What is Career Stagnation?
We have all felt stagnant career wise at some point in our professional lives. That dreadful feeling of being stuck, lost and nothing in your career is working out. You feel there is no progression at all and you are just stagnant at a particular career point.
It is a period or moment in your career where everything professional has plateaued. Career stagnation feels like you have been at that particular point in your career for a million years and has nothing or little to show for it.
It is a dreadful place to be in for career women and has been negatively linked with low motivation career wise, poor performance at work, poor social relations at work and outside , and generally a poor quality of life.
While stagnation may happen in various aspects of life such as love, spirituality, it is more powerful when felt in your career. Usually it happens in mid- career when one is their 30’s all the way to their 40’s. The trend explains why many employees in their 30’s -40’s are feeling lost in their career and feel they have not achieved much and there is little room for growth.
Career stagnation happens because;
- You have lost interest or passion in your job- it no longer excites you
- Changes have happened in your life- e.g. family hence more pressure/responsibilities
- Changes have happened in your work environment/industry- new boss, toxic culture
- There is no further point beyond your position in current job- no chances for promotion
- No/low exposure to new opportunities, growth , development etc.
It is possible to revive a stagnant career. When you are in your 30’s – 40’s is the best time to develop a solid career plan to overcome such stagnation. Read further for a detailed guide with expert tips on how you can overcome career stagnation.
Signs/How to Tell your Career is Stagnant
- Low enthusiasm/interest in work- if you no longer love your job, it is major sign that your career is stuck
- Stale work relations and frustrations at the workplace- When you are no longer in good terms with your colleagues, it is usually an indication of career stagnation
- Flat performance/accomplishing goals in work- in most cases this happens as a result of a career becoming stagnant
- Low opportunities for growth, and development- If there is no further point you can go career wise, it is a sign that you have stagnated in your career
- Financial stagnation especially in your 30’s -40’s . Usually financial progress is accompanied by professional progress so when your have stagnated financially, you may have also stagnated in your career.
What happens when you are stagnant in your career , you lose interest in making efforts for progressing your career. After identifying that you are actually stagnant in your career, the steps that you take after this will determine if you will overcome it.
Steps in Overturning a Stagnant Career
To make a complete overturn of your stalled career, follow these steps;
- Do a critical reflection of your career to learn where you at with your career
- Decide on the best course of action to take to overturn the stagnation -You may decide to make different actions that are aligned with your new career and personal goals.
- Add on the best and most strategic ways to advance your career
- Be guided by strengths/weaknesses, your workplace environment & situational factors, or the industry you are working in.
- Develop a career plan- Once you everything figured out create a plan on how to going to practice your resolutions
How to Perform a Critical Reflection/Audit on your Career
In life, taking stock of changes and developments is very crucial in tracking your progress. Just like in personal life, you need to reflect on your career. This is an analysis that will give you the true picture of your career/ work and how well or bad you are progressing.
It is the first and most crucial step to get you out of career stagnation when you are in 30’s to your 40’s years old. You need to also remember than 40 is not too old to make a significant change and improvement on your career.
Reflecting on your career, means looking at your career goals and milestones, the achievements, and also failures for a particular period of say, one year. Use the following steps to conduct a career audit;
- List down your career strengths and weaknesses especially those related to your current career position. This is an important step when trying to reflect on your profession.
- List down what were your career goals for the period in question e.g. advancing in leadership, acquiring advanced skills.
- Having your career goals for the period 30-40 yrs old clearly written down makes them appear real to your so that you weigh out your options, reflect and reflect on your career
- List down what were key milestones for the goals for a specific period e.g. a promotion, attending training. There is now way of knowing where your career is headed to without having milestones.
- List down accomplished milestones/objectives by the end of the set period e.g. a training certification, a pay rise. Doing so will help you know what has failed and what needs improving on.
- List down half accomplished milestones/unaccomplished attempts at the milestones e.g. transferred courses.
- Analyze any positive/negative changes in your strengths, and weaknesses at the end of the period
- Analyze, compare and project the trend your career is taking especially in between 30’s to 40’s years.
Read: Sources of Motivation for Working Moms
From the above ,take your career on scale. You can find out if your career is going downstream, is stagnant, or is advancing forward. You will be able to identify why you are in career stagnation and put effort to overcome it.
