How can you have a successful career path?

With Camilla De Burghe, Career Coach

Camilla a Career Coach with a 14 year corporate background in Urban Design. She feels passionately that every woman deserves to love their career and become a go-to expert in their role without working themselves into the ground. She loves working with her clients to help them cultivate calm, kindness and self belief in their working day. 

Camilla’s passion to help women in their career comes from a place of experience. She lost the love for her career when she became focused only on climbing the career ladder in her late twenties. She tied all her self-worth to work, focusing only on her job title and salary. Sound familiar?

Losing the love for her career led Camilla to a really dark place. On paper, she had this incredible job but, in reality, she felt dejected, depressed, and completely stuck in her career. 

In this article, Camilla touches on her own experiences to help guide you in your successful career path and achieve your version of work-life balance. She provides insight on how you can find a career which suits you.

What are 5 Steps You Can Take To Find The Right Career For You?

Camilla considers these five steps as being key to finding the right career path. You should consider these points to understand which sector or industry you are most suited to.

1. Love will always be number one! On average, we spend 90,000 hours at work. Therefore, it’s important that you love spending time in your role. You don’t deserve to hate your job or at best, tolerate it. Camilla, for example, knew that she’d loved supporting and mentoring colleagues over her 14-year career which led her to coaching. 

1. Know your values. Aligning your job with your values is important, it will help you feel fulfilled and passionate about turning up and switching on your computer day in, day out. A job that conflicts with your values is never going to bring you happiness.

1. Remember, you’re doing this for you. You may need a gentle reminder that pursuing a career for the sake of loved ones, colleagues or societal pressures will never bring out the best in you.

1. Gain as much industry experience and/or exposure as possible. Whether that’s a short work experience placement, going to networking events or talking to people that you know in the industry. It will give you a real insight into the career that you’re wanting to pursue. Don’t be afraid to connect and reach out to people in the industry on socials too!

1. Get really clear about your amazing strengths and skills. Hone your skills and choose a career that celebrates them! 

It’s also important to recognise that you can have a life outside of work. This is something Camilla admittedly struggled with during her career; she kept working all hours, and kept putting crazy amounts of pressure on herself to be perfect at her job. She says, “I got to the point where I had an utter meltdown, both mentally and physically.” Having gone through that experience, she now supports women to achieve their version of work-life balance and treat themselves with the kindness and compassion that they deserve.

How do you balance your personal life and career?

Camilla says that one of her biggest revelations about work-life balance was that there’s not a one-time solution or quick fix to create a sense of harmony in life. The reality is you have to constantly re-adjust to find out what is and isn’t working. Camilla checks in with herself daily, adjusts, and commits to taking action. 

She feels grateful to be able to design her business around achieving her version of work-life balance. Camilla suggests getting a support team in place, understanding your boundaries (and feeling comfortable communicating them) and taking time regularly to rest and recharge. 

Camilla’s key message when it comes to work-life balance and burnout is to continuously check in with yourself and to not leave it too late to seek help as burnout can lead to a dark place in terms of your physical and mental health. Prioritising time for self-care and rest is a sign of strength, not weakness. Remember, you can’t pour from an empty cup!

How do I find a good career advisor?

As well as being a coach herself, Camilla has personal experience of working with coaches, mentors and counsellors during the course of her career. She looks out for three key things when needing support:

1. Credibility - are they qualified and what experience do they have to make them credible in their field?

1. Values - you should work with a professional that shares the same core values as you. This will help you feel safe, open and honest with your thoughts.

1. Their approach to their work - does their approach sound like it would help make a real difference to your career, and potentially even your life? How will they help you achieve your version of career success?

Camilla says that, often, you’ll be able to connect with professionals online and see if their content and work resonates with you. A lot of coaches even offer a free introductory call (Camilla loves to do this!) so you can say hello, understand how coaching can make an invaluable impact on your career and shed light on all your important questions! 

If you’re not sure where to start, asking people who you trust, in or outside of work so they can give you some invaluable recommendations. 

Camilla truly believes that being the best in your career starts with loving what you do. If you love your career, you will feel inspired and motivated to become the go-to expert in your role which means your amazing talents and skills are on full show for everyone to see and celebrate. Camilla has worked with many women who have struggled with their careers and helped them to regain this feeling of love. 

If you want to find out more about what Camilla does, you can find her here.

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