Operating with Intention

When we think about where we’ve been, where we are, and where we want to go—how intentional are we as we make decisions and navigate our lives?

Let’s take a moment to consider this. When you start a new job, do you have a clear idea of what you want to gain from it to advance your career? Have you thought about the specific skills you want to build? Maybe it’s discovering what distracts you from your goals and finding ways to minimize those distractions in your environment.

Scenarios around intention

Scenario 1: Career Growth

Many people enter a job focusing solely on completing assigned tasks, often missing opportunities for personal growth. Operating with intention means actively seeking ways to enhance your skills and contribute meaningfully to your role. For instance, if you recognize a need to improve your public speaking skills, you might pursue projects that require you to present ideas or lead discussions. Instead of just fulfilling duties, ask yourself, “How can I use this role to grow?” Volunteer for meetings or speaking engagements, seek mentorship, and embrace challenges.

Scenario 2: Productive Meetings

Rather than entering a meeting unprepared, move with intention by taking proactive steps to ensure a productive conversation. Conduct preliminary research to understand priorities and any recent developments in the organization. Set an agenda. Prepare thoughtful questions in advance. This not only enhances the meeting’s quality but also positions you as a proactive team member who values collaboration, turning passive listening into meaningful dialogue.

Scenario 3: Recruiter’s Intake Meeting

Before your first intake meeting with a hiring manager, have you done your homework? Instead of going in unprepared and waiting to hear what the hiring manager is looking for, approach the meeting with intention. Gather insights about the role and compile four to five profiles of potential candidates with relevant backgrounds. Prepare thoughtful questions to guide the conversation and help calibrate on the ideal candidate profile. This proactive approach not only demonstrates your commitment but also sets the stage for a more productive discussion, aligning your recruitment efforts with the hiring manager’s expectations.

Scenario 4: Digital Detox for Well-Being

Consider your relationship with social media. Removing social media apps from your phone or silencing notifications can serve as an intentional act to improve your mental well-being. By consciously taking a break from the constant influx of information, you create space for reflection, self-care, and genuine connections with those around you. While social media can foster genuine connections, a detox can help you reconnect with yourself.

My Personal Scenario: Intentional Career Moves

Early in my career, I intentionally sought out companies with limited sourcing resources. Despite knowing this would make identifying talent challenging, I accepted these positions because I saw them as opportunities to think creatively about finding talent without traditional platforms. I was determined to build a unique skill set that would help me stand out in the future.

Throughout my career, I often encountered interviews where the interviewer expressed concerns about Sourcers and Recruiters relying too much on LinkedIn Recruiter. You can imagine how excited I was knowing that, in some roles, I hadn’t relied heavily on it at all. In fact, there was a role where I was challenged to use five new sources every day to identify talent. This experience allowed me to walk interviewers through my innovative sourcing approaches and exposure to diverse resources outside traditional platforms. By the time I worked at companies equipped with all the “bells and whistles,” I had built a solid toolkit of resources. I also learned that if a traditional platform does yield very successful results of course utilize it. ?

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Remember:

Operating with intention means acting purposefully and taking control of your actions to create meaningful outcomes. It’s about making deliberate choices and being mindful of how you operate in various aspects of your life.

Take Action:

Reflect on your own experiences. Think about where you are right now.

• Name three ways in which you've operated with intention.
• What were the outcomes of those intentions?
• Can these approaches be utilized again in the future?

Bonus: Operating with Intention in a job search (note: I chose software engineer for example since it was top of mind today because of my posting on Instagram (@urcareercoach) showing engineers how to search jobs, but these can be used with different jobs other than just software engineer)

Being intentional by searching for roles that fall within 2 – 4 years because maybe you have 2.5 yrs experience or 3.7, etc.

intitle:"software engineer" "2-4" AROUND(3) years intitle:job OR inurl:job (apply OR submit) (nyc OR "new york")

Being intentional by looking for roles remotely with a minimum of five years’ experience

intitle:"software engineer" 5* AROUND(3) years intitle:job OR inurl:job (apply OR submit) (remote|wfh|"work from home"|telecommute)

Being intentional by looking specifically for roles with a programming language you use

"software engineer" ios ("react native"|swift) intitle:job OR inurl:job (submit OR apply)