8 Places to Find Career Help

The state of the distributed workforce has posed interesting challenges when it comes to asking for help or guidance about your career. Isolation makes career uncertainty loom larger.

And if the analysts are correct, 40% of those who lost work during the pandemic will not be returning to the workplace because their jobs have been eliminated.

Finding career help, however, is not as difficult as it might feel when facing loss or frustration.

The Art of Asking for Feedback When You Need It

Are you one of those people who did not have access to the wise mentor in your industry or organization who looked out for you in the workplace? You might be surprised only 20% of people I asked about mentorship had this type of person in their corner.

Without an official sanctioned mentor established through corporate or personal connections, I discovered new ways to tap into brilliance and practical advice.

There are multiple ways you can access feedback, regardless of your lineage or station in life. The feedback loop is self-directed, giving you permission to soar among the ranks of most valuable players, moving the metrics on the improvement dashboard.

Here is a collection of accessible ideas to expand your reach for feedback:

1. Learn from dead people.
2. Crowdsource feedback on social platforms: Quora, Facebook, LinkedIn, Slack, and various platform sites.
3. Join a group: business, accountability, feedback, or special interest.
4. Embrace mentorship.
5. Establish a career advisory board with rotating or fixed members: peers, younger workers, senior leaders, or thought leaders in your industry.
6. Hire a coach: business, performance, or life.
7. Take an assessment test: self-awareness, work style, brand, or strengths.
8. Help others.

Let’s explore each of these eight concepts in more detail.

1.  Learn From Dead People

Learning from enlightened people who have gone before us yet pondered similar questions is a practical way to grab a burst of inspiration. Reading books and passages or researching quote themes online enables you to savor sage advice to help solve a burdensome problem.

Wisdom from famous philosophers, musicians, or family members dear to us who have passed on provides perspective.

When I asked my friend Paula Weigel about role models in her life, she immediately responded, “Mother Teresa and Gandhi.” There are countless lessons and answers in the stories of their lives.

Here are valuable points of view from people whose words live beyond their time on earth:

Failure is merely feedback that there is something blocking the path of the emergence and expansion of the best version of yourself.

—Mother Teresa

Get a feedback loop and listen to it. When people give you feedback, cherish it and use it.

—Randy Pausch, professor of computer science, human-computer interaction, and design; author of Last Lecture

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

—Sir Isaac Newton

These timeless bits of advice, wisdom, and encouragement are applicable to a wide variety of circumstances and are avail- able 24/7.

2. Crowdsource Feedback

A valuable asset of your conversational toolkit is the nuanced knack for asking good questions. Posing smart questions will get you noticed in the workplace and lead to thoughtful insights.

Asking for advice starts with open-ended questions. Like a skillful reporter, think of who, what, where, when, how, or why questions to get to reasons behind answers or to capture context. Only use a yes/no or multiple-choice approach when taking a poll, as in choosing between three design options for your personal website.

The curious effect of the crowd is people genuinely want to help each other solve problems. I have witnessed an impressive generosity of input for individuals trying to make decisions for their careers or their businesses.

Consider Facebook, LinkedIn, Quora, and Slack channels as a selection of places to ask questions and interact with professionals regarding career and entrepreneur topics.

You can engage with a global conglomeration of peers, entrepreneurs, coaches, and a diverse group of subject matter experts. With large online communities, you will likely receive a number of pertinent responses.

Group Example

As an entrepreneur, I often look for guidance and advice from thought leaders who publish online content, offer training, or manage Facebook groups. Chris Brogan, CEO of Owner Media Group, provides skill training for the modern entrepreneur.

One of Chris’s many productive outlets for free content sharing is a user-driven private Facebook group. With close to fifteen thousand business-focused members, questions receive several useful responses.

3. Join a Group

Want to obtain a fresh perspective and enrich the ramblings of your own mind? Join a group of like-minded individuals who want to grow and make things happen in their careers.

For the purpose of career advancement and professional development, many groups and associations offer career development and education. These groups enable you to gather information and grow in your profession.

Groups come in varying shades of purpose and intent. For example, Meetup, the online platform for scheduling in-person gatherings, is the world’s largest network of local self-forming groups.

You can start or join groups according to your interests.

A popular type of group is the Mastermind. These range from fee-based to free. They are organized around development topics like business growth, productivity, career development or job search, among others.

