If you can IMAGINE your STEM career feeling better, you CAN do something about it.
As a woman with a STEM career in higher ed, will you be happy if your next 5 years of work look and feel like it does now?
For many of us, we get to a point where we realize that there’s a significant GAP between what we hoped our STEM career would be like, and the current reality. We’ve WORKED HARD to get where we are, yet, mid-career-ish, we feel dissatisfied, wondering, IS THIS IT? And we feel DRAINED (energetically, emotionally, and professionally) from feeling like we ALWAYS have to BE ON.
So it’s not surprising that DISILLUSIONMENT can creep in and take a firm grip on us, making everything feel HARD.
We try to PUSH ourselves more. PROVE ourselves more. Figure out what we need to do and be to get SEEN.
Ultimately, we start to wonder if it’s really SUSTAINABLE for us to work in this institutional environment through to retirement at all. TO ACCOMPLISH MORE THAN JUST SURVIVING ALL THE DEMANDS OF THE SYSTEM.
What we really WANT is to feel like all the struggle and sacrifices we’ve made to get to this point in our career have been WORTH IT. To experience a NEW VERSION of our STEM career with MORE of the “good stuff” as we look ahead:
Rather than pushing harder until we’re on the verge of burnout, what we really NEED is to PAUSE and REFLECT so we can gain clarity about our next best steps in our STEM career.
We need an environment that feels SAFE and SUPPORTIVE so we can let down our defenses for a moment and take a breath without judgment. We need to tune back IN to what WE really want and what we have to offer.
“With reflection comes awareness and with awareness we can act with intention.”
– Kelli Hendrickson
That’s where my Career Coaching support comes in. It’s a soft place to land in what can otherwise feel like an inhospitable environment where, no matter how hard we work, we feel invisible, incapable, and insufficient.
I’m Kelli Hendrickson, STEM PhD. Career Coach for women in STEM. And I’ve had my share of disillusionment, disappointment, and discontent too.
I understand your challenges in navigating the system of higher ed. And I have some thoughts on how you can address them.
That includes focusing IN on US – not on what we have to change to fit in but on how to identify and use our strengths to create space to be able to step into the system with confidence.
My superpowers? I am grounding, insightful, and empowering. And I care about women in STEM being able to enjoy the benefits of a career that we’ve worked so hard to achieve.
Through our 1:1 coaching sessions, you will receive customized support to navigate the higher ed system so you can more easily reach your STEM career goals with a sense of satisfaction.
With an inward-focused approach, this is YOUR time to address challenges that are weighing on you by:
- Being able to say WHAT YOU WANT without judgment and uncover the paths to getting more of what will actually make you happy.
- Beginning the practice of focusing inward to REFLECT and become more AWARE of your strengths, values, and desires so you can clarify what YOU want your higher education career to look and feel like over the next several months.
- Starting to know and own your VALUE and what you’re CAPABLE of doing so you can act with more confidence.
- Allowing yourself to be HUMAN, softening to the notion that you don’t have to do ALL the things, perfectly, and smile while doing so.
- RELEASING the burden, guilt, and shame that is contributing to your energy drain after too many years of measuring meaning and success externally (it’s not your fault, the Higher Ed system trains us to think this way).
- Getting rid of that box you’ve been tucking all of the UNCOMFORTABLE doubt, concerns, and slights away in until it is full and you just can’t “even” anymore, because you realize that you don’t need to keep it around to process or deal with later or just ignore anymore.
- Doing some real BOUNDARY setting to honor your energy and desire for more nourishing time off.
- Taking empowered ACTION that won’t feel draining because you’ll be making intentional and informed choices, grounded in what matters to you (versus “should-ing” yourself to be more disciplined to reach your goals).
It’s time to challenge the ASSUMPTIONS, rewrite the RULES, and set the STANDARD for how YOU work in higher ed.
TO MAKE YOUR OWN PATH AS YOU NAVIGATE THE DEMANDS OF THE SYSTEM.
Because, even if you are feeling disillusioned and drained right now, you still have the power to IMAGINE something better and make INTENTIONAL CHOICES to move in that direction.
There is HOPE.
There is POSSIBILITY.
And there is SUPPORT.
STEM Career Coaching Packages & Pricing
Startup Package – 6 months
For all new clients.
The work we are doing, combined with your current career demands, takes time. You have spent years working and living one way and it will take time to develop new ways to work that align with who you are. During this time we form a co-active partnership, reveal your strengths, and take action in achieving your Success, Time, Energy, Meaning career.
Our partnership includes bi-weekly meetings (in-person, phone or zoom) about an hour long with continued support through emails, text and journaling.
Cost: $3,200 US. Flexible payment options available for graduate students and post-docs.
If at any time you wish to discontinue before the package is complete, a portion of the package cost is refundable. Additional assessments (360 Leadership, Hogan, MBTI) are available if requested at an additional cost.
Are you ready to open the door to a future that includes more Success, Time, Energy, and Meaning?
Schedule a complimentary 30-minute chat today
Frequently Voiced Concerns
“I don’t have time for a coach!”
But that’s part of the problem, isn’t it? What if you could wave your magic wand and grant yourself the time? We CAN create that time and space in your life for you.
“It feels expensive.”
As a long-term investment with a never-ending return on investment in your STEM (our definition) career, it’s quite the steal when compared to say a new couch to collapse on when “you just can’t even” anymore.
“I’m a Ph.D., I should have this figured out by now.”
You’re not alone in feeling disillusioned and stuck AND that you shouldn’t feel this way. This is the big lie that we tell ourselves – that three letters at the end of our names means we have it all figured out. That we’re STEM people and are really spectacular problem solvers. We are also humans and we need to know that it’s ok and normal to be unclear on what the solution is sometimes.
“This is great, but the system is still biased”
Yep. You’re right and our work together isn’t going to change things you can’t control. BUT, we will change what you can control – how you navigate it, how you set down the burden of working within it, how you can enjoy doing the thing you love.
“Yeah, I’m done. I have nothing left to give but I’m too old to do anything else.”
I disagree, unless you’re dying tomorrow (ok, blunt and morbid). If a pivot really is the right thing for your mental, emotional, and physical health, then there’s nothing that should stand in your way. We have proven ourselves as capable researchers and problem solvers. Let’s put those skills to use to solve this seemingly impossible problem.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Career Coaching?
Career coaching is an opportunity to gain powerful insight on yourself as a professional. Your career coach should not prescribe what it is you need to do to be successful. Instead, the career coach listens and asks questions to help you determine your course of action and remove the obstacles you place in your way forward.
Is Coaching a Type of Therapy?
No. In a nutshell, the distinct difference between coaching and therapy is that coaching focuses on understanding what you need to move forward where therapy focuses on what got you there in the first place. Coaching and therapy can happen simultaneously, if appropriate.
Ready to take the next step toward more Success, Time, Energy, and Meaning in your Higher Ed STEM career?
Let’s see if we’re a good fit to work together!