A Journey Into The Center Of You

Imagine there’s a questionnaire that helps you figure out what to do with your life once and for all. You answer a few questions, the algorithm compares your answers to a database of occupations, and the software generates your ideal job match. This kind of assessment has been the holy grail of career counseling for a long time. Wouldn’t it be ideal to have that kind of tool?

There’s actually a US government-supported online career service that does exactly that:?Occupational Information Network. It allows you to?profile your interests?using peer-reviewed Holland’s Interest Inventory, and then check out suggested careers from an occupation database. There are many other similar services, some public, and some proprietary.?Some of the people I’ve been talking to recently tried to use AI to create next-gen career-matching tools.

These tools work for some people. Most of the time though, they’re not as helpful as we want them to be. Lately,?researchers realized that modern career decisions don’t fit this model well, and here is why:

• We don’t make decisions in a vacuum.?We have networks, we have the existing experience that we can - and should - take into account, opportunities that come and go, etc. It’s very hard to encode all of it in a formal assessment. That’s why such assessments are more useful early in one’s career.?
• Interests?are not innate, they?develop through our experiences?- we try things, engage in different situations and collect feedback. Once we learn more about a certain career field, we usually realize that it’s much more exciting and interesting than we had imagined. So when we take an interest survey, our answers will be biased towards things we know more about.

My friend from middle school, a computer geek who taught me to create web pages, later became a very successful lawyer. Why law?, I asked him once. He said: You know, law is very exciting. It’s programming people!?His perspective on this profession surprised me - I never thought about law that way!?

• Modern careers are fluid, and?the job market is changing fast. Most of us aren’t choosing an occupation from scratch, but deciding on the next step in our journey. There’s no one-size-fits-all set of answers that works for all the different questions people may have about their careers.
• At any point in time,?specific life situations or phases can influence your decisions. For example, you could be a bartender and love your job for years, but once you decide to build a family, you could realize that your night shifts get in the way of your family life. Or your interests could change over time because you spontaneously discovered that another career path has more purpose for you.

If the off-the-shelf assessments didn’t fully answer the career question you’re asking now, it could be because of one of the reasons listed above. Understanding yourself is still a key part of your journey, so why don’t we try to cover that part and find some answers in ourselves first?

The modern career approach suggests the following:

1. Expect to learn gradually,?one insight at a time. Build up your self-knowledge like a muscle, and?create?a habit of reflection.?
2. Learn by doing:?if you think of a new area that might interest you, encourage yourself to try it out and decide whether you like it. Thinking alone won’t get you there.
3. Understand your mental, physical and emotional state.?I covered this topic earlier in an article called?Checking Your Fuel Levels. ?? check it out.

Still, that’s a lot to think about! I promised to keep it simple, so here’s a?simple exercise?you can do right now to learn more about yourself.

Take a step back to find your path forward

The most reliable way to explore yourself is to reflect on the decisions you’ve already made. 2 questions for reflection:

1. What career decisions did I make and why?
2. What worked out well and what didn’t?

Actionable Plan

1. Grab a sheet of paper and make?3 columns.?
2. In the leftmost column, list out the?roles you had in your professional life. Include education, jobs, volunteering, self-employment and everything else you feel is relevant to your extended career.
3. For each of these roles, write down?‘pros’ and ‘cons’?in the next two columns. What did you like in each role? What did you hate?
4. When done, look at your pros and cons and?find the major themes.?Make a list of career priorities: What’s important for you? What’s something you have and don’t want to lose? What’s something you need to gain in the next year or two?

Bonus Exercise for Overachievers?

1. Make a list of things that you’d like to achieve in your career in the next 1-2 years, the?‘I want’?list. Earn more money? Move to another job or to a new city? A more senior job title? New experience? More time for yourself?
2. Now make a list of things you already have in your current situation and that you appreciate, the?‘I have’?list. What do you want to keep when making the next move??

Choose one item from the ‘I want’ list that’s most important for you. Add all the ‘I have’ items that matter to you. Now you have?a focused list of priorities?for your next potential move.?