登录查看更多内容

What I Wanted vs What I Got (Career Edition)

? Deja White

?? Life Design & Career Clarity Strategist | Personal Branding Expert | LinkedIn Top Voice | Google Women Techmakers Ambassador

发布日期: 2024年4月17日

Listen to this article instead here .

So here we are, right smack in the middle of what we hoped for and what we actually got in our careers. I like to call this spot the Middle Point—it's that awkward in-between where our dreams bump into the real world of job hunting.

Most of us land here because, let’s be real, snagging exactly what we want is pretty rare these days. In the work journey, it kinda feels expected to give up a little on our big dreams.

But hey, it’s not all bad. Sometimes, we end up with more than we thought we’d get.

What I Wanted vs What I Got. I do not own the original copyright to this image!

What I Wanted vs What I Got -- The Secret to Career Progression

Here are two tricks I picked up in my career that didn’t seem cool at first but turned out to be pretty sweet:

The "Middle Point"

Working in roles that are adjacent or complimentary to the one I actually wanted. This method is called, "The Middle Point." Part of the reason I started doing this was because it was EXTREMELY challenging to get the role that I wanted. And most "popular" roles are.

I grew to love this backdoor method because I realized 2 things:

1?? There are a million roles that exist, but somehow we only know/ are exposed to a handful of them.

2?? There are so many roles that are low-key the same but just slightly different.

The "Backdoor" Method

The next method I used was James Altucher's "Backdoor" Method.

Pretty sure James didn’t come up with it, and people have been sneaking their way into jobs forever. Basically, you start in a job you’re good at or know a bit about, hoping to move into the job you really want later, even if you’re not totally ready for it.

I got to like this way because it’s better to be in the room than outside it. Once you’re in, you can start to shake things up, bring your own chair, or even build a new table, which is awesome.

Meet Your New AI Career Coach

What I Want vs What I Got -- IRL Examples

What I Wanted:

?? Product Designer

????????

What I Got:

?? Production Design: re-designing pre-built designs at scale, lots of attention to small details, operations heavy.

LinkedIn for Learning 1 年前

What Career Is Right for Me? Find Out in 3 Steps!

Jeremy Schifeling 5 个月前

Your Career Questions Answered: A Career Coach FAQ

ErinBlythe "EB" Sanders 4 周前

?? Email Marketing Design/Development: developing templates at scale based on pre-designed assets. design details are very important here. Additional layer: You have to be technical. You are implementing/coding all designs. If they break in implementation, you have to fix it.

Reflection Moment: I no longer wanted to be a product designer after these experiences, because I realized I actually didn't like being surrounded by design full-time, especially at scale. I was exposed to other possibilities too.

NEXT UP

What I Wanted:

?? Product Marketing Manager

????????

What I Got:

?? Creative/Brand Strategy: included lots of product/brand positioning work. Lots of deck building (some design work and even creative prototyping) + writing for sales pitches, + writing creative briefs, and creative directing.

?? Brand Implementation Management: Aligning branding strategies with product development + marketing campaigns. Lots of attention to brand visual identity, tone of voice, and messaging to make sure it's consistent across all campaign/brand touchpoints. Might require some technical prowess.

?? Product Operations Management: Operational aspects of product development and delivery. Lots of requirement gathering, project planning, task prioritization, ensuring alignment between stakeholders, tracking progress, and managing product development priorities.

?? Market Knowledge Management /Sales Enablement: Lots of product knowledge gathering from sales, product, & marketing, so that you can leverage it to build robust evergreen sales enablement systems. Lots of sales enablement that you create also goes out into the market. (B2B and B2C)

Reflection Moment: Falling into these random product roles was something I didn’t expect, but it’s been pretty interesting. So, I’m gonna hang around here for a while. Hmm...

The roles & responsibilities listed are based on my experiences. Every company is different!

So... What do you think? Will you try these methods in your career?

Let me know!