help you work through this process then you can contact Pamela on admin@pamelaconsulting.co.uk and you can explore how Two IP aims to solve the work/life balance for experienced Patent and Trade Mark here.
