There’s no particular time in one’s professional life when the mind gets clouded with questions, which, in itself, don’t take any specific form either. The dispiriting doubts, the perturbing worries, the paralyzing concerns can creep in anytime during one’s career, and range from practical to existential, from the whys to the hows.
Psychologist and career coach Malou T. del Castillo said that generally, restlessness stem from uncertainty.
“Much confusion and dissatisfaction of professionals comes from being unsure of what type of job they really want, and what their goals are,” she said.
The sky was overcast during that recent, midweek lunch with del Castillo, where she shed light on the most common concerns about corporate careers. She talked about the dos and don’ts of résumé-writing, debunked the myth that a person could be too old to chase his passion, and so much more—all of which can be found within the 140 pages of her self-published book, titled The Career Road Map: Your Personal Guide to Corporate Career Success.
The light-read book has four parts. The first one is about finding your purpose and figuring out what you’d like to do. Next is going after your dream job, followed by a discussion on managing corporate life. The last part is about resignations and career shifts.
“It’s the whole shebang,” del Castillo said, adding that the P350 book, available in select National Book Store branches, is dedicated to people who can’t afford a career-counseling session, and targets anyone from a feeling-lost millennial to a feeling-empty middle-ager.
Del Castillo, a former magazine columnist for seven years, has kept the book’s writing easy to convey a conversational tone. Several exercises also follow each chapter to promote interaction and maximum learning.
The author unabashedly calls the The Career Road Map her “passion project.” During that intimate lunch meeting, she talked about the book with palpable glow. It was easy to see her as someone who had spent all her life living within the confines of psychology and career coaching, only she hadn’t.
Del Castillo grew up with the idea of success that mirrored practically everyone else’s: nice house, own car and high pay. She studied diligently and kept active in school with her sights set firm on a marketing career, in an attempt to follow the footsteps of her older cousin. The journey wasn’t smooth, as these things tend to be, but she willed herself through.
At 27, she was starting to gain her footing in the industry. It was also during that time, however, when she came across a detour that led to a series of perspective-altering events.
She passed out one day, and was rushed to the hospital. Doctors discovered a growth in her Broca’s area, the part of the brain in charge of speech. Del Castillo went under the knife and recovered just fine. But she wasn’t out of the woods just yet.
As a self-sustaining 20-something, she worried about the costs of the operation. Her distant relative somehow knew about her ordeal, and wrote a check to the hospital for the balance.
“I was overwhelmed,” she said. “I’m not close to these people. So I thought, ’Pano ko to babayaran kay God?’ I have to find my purpose.”
Del Castillo did so by visiting orphanages and nursing homes to give back. But that didn’t seem to cut it. Meanwhile, she went on with her corporate career and began to thrive. She progressed into a regional marketing manager for an established confectionery brand, and had practically ticked her career checklist. “I was drunk on life,” she said.
Del Castillo sobered up, so to speak, during a fateful day when she heard Mass. The priest preached about Luke 8:16 that reads: “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.”
Del Castillo cried instantly. She was caught in the middle of a successful marketing career, and had lost track of her pledge to give back. That moment, she decided to make good on her promise by using her talents, her knowledge to help those in need.
People usually called her asking for a career advice since she did good on managing hers. After trying her hand in headhunting and setting up a family, and after leaving the marketing industry “to do something with my life that helps people,” del Castillo got a call from a company she formerly worked with to help its employees with their professional concerns. That’s how she began as a career coach.
She took on more clients, getting them to talk about problems that kept them from doing more or becoming something. She had all the answers, except for one particular case.
A girl had a gap in her résumé from taking a year off. Del Castillo asked the reason for the hiatus, but the girl started to cry. She said her boyfriend died in front of her and that she couldn’t work for a year.
“’Yun ’yung point na sabi ko, I’m not equipped to counsel this person,” del Castillo said. “Kulang pa pala.” Ever the go-getter, del Castillo went back to school and earned a masters degree in psychology and became a counselor.
She said that the biggest adjustment from being a marketing professional to a psychologist was the approach. Being a former boss, she described herself as “very prescriptive,” but her new job required her to take a step back and listen.
“I facilitate the healing process better when I shut up,” del Castillo said, letting out a small laugh. “I learned that every person has the capability to heal themselves. It’s there. All you need to do is give them that safe space and facilitate that process.”
She has counseled different people facing different trials, and she has plenty of success stories to share with, like the 50-year-old corporate communications professional facing retirement who she helped find a new lease on life as a yoga instructor, or the drained 20-something human-relations officer who she guided toward a career in sports as a brand manager for one of the biggest sporting retailers in the country.
The search for life’s greater meaning is clearly over for del Castillo. What she enjoys most in her find, she said, is still the very thing that pushed her to embark on a search in the first place: helping others.
“When I see the progress that my clients go through, when they’ve got things under control and they’ve made significant changes, that keeps me going,” she said. “I have found my purpose.”
- For appointments, e-mail malou.delcastillo@thecareerroadmap.net or send her a message on Instagram at @malou_psychologist_coach. Her book, The Career Roadmap: Your Personal Guide to Corporate Career Success, is available at National Book Store branches in SM Mall of Asia, Greenbelt, Glorietta, Market! Market!, SM Aura Premier, SM Megamall, Shangri-La Plaza Mall, TriNoma and Ayala Fairview Terraces.