Blog, Career Advice, CV Writing in Kenya

“I’m not unhappy,” Wanjiku told us in our first session. “I just feel like my career is happening to me instead of me happening to my career.” That sentence is the career coaching diagnosis. It’s also one of the most common things we hear.

The Career Drift Problem

Career drift is what happens when talented, capable professionals spend so much time being good at the job in front of them that they never stop to design the career they actually want. Wanjiku was 36, a Senior HR Business Partner at a regional bank, earning a good salary, respected by her team — and utterly unclear about where she was going or why.

The 3 Questions That Changed Everything

Question 1: Where do you want to be in 5 years — specifically?: Not ‘more senior.’ Not ‘in a better position.’ A specific title, in a specific type of organisation, earning a specific income range, doing specific work. Wanjiku had never answered this question with genuine specificity.

Question 2: What is your zone of competitive advantage?: The intersection of: what you are genuinely better at than most people, what the market pays premium rates for, and what energises rather than drains you. Where all three overlap is where your most powerful career positioning lives.

Question 3: What is the ONE action this month?: Not ten actions. One. The most high-leverage move available to you in the next 30 days. Consistent execution on one meaningful action per month compounds into significant career movement within 18 months.

18 Months Later

Wanjiku was promoted to Head of Talent & Organisational Development a newly created role built largely around her proposal. Her salary increased by 60%. She now describes her work as the first time in her career she’s felt genuinely purposeful. Her LinkedIn following has grown to 4,200 and she’s had 3 inbound approaches from organisations in the development sector.

5 Career Design Actions You Can Take This Week

✅ Action 1: Write your 5-year career target with full specificity. Title. Sector. Organisation type. Income level. Be concrete.

✅ Action 2: Map your zone of competitive advantage. Ask 3 trusted colleagues: ‘What do you think I do better than almost anyone?’ The answers will surprise you.

✅ Action 3: Identify one skill gap between your current position and your target one. Research how to close it.

✅ Action 4: Identify one visibility action for this month a LinkedIn post, a conference, a proposal to senior leadership. Visibility is not arrogance. It is strategy.

✅ Action 5: Book a career coaching session. The ROI on one well-facilitated session can be a decade of direction.

READY TO TAKE ACTION? Feeling stuck or uncertain about your career direction? Our career coaching sessions are exactly for this moment. DM us ‘CAREER’ to book your first session.  📧 kethafrica@gmail.com | info@kizunaedgetalenthub.com | 📞 0742118284 | 0116327531 🔗 Join our community: https://forms.gle/pJZXzQznoxrDPGam9