Whats Next? 5 Steps to a Career You Love!

by Kate Steinbacher Published On 8/29/2010 |

Category: Career Management

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This is a great question for Career Changers. But it is not the whole question. How do you begin to consider the concept of career change? I always remind my coaching clients to start where they are and move ahead from there. The road to discovery is directly in front of you, all you need do, is begin the process.

1. Where you are, is taking stock of what you have done so far in your life and career. It includes such things as the results of Meyers Briggs indicators and other personality profiles if you may have taken. Another interesting indicator is the book, Now, Discover Your Strengths, by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D. There are many other helpful indicators on the market as well. Ask some trusted colleagues to indicate what they see as your strengths. The concept is to take a snap shot of who you are now, what personality traits are dominant and what strengths do you bring to the world and job market.

2-3. Gathering information on what will you bring and what energizes you is the next step. Create a list of skills you bring with you, soft communication and people management skills as well as hard skills, computer literacy techno skills etc. Don’t forget what you like to do and what you do that makes you feel confident and energized.

Make a list of some of the things you have accomplished in your life and work that you remember feeling good about. Perhaps it was a project particularly well done. Perhaps a team you were able to move off the dime to accomplish great or small tasks. A time you took leadership or you were a member of a great team or a time you set out to complete a project and did it totally on your own to great success. Were you up front in the lime light, behind the scenes making the puppets dance or down the road creating the sets and costumes?
Now go back to those times and make a list of the skills you needed to have to accomplish those tasks and them to the list!

4. Take a look at the atmosphere in which you thrive. Are you a self-starter or a person that enjoys positive supervision? What about training, do you like a solid training atmosphere or one in which you jump in and figure it out by doing? What about your time, can you manage it yourself or is it managed for you? Do you prefer a job that you can close the door on at five o’clock or a situation where you may work hours as required to get the job done?

Once you uncover your personality type, your strengths, your likes and skills as well as the atmosphere you thrive in, you are well on your way to successfully discovering a career that speaks to you. Your next step is:

5. Career Discovery: make a list of about 10 people you respect in the work world, that have careers that interest you and talk to them. Ask them about their work their likes and dislikes. How did they get to where they are today? Begin to compare what they are doing with your skills and abilities and the things you enjoy. Create correlations between your talents and where they may be most effectively used in the world of work. Again solicit the ideas of friends and colleagues. Often they can see things in us and around us we miss. Take time to surf the net for companies and careers that interest you. Discover what education may be required, or is the experience you bring equivalent?

The final step is to let all the ingredients percolate. Act like a cat that watches and waits for their goal to come to them, not a puppy that yaps and barks at it, possibly scaring it away. Let it simmer and you will be surprised at the results!

Coaches Challenge:

Begin the process: Take stock, ask friends and colleagues to help, begin your new career soup.