Career evolution is rarely straightforward—it often brings a complex mix of excitement and fear, gratitude and worry, anticipation and self-doubt (Kidd, 2004). These feelings are completely natural. Career evolution looks different for every professional and may shift across the stages of your career. For some, it means transitioning from full-time clinical care into leadership, administrative, or teaching roles. For others, it involves working with a different population, changing settings or locations, taking a career pause, or returning to practice after time away.
For many audiologists and speech-language pathologists, even thinking about career evolution can bring up discomfort or guilt. It’s important to realize that you aren’t the same person you were 10–15 years ago—or maybe even 5 years ago. Your values, priorities, and needs may have shifted, and it’s possible that your career no longer fits those original values and/or priorities. If you’re not the same person you were years ago, then it makes sense that your career may not look the same, either. Research across many professions, including health care, consistently shows that career evolution is not evidence of failure or poor planning but, rather, a normal—and healthy—part of professional growth (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996; CHG Healthcare, 2024).
Many professionals unconsciously hold the antiquated belief that a “successful” career should move in a straight, uninterrupted line. The reality, however, is that careers today are dynamic—and they come with seasons of growth, pauses, and reinvention. Unnecessary pressure, shame, or self-doubt can creep in when your career no longer fits who you are today. Research shows that today’s careers are increasingly characterized by nonlinear paths and adaptation (Savickas et al., 2009; Sullivan & Baruch, 2009). The ability to adapt and redesign one’s career over time is associated with greater resilience, engagement, and long-term sustainability (Faria et al., 2024). Letting go of the expectation that your career must follow a linear path will allow you to view career growth as a positive thing and not something to be feared or judged.
During a career evolution, fear or discomfort will inevitably show up. Fear is not a sign that you’re doing or have done something wrong in your career. Fear often presents itself when you challenge old patterns or step outside what—in the past—has felt comfortable or predictable. What matters most is not whether fear appears, but how you respond to it.
The “above-the-line” and “below-the-line” framework offers a useful lens for understanding your mindset during these moments (Dethmer et al., 2014). When fear pulls your mindset below the line, your thinking becomes closed, reactive, and rooted in self-protection often characterized by blame, denial, and a victim mentality. In this state, you may feel powerless or stuck—unable to see possibilities beyond your current circumstances.
Above-the-line thinking, however, shows up as curiosity, openness, and accountability (Dethmer et al., 2014). From this mindset, you acknowledge fear without allowing it to dictate your decisions. You take ownership of your choices, remain open to learning, and approach uncertainty as a growth opportunity to lean into—not a threat to run from.
Fear will show up during career evolution, but you get to choose whether it controls and paralyzes you—or informs and guides you.
Clarity is especially important during moments of career growth. An essential element of any career evolution is getting clear on
This “clarity piece” is where having a growth mindset becomes invaluable (Dweck, 2006). A growth-oriented perspective reframes career decisions as iterative rather than irreversible. Your career is not a single choice but, rather, an accumulation of experiences, insights, and recalibrations over time. The competencies you’ve developed, the wisdom you’ve gained from various challenges, and the self-awareness you now have are not just the mechanisms that got you to this place in your career, they’re the foundation for your next chapter.
Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to gain clarity when you are experiencing a career evolution:
Career growth doesn’t require an immediate, drastic change. There is so much value in doing small experiments where you try new roles, expand your responsibilities, or seek mentorship before making large, life-altering decisions.
If you’re second-guessing your career path, it doesn’t mean that you failed to plan correctly: It means that your experiences, values, and needs have evolved. Growth doesn’t erase what came before—it builds on it. You have the power to shape what comes next. Don’t let fear hold you back!
Arthur, M. B., & Rousseau, D. M. (1996). The boundaryless career: A new employment principle for a new organizational era. Oxford University Press.
CHG Healthcare. (2024). 2024 survey: 62% of physicians made a career change since 2022. https://blog.chghealthcare.com/physician-career-change-survey-2024/
Dethmer, J., Chapman, D., & Klemp, K. W. (2014). The 15 commitments of conscious leadership: A new paradigm for sustainable success. Conscious Leadership Group.
Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House.
Faria, L., Gouveia, C., & Florêncio, L. (2024). Decent work for a better life: Unpacking the role of career adaptability and sustainability. Mental Health & Human Resilience International Journal, 8(2), Article 000255. https://medwinpublishers.com/MHRIJ/decent-work-for-a-better-life-unpacking-the-role-of-career-adaptability-and-sustainability.pdf [PDF]
Kidd, J. M. (2004). Emotion in career contexts: Challenges for theory and research. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 64(3), 441–454. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2003.12.009
Savickas, M. L., Nota, L., Rossier, J., Dauwalder, J. P., Duarte, M. E., Guichard, J., Soresi, S., Van Esbroeck, R., & Van Vianen, A. E. (2009). Life designing: A paradigm for career construction in the 21st century. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75(3), 239–250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2009.04.004
Sullivan, S. E., & Baruch, Y. (2009). Advances in career theory and research: A critical review and agenda for future exploration. Journal of Management, 35(6), 1542–1571. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206309350082
Kari Dermer, AuD, CPC, is a certified career and leadership coach and co-owner of dB Coaching Group—where she supports audiologists and speech-language pathologists in building meaningful careers without sacrificing their well-being. She brings more than 15 years of experience in leadership, mentorship, and coaching to the communication sciences and disorders community.