Sources of Career Friction: What Factors Prevent Career Advancement

Last week in Friday's Career Rocket Fuel: Career Friction I introduced the concept of career friction. In short, career friction is all of the factors that are preventing you from having the career you want as quickly as you can. What are these factors that are holding you back?

Sources of Career Friction

So what are some common sources of career friction?  Consider how each of these may be holding you back and feel free to come up with you own.

Lack of Knowledge: You simply need to learn more and increase your “technical” knowledge. Perhaps you need to learn more math, sales techniques, networking skills, leadership skills, etc.

Lack of Experience: You simply have not yet had the opportunity to have certain experiences in the work place. Perhaps you’ve never interviewed some, had other people depend on you, written a proposal, etc. You have the technical skills however you’ve either never done it or need to do it more to become polished.

Lack of Direction: No one has ever explained to you how to develop your career, how to advance or even figure out what the best type of career for you is. How could you possibly know where to go next?

Fear of Failure/Success: What if you applied for that new position and were turned down?  What if you actually got the promotion? Are you really ready? Fear of success or failure is very often a component of our lack of career development, even if we are unaware.

Fear of Change: As human beings we are creatures of comfort and habit. When you get that promotion or that new job, many of your routines will change. Perhaps your home life will need to be adjusted. Are you worried about what you family will think or how they’ll be affected?

The first step to overcoming career friction so that you can have the career success you want as quickly as you can, is to understand and accept your sources of career friction.  What’s holding you back?