The Career School

As a Career Coach, I get the privilege of working with people at all stages of their career. Along the way, I’ve noticed a curious trend among young people and fresh graduates. They’re not just eager to start working. They want to be excellent at what they do. And - increasingly so - they want their very first job to be loaded with purpose. They graduate full of ambition, ideals, values.

But as the job search unfolds, purpose often becomes a sticking point. Many are quick to reject roles that don’t align with their sense of meaning. And the longer the search goes on, the more anxious they become. I often receive messages filled with fear and frustration: “What if I never find my purpose?” And of course, they’re convinced that everyone else already has already found theirs.

Wherever you are in your career journey, you might feel this too - that your calling is somewhere out there, and if you can just find it, everything will fall into place.

Take one of my former clients. She was ecstatic to land a role in the laboratory of a well-known cosmetics company, believing she’d be part of creating products that empowered people and boosted confidence. But the reality felt clinical and repetitive - endless testing protocols, strict quality procedures, and no connection to the people she hoped to impact. The work felt detached from the purpose she imagined, and with little room to use her strengths or creativity, her confidence waned. As an entry-level employee in a large organisation, she felt like a cog in the wheel - and it quickly became clear that it was going take years before she would get an opportunity to be involved in the work she wanted to do.

Here is a thing - career development is not a straight path. It’s a lifelong, evolving process shaped by your interests, skills, opportunities, and yes - even the missteps.

In my experience, there are three core stages of career development:

1. Exploration and Self-Discovery

We begin by testing the waters. We explore the world of work and ourselves. We start to discover what energises us, what drains us, where our talents lie, and what sparks our curiosity. We experiment. We get things wrong (often). We try out different roles, hobbies, and start forming career preferences.

If you’re in your early career, experiment fearlessly. Try things out, play, break things, get your hands dirty - and most importantly, have fun. Say yes to things that scare you a little. Say yes to things that scare you a lot. Follow your curiosity in every possible direction. Learn from what clicks, and learn even more from what doesn’t. This isn’t the time to find your meaning - it’s the time to understand yourself, build confidence, and begin to uncover what truly matters to you.

2. Skill Building and Mastery

This is where things begin to focus. We narrow our choices to specialisation areas and start to build our career identity. We build confidence and desire to be trusted. We crave responsibility and want to see our progress recognised. We want to deepen expertise, grow visibility and become trusted with reliable results. This stage is about turning potential into mastery, and growing confidence in our abilities and skills.

If you’re here, lean into growth. Hone your craft. Turn your talents into strengths. Sharpen your axe. Invest in enhancing your capability and strive to become the expert in what you do.

3. Meaning and Fulfilment

By the time we reach this stage, we’re looking for more than just a job - we want our work to mean something. Meaning doesn’t have to be a lofty “calling”; it wears many faces. For some, it’s pure enjoyment - doing work that simply feels good. For others, it's the impact and the difference they make. Some call it legacy, but that's a big word. For others, the most fulfilling part is connection and making a real difference in the lives of others. Whatever shape it takes, it’s the drive to to go above and beyond satisfying the most immediate human needs and an attempt to make our life meaningful and worthwhile.

And some people who reach this third stage are lucky because the previous two stages have led them to the right place. Many realise that they've somehow got a little lost on the way and got stuck in stage two. They realise that the path that took them years to build does not bring satisfaction and fulfilment.

And tragically, some don’t allow themselves to reach stage three at all. They quiet the Sunday night whispers that ask, “What's wrong with me? Why don’t I feel happy after everything I've achieved?”, and convince themselves that paycheck and status should really be enough.

But let me reassure you: Those questions don’t mean you’ve failed. They simply mean you’re ready.

Purpose isn’t something you stumble upon fresh out of uni. It builds slowly, through trial and error, through wins and wipeouts. So if you haven’t found yours yet - don’t panic.

Wherever you are in your career journey, you are exactly where you need to be. 

Keep going. You've got this.