RETHINK YOUR SKILLS

Are you one of the professionals in your mid-career feeling you need a change but unsure of what you’d be suitable for? Rethink your skills – and beyond.

Skills are specific abilities or expertise in a particular area, such as mastering Excel or speaking a foreign language. You have been taught to consider, e.g., your core skills, hybrid skills, or transferable skills. However, skills are linked to the question, ”Can you do the job?” Therefore, how about if you start at what you are really good at instead of listing single skills?

This is a tricky question because it requires thinking on a different conceptual level.

Say you are good at coding. Digging deeper, you might find that you are also good at

• critical analysis,
• data interpretation,
• algorithmic thinking or
• debugging.

Digging even deeper, shifting from a specific skill toward a broader competence, maybe you are good at

• quality assurance,
• technical communication,
• resource optimization or
• long-term planning.

(The last one, long-term planning, refers to understanding the broader impact of coding decisions on the overall project or business strategy.)

Reviewing your skills this way should enable you to recognize your adaptable and transferable skills. The next step is to give these skills a specific context. Merely referring in a generic way to skills such as leadership, communication, and critical thinking is not enough.

But while individual skills are valuable, they seldom take you further than a limited specialist role. A more fundamental career pivot is more effortless when you have a skill set that enables top performance. The question here is: ”Do you create value?”

As a mid-career professional, you have gathered various skills and competencies, and the point is not to bunch them all together but to choose the three essential ones (three is a manageable amount of perspectives) to build your unique skill set. Start with the following questions:

1. What kind of a role do I thrive for? Consider, e.g., responsibilities, challenges, work environment, etc.
2. What kind of an impact do I seek to create? Consider, e.g., complex problem-solving, contribution to a cause, innovation, etc.
3. Which alternative skill sets would enable this? Consider synergies between different skillset combinations.
4. How can I leverage my skillset in new ways? Consider contexts, roles, and industries.
5. Who can I learn from and network with to enhance my career transition? Consider the importance of networking and learning from others who have successfully transitioned.
6. What motivates and drives me beyond monetary rewards? Think about your intrinsic motivations. Are you driven by, e.g., a desire to learn, create, help others, or achieve a work-life balance?

By thoughtfully selecting your skillset and considering these additional questions, you will be better equipped to make a successful and fulfilling career pivot. It’s about creating a cohesive skillset that showcases your abilities and aligns with your career aspirations and the impact you wish to make.

?A third question goes beyond skills and skillsets: ”Are you worthy of this profession?”

The third question concerns your professional identity, which is relevant in several ways. Professional identity relates to roles and responsibilities, education and experience, professional relationships and networks, appropriate conduct, and moral and ethical standards. Expert jobs more than often involve high discretion and are non-routine, requiring individual solutions or decision-making.

Therefore, in a career pivot, you should also address these three additional questions:

1. What kind of identity is emerging, and how vulnerable you are during this process,
2. Are you clear with your professional identity, and
3. Can you present this identity plausibly?

Embarking on a career pivot as a mid-career professional involves more than just identifying your skills; it’s about recognizing the broader competencies that form your unique skillset and aligning them with your career aspirations. By thoughtfully selecting and refining your essential skills and asking critical questions about the roles you thrive in, the impact you seek to create, and the professional identity you wish to embody, you can position yourself for a successful and fulfilling career transition.

Start by assessing your current skills and identifying how to apply them in new and impactful ways. Reflect on your motivations, seek learning opportunities, and network with professionals who have successfully navigated similar transitions.

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Additional Resources:

Books like What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard N. Bolles, Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, or Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One by Jenny Blake.

Online Courses and Platforms like Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, or Skillshare.

Career Assessment Tools, such as StrengthsFinder (identifies your top strengths and how to leverage them in your career).

Professional Networking, e.g., on LinkedIn.

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#CoachRisto

#CareerPerceptions

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