How to Overcome Career Stagnation at 30-40(Guaranteed)
1. Switch Careers /Jobs
It may feel like you have no progression in a certain career and you need to change course. Changing career is one of the things you can do to come out of your career stagnation. You may choose this option if your feel that your current career is not really where you would like to be especially at your age.
Many people are working in careers/jobs they have no interest in and this has affected their interest to grow or perform better in those careers. You may wonder why you feel stagnant in your career and it may be because you lack interest in it.
You are more likely to excel and grow in a career that you are interested in and have passion for. It may not necessarily be the one you got an education in or your first job but one you truly have excellent skills in and interest. The interest and passion will keep you pursuing more growth and advancement as you take on more challenges.
Be keen as you pick your new career to pick one with more prospects in advancements and positive projections than your current career. Even at 30 or 40 years old, you have many career options at your disposal depending on your educational training, work experience, or situational opportunities.
Read: How to Change your Career after 40
2. Switch Employers /Workplaces
One of the things you can do a stagnant career is change your workplace. You may feel that your career is stagnant mainly because of your workplace. You can relate if you face negative factors such as a bad organizational culture curtailing your growth.
Others include workplace discrimination, bad employers, or simply an organization that lacks scope and opportunities for growth in skills, new opportunities, leadership, and financial advancement.
In such a case, it may feel necessary that you change your employer and find a more opportunistic and appealing workplace. You may find that this new change is what your career needs to grow and reach new heights especially if you are 40 years old.
Read: Choose the Most Mom Friendly Careers Here
3. Advance your Skills
Your career will grow in direct projection with how you advance your skills and acquire new ones. There are various ways you can do this such as by participating in training, workshops, and achieving educational qualifications and certifications among others that align with your career.
Go back to school of you have the opportunity. These opportunities exist to help advance your current skills , make you more effective and efficient in your work or job. This is important to help your recover from career stagnation and be competitive again in the workplace.
Read: Reasons You should Stay at your Job
4. Start Your Own Business
Another thing you can do a stagnant career is break from work limits and starting your own business. It is a great option you may have at trying to turn around your career. If there is no career progression, it is okay to test new waters.
It is a big decision to make but you may have outgrown the space of being employed and you need new challenges. You may have additional personal reasons to now focus on starting and running your business which will give you better fulfillment and rewards in utilizing your skills among others.
Choosing the kind of business and the industry to move into is critical and again should be guided by your educational background, work experience, acquired skills, and existing market and situational opportunities among others.
It must however be an industry and business you have an interest in and can make a great career out of it. Also you need passion as these will will play a significant part in keeping you afloat and willing to push on when your business is facing challenges after your venture out on your own.
If you feel stagnant under employment, working in your own business will make you happier and more fulfilled. The good thing about being your own boss is that now you do not have a limit on your career. You can easily and successfully overcome career stagnation.
There are no boundaries whatsoever on what you can do and where you can take your business especially between the age of 30 to 40. You will be able to tackle all kinds of business challenges and opportunities as well.
Read: What you Should know about Starting your Business before you Quit your Job
Develop your Future Career Plan
After you have figured out your career position, why it is happening and what you are going to do about it, you need a business plan. A career plan contains a list of short-term and long-term career goals and the actions you shall take towards achieving them.
Make your goals SMART and split them into small realistic milestones and incremental steps. By doing you, you will start feeling your career refreshed. The plan is very critical to restore a stagnant career by guiding you on making new decisions ,new courses to take, the project to picks, and new research to partake in among others that are aligned with your overall career goal.
Read: How to Improve your Career Plan
Read: What to Expect when Running your Business
The Last Word
Regardless of the option and action you take to turn around your career to overcome stagnation, your resilience and determination will matter the most in how effective that change will be. You may feel like you really don’t know what to do but you must take that step of faith.
There is no career option without challenges and you must be prepared for new challenges and obstacles which you must overcome to achieve your career goals. Without a vision of why you are doing it, you will mostly fail at making any advancement and just get stuck.
How you deal with stagnation in career will also determine success in other areas of life. Don’t be too comfortable with your current situation but always push for more as this is what will make you feel fulfilled and happy in life.
