Uncover Your Path: A Guide to Discovering Your Next Job

A small disclaimer - I am not moving jobs.

Now that we have this out of the door, let’s talk about what's happening in the market when it comes to jobs. It is bad. There are layoffs happening all over the world even in companies where this has not happened before.

I have been speaking to quite a few of my friends who are impacted or fear being impacted by the changes happening in the industry.

To the people who have not looked out for some time, here is what I am suggesting to them on how to find their next job.

• Step back from the noise: It will be easy to get sucked into all the chaos happening around. Fear will take root. The very first thing I always suggest is that if you have the luxury, please take a step back and take a couple of days off. During this time, take a break from notifications, spend quality time with loved ones, indulge in binge-watching, or go for long walks. Engage in activities that will help clear your mind and prevent fearful thoughts from taking over.

Fear makes us do dumb and impulsive things — let that pass.

• Sit with your essential stakeholders: Once you are back, sit with the people who have the biggest stake in your future. By biggest stake, I do not mean financial gains. Here the biggest stake is you, yourself and your mental well-being. These people can be your partner, spouse, parents, extended family and/or friends. They could be anyone who won’t judge you for someone else’s mistake while at the same time will help let you explore your next move.
• Make a laundry list of things you want in your next job: Our selective attention bias as human beings will force us to focus on what our minds think is most important for us, now, at this moment. We will end up disregarding rest because it may not look important to us right at that moment. One example is when someone accepts a job with a higher salary but a significantly longer commute. Initially, they may feel excited about the increased income. Yet, after a few months, they realize that the longer commute is a daily occurrence, and the initial excitement from the higher salary disappears.

This will be a good time to step away from our selective attention bias and make a laundry list of what you would like to have from your next job. It will be even better if you can do this with your essential stakeholders.

You should ask yourself questions on the following themes while writing your list:

1. What kind of professional demands will you be okay with in your new job?
2. Do you thrive on Work-Life Balance or on Work-Life Integration?
3. Do you want a remote, hybrid or in-office job?
4. Are you seeking a rapid learning experience through applying fundamental principles in a new field or leveraging your existing knowledge on a larger scale? Or, are you interested in maximising the use of your current learnings?
5. What are your needs for benefits beyond the base salary? What are your wants?
6. What kind of “Way of Working” makes you feel happy at the end of your working day?
7. How much autonomy do you want and on what part of your job? Do you want Autonomy on the outputs or do you want autonomy on the outcomes?
8. Will you be happy if people in your immediate and extended team are great to work with or do you want a company where you can look up to the leadership too?
9. Do you care about what your next company’s mission and values are? If yes, does that mission reflect in the work they have done in the last 6 to 12 months?

Now, please come back to this list after 12 to 24 hours and slice it into Must Have and Nice to Have. I hope once you have this “Must Have” list at hand, it will be a lot easier for you to go to a place, where not just your heart is happy, but also your head is.

Common Trap:

Please don’t go looking for “dream” companies and hot industries/domains. These things change all the time. What you are looking for should answer where you land, not the other way around.

Initially published at Medium