If you’re a woman working in the public sector and you’re wondering how you’re going to achieve some career progression in the current environment, you’re not the only one. In 2025’s Te Taunaki | Public Service Census carried out by the Te Kawa Mataaho | Public Service Commission, a lack of career progression opportunity was the top reason given by people who intended to leave their public sector job in the next 12 months (data released as part of an Official Information Act request). Ahead of pay, ahead of restructuring chaos, ahead even of a bad manager.
And it’s easy to feel stuck. It seems like promotion rounds are happening fewer and farther between than they used to (which is understandable when organisational structures are in flux), and there are fewer vacant public sector roles being advertised, so moving to another agency isn’t so easy either.
So, what do you do, if you can’t go up and it’s not so easy to go sideways?
Career progression doesn’t always mean a completely new job
Progress in your career can also take the form of changing the shape of your current job. Arranging your individual work programme so you do less of the work that feels draining, more of the work that energises you, and work that actually stretches you – in the professional direction or directions you want to move.
Researchers call this ‘job crafting’.
What's job crafting?
There are different approaches to it, but basically, it’s about proactively redesigning your work in terms of:
the tasks you do and how you do them
your working relationships and the feedback and support you get from them
the opportunities you have to learn, exercise your skills in new contexts and experience ‘good’ challenge
the aspects of your job that hinder your progress, engagement and satisfaction.
There are lots of changes you can make without any manager approval. You just have to have a degree of autonomy over how you do your job, and a moderate level of proactivity! (But you’re reading this blog post, so that’s you already!)
But can your job be crafted?
It’s normal to question whether this kind of process can work in your specific situation, and it’s the question my Job Audit coaching session answers. Honestly.
We look at your current job objectively, with reference to the Job Demands-Resources model from organisational psychology: what your job demands of you, the resources you have at your disposal to do your job, what learning and challenge opportunities you’re provided, and the ways in which your job might be dragging its heels – and yours. That process will show the areas in which there’s scope for change, and we’ll work together to co-design two concrete job crafting moves to go away and try out.
The honest bit
Sometimes the answer is that your job can’t be crafted, or that it doesn’t make good cost-benefit sense to try. For example, if you work in a toxic environment without empowering management or leadership, you have insufficient autonomy in your role, or if your role is slated for imminent disestablishment through a restructure.
If ‘no’ is the conclusion we draw together, we’ll discuss what to do instead. I’d rather that you left the session with a clear, honest picture of what your options are, than to put effort into changing a job when it doesn’t make sense.
Is a Job Audit session for you?
This is a coaching session for women in their 30s and 40s who work in the public sector and want to keep their careers moving and developing. You might be feeling stuck, under-utilised, or just plain ‘blah’ about your job, but want help and clarity about whether you can do something about your current role, rather than throwing in the towel now.
Importantly, it’s not career counselling or advice, or help with a job search.
Coaching is a partnership between me as a coach and you as my coaching counterpart, in which I’ll ask questions that help you think through your current situation, get clear about what a ‘better’ situation or your next step looks like, and that draw out the potential in you that you already have to get you there. It’s a process that respects you as a person and a professional – that you’re already capable, and know how to do your job, and just need to talk your situation through to be confident to lead yourself in a new direction.
If that sounds like what you need, email to book your Job Audit session now: marie-louise@fireflycoaching.nz. We’ll have a quick chat to confirm it’s a good fit for where you’re at, and to answer any questions you might have, then schedule a session and process payment.
It’s a one-hour session, delivered online, at a pilot rate of $125 for a limited time (then $175).
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Hi, I'm Marie-Louise. I help women in their 30s and 40s in the public sector progress their career without changing their job — including helping them get on top of the day-to-day overwhelm that gets in the way.
I write this weekly blog to share helpful, action-oriented ideas from the research I read, applied to public sector work. I offer a 1:1 online coaching offering focused on tackling work overwhelm, and am now piloting a new Job Audit session to help women diagnose whether there's scope to reshape their current role for real career growth. Personalised coaching is available too.
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