So. Either you’ve lost your job, or you’re thinking making about a change. As important as it is to get crackin’ on making things happen, it’s a good idea to make sure you don’t need any course correction. In other words, is the work you’re doing or seeking what you’re good at or what you really like doing? Is your personality type suited for the job you want? After all this is the perfect time to take a step back and evaluate.
Being conscientious about matching up what you really are passionate about with the job you’re seeking will help you be more satisfied in your work life and make for a longer term career versus simply job sampling. So take some time to get quiet, think, and do some research. You can start with these web sites: www.bls.gov/oco and www.acinet.org. Also read trade journals, talk to people in the profession, and search the web.
Read 48 Days To The Work You Love (see linked image at bottom). Author Dan Miller encourages you to find out what you really are passionate about and make THAT your career. While this concept is challenging and somewhat idealistic, it’s a basic one to consider at this stage. Steve Jobs (Apple) said it so well in a quote I saw just today. “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”
A career assessment is also a good idea. I took The Birkman First Look several years ago. See if a Career Coach at your local Department of Labor can help you find and take such an assessment. There are also some free and low cost tools. One is O*Net Interest Profiler (onetcenter.org/IP.html), and you can also check out the book (see linked image at bottom) (or online [strengthsfinder.com] version of) Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath. Additionally, there are many other resources along this line at www.quintcareers.com/career_assessment.html. These are good ways to learn more about yourself in relationship to your career interests, but always use the results as a loose guideline, and temper them with your best judgment.
Once you’ve got some fresh clarity about what kind of work best suits you, spin your resume’ and elevator speech in support of that. Then, you will begin to focus and brand yourself as a competent _______ (fill in the blank for you) as you being your job search.