Entering your 30s can feel like a significant personal and professional milestone. It’s a time when you may have moved past the uncertainty of your 20s and are now more settled into your chosen career path. However, it’s also a period where you may experience a “mid-career plateau.”
This phase, though daunting, presents a prime opportunity to assess and enhance your career health, ensuring long-term success and satisfaction.
What’s a mid-career plateau, anyway?
A mid-career plateau is a phase where career progression stagnates. Promotions become less frequent, job satisfaction may wane, and the initial enthusiasm for your role may diminish. This plateau can result from several factors, including limited growth opportunities within your current role, a mismatch between your skills and job requirements, or even personal life changes that shift your priorities.
Despite its challenges, the mid-career plateau can be a critical period for reflection and reassessment. It’s a chance to evaluate where you are, where you want to go, and how to get there. If you feel that your career is slowing down, it doesn’t mean your career journey is derailed. It’s just time to do some tweaks!
Career health check: Why the 30s is the right time?
Your 30s are often a period of more stability compared to your 20s. You’ve likely spent several years in your field and gained substantial experience and skills by now. Now, you better understand your strengths, weaknesses, and what you want from your career. This clarity is crucial for setting realistic and achievable goals.
With retirement still a few decades away, your 30s offer a sweet spot for long-term career planning. It’s a time to think about the skills you need to develop, the positions you aspire to, and the steps required to achieve those goals.
What is career health, and how do I check it?
If you’re still struggling to understand career health, don’t beat yourself up. Career health is all about how satisfied and balanced you feel professionally. It includes job satisfaction, work-life balance, professional growth, and financial stability. In short, it’s just a detailed assessment of your overall career journey.
In assessing your career health, some key questions that you need to ask yourself are:
- Are you happy and fulfilled?
- Is your current role helping you develop new skills?
- Is your job taking a toll on your personal life?
- Are your current career goals aligned with your values and aspirations?
Tools like the CareersFinder feature on the MyCareersFuture job portal can be incredibly beneficial in aiding this assessment. CareersFinder helps you identify your skills, interests, and values, matching them with potential career opportunities.
This personalised approach can provide clarity and direction, making it easier to navigate the mid-career plateau.
CareersFinder offers a comprehensive analysis of your career health profile after you complete the quiz. It evaluates your current skills and suggests areas for improvement. It also highlights potential job matches that align with your career goals and preferences, helping you make informed decisions about your professional future.
Here are three easy steps to use the CareersFinder tool:
Step 1: Go to https://careersfinder.mycareersfuture.gov.sg/ and log in with your Singpass.
Step 2: Respond to the quiz questions.
Step 3: Receive recommendations for courses and jobs.
Turn your career adversity into an opportunity
Your 30s can be a transformative decade for your career. Look at career challenges as the right opportunity to reflect on where you are. Think about what parts of your job make you unhappy and what excites you. Use this time to transform these challenges into opportunities for growth.
It’s the perfect moment to learn new skills or take on different responsibilities aligning with your goals. Seek new growth opportunities through courses, networking, or exploring exciting new fields. Good luck!
