The Story Behind Your Mid-Career GPS by John Neral

 

The Story Behind Your Mid-Career GPS: Four Steps to Figuring Out What's Next

By John Neral

My career path is messy. I didn’t plan for it to be. It just worked out that way. I believe we are where we are because of all our experiences. Honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing.

I earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Loyola University in Maryland and went to work as a teacher in a private Catholic high school. I enjoyed it, but after two years, I wanted to do something different. I did some work in various industries but missed teaching so much that I went to graduate school at Monmouth University where I  earned my Master’s in Teaching and a certification to teach mathematics. After graduation, I landed a job as a middle school mathematics teacher in Northern New Jersey.

It was a great job, and I worked with the best people. I loved what I was doing and enjoyed going to work every day. But then, something changed.

After ten years, I was teaching a lesson on multiplying fractions, and I heard this voice inside my head say, “John, You can’t do this for the rest of your life.” I was taken back. I had told everyone how much I loved what I was doing, so how could I be unhappy. It wasn’t that I was unhappy. I just didn’t want to feel “stuck.” I call that my “mid-career moment.”

Feeling stuck is one of the worst professional feelings. I didn’t want to feel as if I was at a dead-end in my career, and I certainly didn’t want to be one of those professionals who got the golden handcuffs and was miserable doing their job every day.

I kept listening to that inner voice and eventually realized that I wanted to work more directly with teachers. I began looking at department chair positions, professional development positions, and anything to leverage my skills as a teacher into a new position.

Several years later, after my mid-career moment, I accepted a professional development specialist role with the District of Columbia Public Schools, where I supervised 21 instructional coaches across 13 middle schools. That job accelerated my career and allowed me to follow the GPS I had created a few years prior.

That position led to other opportunities, and each time, I was able to level up my career. Each time I interviewed for a new job, I was clear on my value. My GPS guided me to whatever was next for my career. Because I was clear on my value, I told my story differently. I came from a place of value and service, rather than feeling like I had to convince someone to hire me.

When I launched my coaching practice full-time, I did so because I wanted to help more people accelerate their careers. The process of finding a job is stressful. You know you need a resume, but if it’s not customized to the job posting, you’ve got a tiny chance of it clearing the Applicant Tracking System.

Networking can be beneficial to secure your next position, but many mid-career professionals don’t like networking. What if you were able to leverage your ability to help people and network from a different place? Your Mid-Career GPS can help you do that.

I’ve interviewed many times throughout my career, and as a former hiring manager, I’ve interviewed hundreds of people. There is an art to interviewing. How do you make yourself stand out from everyone else? Build Your Mid-Career GPS and learn how to tell your story differently.

Lastly, I know that how we SHOW UP matters. This has been the most valuable lesson I’ve learned in my personal and professional life. My #SHOWUP6Strategies will help you position yourself more strategically and intentionally to lead, make a greater impact and thrive in your career. If we all focused more on how we SHOW UP, our career paths would look very different.  

 

Are you considering a career change but doubt yourself or get easily overwhelmed by the entire process?

Are you a mid-career professional ready to level-up, but unsure of what steps to take?

What if there was an easy and supportive way to plan your next career destination?

Your Mid-Career GPS will guide you to create your own professional roadmap so you can find the job you love or love the job have. John Neral, Certified Professional Coach, will help you strategically position yourself in the marketplace while teaching you how to leverage your unique skills from a place of value and service for any organization.

Learn how to prepare, position, and promote yourself as you create a tactical and strategic plan by building Your Mid-Career GPS. Let this book be your guide to answer many of the current questions you have about creating your next advancement opportunity.

John Neral, MA, CPC reawakens, energizes, galvanizes, and innovates the mind think of employees, corporations, associations, and systems. A celebrated executive/career and professional development coach and in-demand, mindset-shifting public speaker, John’s professional walk included a 25-year career in education and a longstanding corporate consultant for Fortune 500 giant, Casio America, Inc. He now leads John Neral Coaching, LLC, one of the most progressive, mindset-shifting professional and organizational coaching and public speaking firms in the U.S. He is the author of Your Mid-Career GPS – Four Steps to Figuring Out What’s Next and SHOW UP – Six Strategies to Lead a More Energetic and Impactful Career and the host of “The Mid-Career GPS Podcast.”

As a Master Practitioner in the Energy Leadership Index, John’s experience has made him an impactful and valuable coach to his one-on-one and group coaching clients and organizations. With Energy Leadership™, John identifies where people perform at their optimal levels and when they are under stress. Combining the Energy Leadership™ principles, a client’s workplace strengths, and their “unique professional value,” John helps his clients create their career GPS so they can take action toward achieving their professional and personal goals.

A former church organ prodigy, John is an avid traveler–having sojourned to 5 of the 7 continents, a professional bowler and the winner of a Professional Bowlers’ Association Regional Title (2010), and a game-show fan, having appeared on previous episodes of GSN’s Chain Reaction and Make My Day. John is happily married and lives with his spouse and their rescue cat, Amy Farrah Meowler (named after the Big Bang Theory character), in the heart of Washington DC’s Dulles Technology Corridor, Tysons Corner, VA.

You can visit his website at https://johnneral.com or follow him at Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads.