About
I help successful leaders who are called to a higher level of influence to positively impact the people they lead, drive business results, and achieve their career goals.
Hello! I’m Philip Hilt
My career started over 20 years ago with little career direction or desire to surrender to a job title. In my final years of high school, I didn’t spend a lot of time taking action that would lead me to where I am professionally. Although I did enroll in a community college more than a year after graduating high school, I dropped out and didn’t have enough interest in school to stick with it.
I worked in manufacturing jobs for several years. I was an assembler, press operator, material handler, and held a number of other manual labor roles. Eventually, I landed in a position where those around me noticed my softer skills and leadership potential. This was also the time when I started considering what my career path would look like now that I had an established profession. I had a mentor that gave me an opportunity to lead others. I became a Production Supervisor, with authority and responsibility to lead a team to drive business results.
Eventually, I would become a Manager, return to school to earn a degree, earn another promotion, and land a management position where I led a team of 200 hourly associates and 6 salaried managers.
Through my experiences in these various roles, one aspect of the job that changed was how I influenced others. My level of influence on others was getting larger and the impact I could have to help others in their career journey became the motivating factor in my career. I didn’t need to be the most technical manager to succeed. I realized coaching and mentoring others was the part of the job that gave me the most energy. Coaching others also drives business results by developing more engaged and productive leaders. Seeing others fulfill their goals, earn promotions, become leaders, and overcome obstacles became the most rewarding part of my job.
Although I had success in my career, I was not immune to burnout and losing passion in the job I had. I struggled to keep balance in my personal life and at work. I developed an anxiety disorder, struggled with depression, and had to come to terms with needing a career change. Instead of settling into my career after 20 years, fine-tuning my management skills, and earning a comfortable salary as I had envisioned; I arrived at a point where I had lost joy and fulfillment at work.
I felt defeated and hopeless. I felt like I had failed. I had to ask myself, do I continue grinding in the role I’m in or take a step back to reevaluate my career path, which brings the fear of the unknown and the challenge of starting over?
I’d like to tell you that I struggled briefly and then quickly figured out my next steps, but that wouldn’t be true. I’m stubborn, and I often lack confidence and self-compassion. I resisted putting in the true and honest reflection needed to identify what changes I needed to make. Eventually, I was able to focus and truly reflect on my path, my values, and my future.
Through therapy, self-forgiveness, and allowing myself to accept failure; I was able to turn failure into strength and determine my next steps. Those steps were the key to guiding me to my current state, where I can focus my energy and passion on the areas of my professional life that I enjoy most; guiding and leading others as they achieve their goals. For me, the greatest achievements in my career have been using my coaching abilities to help others succeed. As a Career Coach, I can commit my energy and passion for helping others through my coaching practice.
All of our experiences are different, but the desire to succeed is in all of us.
I didn’t get where I am with only my own desire. I had support along the way from coaches and mentors that helped me grow and become a more successful professional, and a better person. I’m very excited to help you gain the clarity and confidence that will help you through the challenges in your career.
Philip Hilt – Career Coach
