Is a Career Exploration Getting In The Way of Your Job Search?
Posted: 12.07.2015
Mary Ellen was frustrated. After 10 years in tech PR and 3 years of hating it, it was time for a career change when her contract was up, but she had no clue of what her new career could be. Her uncertainty meant that she didn’t connect in job interviews. Yet, having chosen the wrong career path thus far, she felt a desperate need for the next job to be the “right” one.
One of the greatest career change misconceptions is that that your job search is the perfect time to find that “perfect” job. You know, the one you’re not sure what it is yet, but hopefully you’ll know it when you see it. The pressure mounts as the wrong choice might land you in a similar situation to your current dissatisfaction, but try as you might, you can’t see the right one.
Take Mary Ellen for example. While she was trying to come up with the perfect career plan to solve her job angst, the clock was ticking. If she couldn’t come up with the right idea, she’d fail. But with so much undue pressure on her search, she felt stuck in the same dead end.
Here’s the misconception: the job search is by definition an externally-oriented, action-driven event. You search for a job by doing a variety of activities, all of which are predicated on the assumption that you’ve already chosen and prepared a clear direction. If you can’t clearly name what you’re looking for in a sentence or two so that other people understand and buy in, your job search is already severely hampered. And if you can’t name it all, you’re actually not in a job search; you’re in a career exploration.
What’s the difference? A career exploration is an open-ended, non-linear, creative process by which you interact with different ideas, concepts, passions, interests, daydreams and conversations, without immediately pursuing these ideas into the tangible, practical sphere. To uncover your next career path, you need to change your mode of inquiry from external, action-driven, to a more internal, contemplative one.
Now before you panic about spending the rest of your severance package staring at your navel, rest assured that the exploration has its time and place. The key is to separate the needs and expectations of your job search from your career contemplation.
In Mary Ellen’s case, she found a career coach who specialized in transition, joined a course on exploration and found several books that spoke to her issues in particular.
The new perspectives she gleaned have helped her to relax. Now she sees a future for herself in the arts – undefined, but very exciting. Her transition step is to use her PR and marketing skills to get a job in this field, learning more as she deepens her exploration. The biggest gain is the feeling of being on track – that even without the “Answer” she can move forward confidently in her job search.
Karen Schaffer is a career coach and author of "The Complete Book of Resumes" and"The Job of Your Life". If career exploration interests you, you can check her TeleSeminar "The Secrets of Successful Career Exploration" at www.lighttravels.com Karen blogs regularly on Career Exploration, Job Searching and other topics at www.karenschaffer.com
One of the greatest career change misconceptions is that that your job search is the perfect time to find that “perfect” job. You know, the one you’re not sure what it is yet, but hopefully you’ll know it when you see it. The pressure mounts as the wrong choice might land you in a similar situation to your current dissatisfaction, but try as you might, you can’t see the right one.
Take Mary Ellen for example. While she was trying to come up with the perfect career plan to solve her job angst, the clock was ticking. If she couldn’t come up with the right idea, she’d fail. But with so much undue pressure on her search, she felt stuck in the same dead end.
Here’s the misconception: the job search is by definition an externally-oriented, action-driven event. You search for a job by doing a variety of activities, all of which are predicated on the assumption that you’ve already chosen and prepared a clear direction. If you can’t clearly name what you’re looking for in a sentence or two so that other people understand and buy in, your job search is already severely hampered. And if you can’t name it all, you’re actually not in a job search; you’re in a career exploration.
What’s the difference? A career exploration is an open-ended, non-linear, creative process by which you interact with different ideas, concepts, passions, interests, daydreams and conversations, without immediately pursuing these ideas into the tangible, practical sphere. To uncover your next career path, you need to change your mode of inquiry from external, action-driven, to a more internal, contemplative one.
Now before you panic about spending the rest of your severance package staring at your navel, rest assured that the exploration has its time and place. The key is to separate the needs and expectations of your job search from your career contemplation.
- Do A Self Assessment: If you’re currently in a job search and you’ve been unclear thus far (two clues: people aren’t helping you and you don’t have your resume clearly titled with the role you’re targeting), it’s time to do an assessment. How clear are you on your next role? What frustrations are you encountering trying to articulate it? How big a leap are you hoping to make? If you feel like your “window” is closing, it may be time to work on the next best job, not the whole career “Answer”.
- Separate Your “Soul” Work goals from your "Conditions of Satisfaction": Sit down and capture your needs and desires but in two separate places. Let your brain do the talking with the Conditions of Satisfaction - the basic deal-breakers you need to feel comfortable in your next job. These could include your minimum salary requirements, the ideal environment, and/or your need for respect and acknowledgement. Then, on another sheet of paper, write from your heart. What is your soul craving? What do you want to do with your life? This exercise will help you distinguish which needs must be satisfied in the next step, and which ones are the deeper desires not yet connected to a specific career that you can continue to explore regardless of your next job.
- Pursue the Job Search: Pick a clear, articulated goal for your job search based on your conditions of satisfaction, something that other people can understand easily in sentence or two. You may have been confusing people with your own unanswered questions, so now ensure you’re “on message”.
In Mary Ellen’s case, she found a career coach who specialized in transition, joined a course on exploration and found several books that spoke to her issues in particular.
The new perspectives she gleaned have helped her to relax. Now she sees a future for herself in the arts – undefined, but very exciting. Her transition step is to use her PR and marketing skills to get a job in this field, learning more as she deepens her exploration. The biggest gain is the feeling of being on track – that even without the “Answer” she can move forward confidently in her job search.
Karen Schaffer is a career coach and author of "The Complete Book of Resumes" and"The Job of Your Life". If career exploration interests you, you can check her TeleSeminar "The Secrets of Successful Career Exploration" at www.lighttravels.com Karen blogs regularly on Career Exploration, Job Searching and other topics at www.karenschaffer.com
