What’s Your Career Status? Part 2

In our most recent blog post, we talked uncovered which career status is most on track for you. Now I’ll cover specific action steps you can take to move forward.

Status 1: “I’m pretty happy in my career right now and want to keep things moving forward well.”

Recommended Action Steps: Articulate clear growth goals. This is important because in a conversation with your manager, if you say you want to progress, don’t rely on him or her to have the ideas for you because quite realistically they won’t. They have lots on their plate and they’re hoping you’re going to come prepared with that.

Status 2: “I’m feeling a little flat and bored in my career and want to figure out how to grow in a meaningful direction.” 

Recommended Action Steps: Start by asking yourself, “Which of my values is not in alignment right now?” A top value that’s out of alignment is often the culprit for feeling flat and bored. It could be, too, that you’re not making good use of your strengths. In this case, determine which strength(s) you’d like to be using more effectively, and then come up with some related next steps.

Status 3: “I have some specific ideas for how I want to grow in my career and I’d like to talk with my boss or manager about those next steps.”

Recommended Action Steps: My hope for you is that you take ownership for coming up with what those next step options might be, that you are brainstorming, investigating yourself into what will feel challenging and meaningful. You may come up with ideas and do a little research and see if they fit or not. If you are having a conversation with your manager, even if you’re not 100% sure on what those career growth options might look like, go in with something to start with rather than asking, “What ideas do you have for me.” And as you discuss options, be open to alternative ideas.

Status 4: “I’d like to define some new career directions.” You may not be happy in what you’re doing at all right now, and you’re looking for something different. Here are some starting steps: Think about it from the combination of two factors. One, what could your potential role be? Often the role will be tied to one or a few of your strengths. And two, what would be the potential application of that role within a specific department, industry, et cetera.

For example, if you are great at organization, a potential role might be project manager or administrator. Hone in on your strengths to figure out how those could be connected to a role, and then apply it to an industry or department that has meaning for you and interest for you.

Status 5: “I have ideas about career directions that interest me, and I want to explore them to be sure they’re a good fit.”

Recommended Action Steps: If you have a few areas that interest you, the goal becomes narrowing them down to an option that will work. Get your hands dirty to really experience if something is going to be a match for you. I can’t tell you how many times I have had clients with interest in a particular career area, but once they got their hands dirty–experienced it a little–they discovered that it really wasn’t so interesting to them.

Ways to get your hands dirty: Career research interviews. Those are conversations with people who are already succeeding in areas that look interesting to you on paper and then you’re learning about it first hand from them. What is their world of work like? Pros and cons, et cetera. Career experiments: These are short term, low risk activities that expose you to areas of interest. Career experiments can be like taking on a practice project, taking a class, such as an Udemy course. A job shadow is a good example of a career experiment, as are practice projects

Status 6: “I want to be prepared to talk about my successes and accomplishments in an upcoming meeting with my manager, in a job interview, etc.”

Recommended Action Steps: Begin by brainstorming accomplishments. A good way to do this is to go through your calendar and remind yourself of projects. Maybe you have to do a status report each week so you can review those. Then as you identify the successes, document what you had to go through to achieve a particular goal. What did you have to do? How did you do it? And what are some proof points that show that you actually succeeded with that?

These are sometimes also called STAR stories (Situation, Task, Action, Result) and it’s such a good exercise to go through the process of documenting those. Then before you actually sit down with the decision maker, either for your performance review or an interview, practice sharing them, saying them out loud. So that as they come out of your mouth in the actual meeting, they’re more effective.

I hope this has been a helpful for you, and if there’s any way we can support you, please email me at katy@careersolutionsgroup.net. We offer a free initial phone consultation.