New Years Resolution: I Need a New Career!

Hello followers! Welcome to the January edition of the Job Guy Newsletter. Each month, I will be sharing statistics, online career management tools, a testimonial or two, and a favorite tip from my blog page. Please do feel free to comment or suggest content that you might like to see or find useful. This is all about the job seekers after all!

Employment by the Numbers

Happy New Year! Well, it will be happy for those professionals who love their jobs. But for the miserably employed out there, the new year is just another reminder that they are compromising their time on the planet stressing through a poor-fitting or dead-end job.

They know they need to make a change, but are stuck answering “what would I do if I’m not doing this?” This can be tough to do on your own because, on some level, there are infinite possibilities depending on how one defines and markets their skills. And there are many ways to identify skills, including taking an aptitude test, polling colleagues, or simply making a list on your own.

These methods all can work on the skills identification level, but they almost always fall short on the marketing side. Just because we have a skill doesn’t mean that we have utilized it in the context of professional achievement. It can then be a struggle to build a great resume or nail an interview because we can’t convey to a hiring manager how we have utilized a skill to benefit an employer so far.

This is why I learned to reverse engineer the process by starting with professional achievements to identify the skills. This method is very accurate: if we have used the skills in the times when we felt good about ourselves, then the odds are we will feel good about using those same skills again. And if we succeeded using these skills in the past, we are likely to succeed using those same skills again. The value add is that the stories needed to build resumes and excel in interviews are hardwired in from the outset.

Taking this step sets you up for the cool part: looking for jobs not based on job title but based on the skills required within the job. Companies today have all kinds of titles for the same kind of job, or a title may mean one thing in one company and something completely different in another. In the end, most employees don’t care so much about the title as they do that the work they do is gratifying.

Shopping job sites like Indeed or LinkedIn in this way enables job seekers to get a better sense of a full range of possibilities that can then be narrowed down based on three criteria:

1. How interesting they are: we need to want the job

2. How realistic they are: we need to get the job

3. How abundant they are: we need to know that there are many jobs in the new direction.

There are quite a few free web resources that can help to define skills and determine long range prospects in a chosen field. Here are my favorites:

1. Discover jobs that are aligned with your personality type through this very fun Myers Briggs survey: 16 personalities.

2. Identify future career growth trends using Gallup’s “Careers of the Future”.

3. Learn more about employment outlook for most jobs using the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Information Network, O*Net.

4. Great career direction tool for those entering or still in college: Mapping Your Future.

A Favorite LinkedIn Testimonial

Stephanie is now a customer success and implementation professional in the IT Services sector. She needed help identifying career direction because it was unclear how much of her lack of satisfaction was driven by the role, or by extenuating circumstances.

“John was an immense help to me throughout my job search. His can-do attitude, along with his years If you're at a crossroads with your career — looking for a change but uncertain of the direction, John is the person to seek out. I found myself in this position a short time ago and a friend/colleague of mine recommended that I reach out to him. One of my prerequisites in working with a career coach was that I needed to be pushed out of my comfort zone so that I could truly find the right career path.

John did this during our initial call and throughout the process, if needed. He has a well-thought-out, proven process that not only helps uncover the types of jobs your skill sets and interests match up with, but it also helps to identify what you really need from it in terms of engagement. Through the sessions I had with John and the assigned work he gave me, he identified three different career paths that would suit me well. He helped me talk and think through each of them in order to determine which one would be the best fit. Ultimately, I found a job that aligns with my skills, values and work style with a reputable company that has a lot to offer.

John is personable, insightful, positive and has a fun personality. The insights I've gained from him throughout this process (which included a professional resume along with interviewing and networking guidance) are invaluable and I am forever grateful to him for sharing his knowledge.

Job Guy’s Search Tip of the Month

Make a New Years resolution to do an honest assessment of how well your job is meeting your current and future needs! Very few professionals take the time to define what they want out of their career over the long haul. They tend to take a reactive approach through which they only change jobs because someone approached them or because they had to get away from something. Despite the motivations, it is not wise to take a job without knowing where it fits in the longer term plan.

Most people know to look at pay, work-life balance, and stability. But younger and mid-level professionals need to demand more. They must consider how an opportunity will impact their marketability when the next search comes around. They should know if the role will enable them to:

1. Develop and maintain skills needed to advance their career

2. Utilize the tools and technologies that will increase or maintain their value in the market

3. Meet key influencers who can serve as networking connections and mentors

4. Sustain their reputation through its messaging and culture

Jobs that are enjoyable, but don’t satisfy needs for lifestyle and marketability, will fail. To learn more about how extenuating circumstances can make a good job bad, see my original blog post.