Four questions to help you figure out your next career move

The most common questions I get from folks embarking on their careers are often loaded with anxiety. These questions usually involve a combination of:

• At age 18-25, did you already know exactly what you were going to do for your entire career?
• What specific actions did you take to figure out your career?
• How did you know if you made the right decision or not?
• How did you find your different career opportunities? How did you get that job at X, Y, Z company? How did you pivot into a new industry without experience?
• What specific classes did you take that were useful?
• What should my major be? Did I pick the right major to be competitive in the marketplace? Do majors even matter?
• How much do grades really matter in the short-term and long-run?
• Am I making the right decisions right now that will affect the rest of my life?

…and so on.

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First step: take a deep breath.

Now, take a few more deep breaths.

As they say in Texas, “Cool your boots.”

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To all the young and the anxious, I feel you. I’ve been there. Honestly, I still feel this kind of anxiety sometimes.

And you know what? It’s going to be okay.

When it comes to our careers, not all of us need to have it all figured out in our early adulthood, despite what your pre-med peers are doing. Those people who seemingly have unshakeable confidence and clarity of conviction? Some of that swagger comes with experience, but ultimately, everyone is trying to figure things out as we go along. It's a constant iterative process where you're allowed to change your mind and reinvent yourself.

To help alleviate any career uncertainty anxiety, I’m sharing with you a four-question framework I’ve come back to again and again that has helped me navigate unpredictability at various career crossroads.

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1.?What do you like to do?

Time flies when you’re having fun, so what feels fun to you? What fuels or energizes you? What makes you feel like you’re not working? What puts you in that flow state where you lose track of time going down a rabbit hole learning about a topic?

Aim to do more of this.

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My example: I enjoy reading, writing, foreign languages and culture, technology, asking questions including during interviews, and building relationships. When I was in school, this translated to me tending to enjoy courses that were graded based on research and term papers as opposed to timed exams.

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2. What don’t you like to do?

It’s an unfortunate fact of life that sometimes, you’re going to have to do things that you don’t want to do. That said, life is too short to spend it doing things you find unbearable.

Here, you can reflect on what drains you. Are there certain activities you find yourself procrastinating on regularly to avoid doing?

Aim to do less of these things.

If you can when you’re working in or leading a team, find collaborators or team members that complement your skill set. There might be people that enjoy doing what you don't.

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My example: Working in spreadsheets with numbers all day, getting carpal tunnel syndrome from spending too many hours editing videos and photos, working with toxic people and in dis-empowering environments that stifle my growth and creativity, working on topics that don’t hold my interest.

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For these first two questions, you're taking stock of what you know and have learned about yourself from your natural strengths, to how you felt from trying out your most recent experiences. This is basically a retrospective of your likes/ dislikes or your energizers/energy drainers looking back and reflecting on what you've discovered.

3.?What are the top trends and issues you care about and why?

The world has an infinite number of problems and human needs. Pick from the many options on where there's room for improvement in the world – be it climate change, inequality, systemic injustices, voter participation, human rights, burn out, public health crises, and so much more.

When it comes to defining your “why,” this sense of purpose can be a personal renewable energy resource for keeping you motivated especially in difficult times.

My example: Energy transition and environmental sustainability in the era of corporate and national net zero pledges, social injustice, the mental health crisis, the need for humane and poignant communications in the era of social media and AI.

My “why”: I want to spend the limited time I have on this planet to work on issues that will make the biggest impact, especially in environmental sustainability. I want to do what I can to make this planet more livable for my daughter to thrive in. I also want to model courage and resiliency for my daughter to make her proud of her mama.

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4. What can you offer to solve these challenges?

There is no limit to human ingenuity and creativity from both you as well as teams that come together to be laser-focused on achieving a goal. Also, there is no one like you with your specific set of talent, skills, personal history, motivations, values, and gifts. What are your individual strengths and gifts (your unique selling point, or USP) you can offer to tackle the issues you care about most? If there’s a gap, can you fill it somehow? If not yet, what skills, training and resources do you need to fill that gap?

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My example: Connecting people, stories, and data to make the world more sustainable and equitable. To continue making my skills and offerings relevant, I am constantly reading, taking online courses, and making new friends while maintaining/strengthening my existing relationships wherever I can.

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These last two questions are to propel you into forward motion as you determine what a better future looks like and the specific role you want to play in it.

Revisit this set of questions regularly as different junctions of your career. You'll likely find that while some answers might stay constant, others may change as you continue to grow and discover more about your abilities and limits in an unpredictable world. Your own motivations and priorities could possibly change as well at different life seasons.

What do you think? Does this help?

For more experienced professionals, any key question missing here on this list that you’ve found helpful when you’ve hit career crossroads?

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-NN