Joining a trustworthy group of like-minded people will help you clearly understand your value in the workplace and encourage the support of fellow careerists.

4. Embrace Mentorship

The formal definition of a mentor is: an experienced and trusted advisor. A mentor advises or trains someone, especially a younger colleague.

A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.

—Oprah Winfrey

Here are two types:

• Workplace mentors—older and wiser advocates who provide guidance and have your back. Remember, this type of mentor can be elusive for many, yet they do exist in the workplace.
• Mentors in the formative years who teach you about vital skills (life, work, survival, values, ideas about success, etc.).

Discover how to find a mentor and be a mentor here.

5. Establish a Career Advisory Board

The DIY movement applies to the self-directed process of engaging with mentors. You are capable of attracting and assembling your own team. Like the pit crew at Indy, they will be there for you.

The personal advisory board requires a discerning eye for talent. Just as corporations hire the best available person for the role, you will surround yourself with the best available minds to help you on your work path.

Like an agile project, your advisors will cycle through your career journey, defined by your needs. The rules of simple arithmetic apply; addition and subtraction of team members will fortify the career growth equation.

Feedback teams are comprised of various mentors, or a series of people who care about your development.

In additional to senior leader advisors, the career advisory board includes: situational advisors, reverse mentor/advisors, and peer advisors

6. Hire a Coach

Many successful workers hire coaches to help them accomplish goals.

According to a study by Anders Ericsson, a psychologist and scientific researcher, optimal performance on cognitive, perceptual, and motor tasks requires deliberate practice and timely feedback. In the study, he learned the quality and quantity of practice are equally important.

The premise of his work was how to become a leading expert within a particular subject area like science or at a skill like playing the violin. His findings apply to many aspects of improvement. Combining repetition of a skill by a motivated participant with immediate feedback leads to increased learning and improvement.

While skills will improve with repetition only, performance benefits from observation and insights of a coach. The time it takes to learn is compressed with feedback.

For further reading, check out What is a Career Coach and Who Needs One?

7. Take an Assessment

Feedback regarding your strengths and inclinations is available through use of quick and efficient online assessment tools. These survey instruments are backed by some of the top minds in psychology and human performance.

The instruction “play to your strengths” is uttered by teachers, managers, and coaches when referring to environments like the soccer field or the workplace.

Yet without a coach or a formal appraisal of your true capacity, your strengths may be languishing in a hidden corner, waiting to be discovered by a random talent agent.

Rather than leave this vital personal knowledge quest to a chance encounter, taking an assessment will yield useful information about you.

The resulting profile often provides a surprisingly accurate reflection of you in the areas of style, personality, strengths, weaknesses, and attitudes, to name a few. 

While there are numerous assessments, one of the most common tools used by individuals and career coaches is Top 5 CliftonStregths by Gallup and CliftonStrengths 34 by Gallup.

8. Help Others

Look beyond your immediate surroundings and personal agendas. You will notice a more balanced view of the world and start to gain a better understanding of you.

Helping others grow enables you to sharpen your own leadership skills. Rewards are multiplied when you collaborate with or help others.

When a manager develops his staff, the department experiences benefits like increased productivity and individual well-being. Here are the perspectives of a few thought leaders on the subject:

Steve Farber, the author of The Radical Leap: A Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership, opens many of his speeches and training with,

“Do what you love in service of people who love what you do.”

Legions of individuals believe in the servant leadership concept, first cultivated by Robert Greenleaf.

The leadership belief is: a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world.

As Gregory Wade, a technology executive who serves as a mentor communicated,

“Giving back is the cornerstone of developing others and creating an optimal work culture and increasing potential.”

Feedback Methods for Everyone

Yikes! That’s a whole lotta feedback goin’ on!

Eight different types of feedback may overwhelm your calendar and time-management sensibilities. Yet one or two of these methods may be an appropriate fit for your personal style.

 If you want to learn more about my work, visit martikonstant.com. You can also download the 28 pg. Happy Profitable Employees white paper.

Ask me about my agility and adaptability workshops that will help you, your teams, and your organization rebound in a time of a change and disruption. Available for teams, managers, and senior leaders.

Everything has been converted to virtual delivery. Looking for a keynote, workshop, or training on the topics of agility, change management, personal branding, or future of work for your organization? Send an email: [email protected] and we will schedule a call. Check out topic ideas for speaking and training. 

?Konstant Change, 2020