How to Stand Out in Your Job or Career Search

Are you struggling to find a job with no prospects? Perhaps you're considering changing careers but don't know where to start. Additional issues may include financial considerations, flexibility, career advancement, work-life balance, remote work, burnout, and artificial intelligence.

In our digital and AI world, while tech skills are in demand, soft, people, or power skills are still needed for many jobs; in particular, those that require human judgment, emotions, intuition, self-awareness, and more. A study by Deloitte Insights in Forbes reported that 92% of companies said that human capabilities or soft skills matter as much or more than hard skills in today’s business world.?

If you're unsure about your hard skills, here's a list from TechTarget and a list of soft skills. Other reports, including Gartner's Future of Work Trends for 2024 revealed atypical career paths are going mainstream with rising retirement ages, mid-career breaks, shifts across industries, and embracing contingent work and other nontraditional employment models. While having skills like AI, generative AI, and data analysis are critical, employers also need people with soft skills like emotional intelligence, critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, innovation, and persuasion. So, how do you tap into these talents?

First, by overcoming your limiting beliefs that hold you back from reaching your true potential. Some examples include:

• I'm too old or too young
• I don't have enough experience
• I'm not smart enough
• I don't have the time
• I can't take a risk
• I don't have the resources
• I'll never be a leader?

Often subconsciously, the negative perceptions you have about yourself may stem from past experiences, comments by others, family values and beliefs, social media, and other sources. Once you identify where the belief comes from you'll be better equipped to replace a negative belief into a positive one.?The question is, how do you do this?

The Decode Your Value process and Life Skills Tree guide will provide you with a more comprehensive view of yourself. But, most importantly,?your value is not based on your job, education, age, experience, financial status, and other biases, it's based on that which makes you uniquely you.?For example, determined to be an actor, I studied the craft until my junior year in college, when my professors said I was too dramatic.?

After switching my major to Speech Communications, I graduated and began my career at General Electric's Aerospace Division giving weekly briefings to new employees. This experience helped me improve my research and public speaking skills which I continue to use. Now, reflect on your first job, what capabilities did you gain?

After five years with no room for advancement, I wanted to broaden my skill set by working at an agency. Since the work we did at GE was top secret, I didn't have a portfolio. While it took a year for me to get hired at Elkman Advertising and Public Relations, it was my favorite job. Collaborating with a cross-functional team provided the foundation for managing a division of IBM at Burson-Marsteller.

Learning to be a leader, developing novel ideas, and being adaptable are capabilities that have continued to serve me throughout my 30-year career. Another important factor is knowing how you're perceived. Even though I've written throughout my career, I never thought of myself as a writer.

Once I pitched my client to Equities News. The Managing Director said, "We don't cover company pieces. Why don't you write for us?" I didn't feel confident enough to take on the project but I did it anyway. Over time, I became a technology columnist, and a published writer and expanded my agency's offerings to include working with technology startups across a wide range of industry sectors.

Do you have skills you take for granted because they're easy for you? Or, perhaps the skills you developed didn't fit into your career path? Since the abilities that you have can change over time, lacking a skill required in your field may not be a reason to avoid pursuing it. When you decode your value, you'll uncover your core values, personality, life experiences, relationships, and interests; all unique to you and a competitive advantage.?

As you become more self-aware, you'll be able to align your career pursuits with your talents, strengths, values, skills, and passions. Making any change is difficult, but defining yourself by what you've done throughout your life instead of where you are now, will empower you.

As Eckart Tolle said, "The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, person and family history, belief systems, and often nationalist, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these are you."

Wendy Glavin is a 30-year marketing strategist, and an agency owner, offering one-on-one or group career and life skills coaching, business consulting, and speaking. Please visit her website to learn more: https://wendyglavin.com/.