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If you’re in a job search or if you’re thinking about one, you’ve probably thought at one time or another, “I’d like to make a change, but I’m not sure what I want to do…”
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Now if you know your passion, your life’s work, and you’ve known since you were 7 years old, well, probably this is not the post for you. But, if you are like most of us, you can probably relate to “I don’t know what I want to do!”
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Clients and prospective clients start with this statement all the time.
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And it’s understandable. For younger adults, you may have never connected with that “one thing” you’re interested in doing in your career.
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For more experienced professionals, you may know you’re not terribly happy where you are, but you lack the fire in your belly about what you would like to do next.
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The problem: You’re asking the wrong question.
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Typically people say they don’t know what they want to do. It’s because they are thinking of a specific title, doing a specific job, in a specific organization, in a specific way.
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But asking, “What do I want to do?” maybe the wrong question when your direction isn’t clear.
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That question is too broad, too deep, and fundamentally – overwhelming. That’s when many people then are stuck. And stop. And stay in a place they don’t want to be, or take the first thing they can get on a job board, and end up hating it.
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So to start, we’ll get more basic.
The easiest questions to answer in job and career exploration are the ones that are about you.
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Even if you think you don’t know yourself very well, with a little research, you can change that. At the very least you can get started, and discover more as you go.
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And that’s the easiest research to do. So to get started, let’s go there.
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In service of growing that self-awareness, here is the one great question to start with to jump-start your job search.
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Instead of, “What do I want to do? “ start with:
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What Are My Strengths?
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Sometimes I think we get so caught up in the “job search” that we forget the question that is foundational to any great career: What I am innately good at and how am I going to use that in the world?
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Research shows when you build upon these strengths, you can reach your highest potential and level of satisfaction in your work. You’ll also be happier in what you do, and far less tired!
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When your strengths and your work are not aligned, you need to spend energy to close the gap. If you’ve ever had a job you really hated, I’ll bet one of the big reasons is that the work didn’t align with your strengths.
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Let’s look at two ways you can get to the root of your innate strengths.
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#1: Complete a strengths assessment.
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I have all my clients do this as our starting point in job search, or job coaching. There are a number of strengths assessment tools out there.
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The tool I use for assessments with clients is StrengthsFinder 2.0, from the Gallup organization.
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What I like about StrengthsFinder is that it identifies your core talents in 5 simple words, and they’re
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All.
About.
You.
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If you want to take your own StrengthsFinder assessment, you can take the online assessment here for a nominal fee.
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Or, you can buy/download the book on Amazon here. [affiliate link]
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What is a strength?
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Technically Gallup defines this way:
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A strength is the ability to consistently provide near-perfect performance in a specific activity. The key to building a strength is to identify your dominant talents, then complement them by acquiring knowledge and skills pertinent to the activity.
Source: http://strengths.gallup.com/help/general/125540/strength.aspx
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So your strengths are the raw materials that, with practice and information, become your super powers in your career – and in your life.
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Virtually every client I’ve worked with has been amazed at how realistically their “top 5” strengths describe them.
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Once you have your strengths, dig into the descriptions, and ask yourself:
- When have I seen this strength in action?
- What was that experience like?
- How did I feel when I was doing that activity or work?
- What does this mean about the work I want to do next?
- How can I make sure I leverage these strengths in my next career move?
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I had a client who was very strong in people skills, empathy, relate-ability. StrengthsFinder calls her dominant strength “Woo,” short for “winning others over.”
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However, she was in a job where she was devoid of a team environment, was doing rote analytical work day after day, without the ability to interact with people. She hated schlepping herself to work each day.
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For her, it was important to start looking at career opportunities that involved a more people-facing role, where she could engage with and influence others in a collaborative, relationship-oriented environment.
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What a difference it made in her life when she was able to work in a customer facing job where her ability to build and manage relationships was a key to her success. Not only was she a lot happier, she was much more successful at what she was doing!
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Focusing on and working in your strengths will be a transformative career experience. Start with this assessment and see what you find out.
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If you do the StrengthsFinder or any other assessment, send me your top 5 [lea@leamcleod.com]. I love hearing about what people’s strong points are!
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#2 Use the Reflected Best Self Exercise
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This exercise can be a great tool for getting insight from others that you might not see yourself.
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The basic process is this: You identify a dozen or so people who you would like to give you feedback about your strengths. You ask each of them to identify a particular strength they see in you, and, to provide some detail about how they have seen this strength manifest in you.
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These responses don’t have to be exclusively work-related, they can be about any strength you have in work or in non work-related situations.
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Once you’ve gotten the feedback, you can start seeing the patterns and themes that emerge, you can summarize the observations about where you are strong.
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Some conclusions might be obvious to you. Others, however, might be strengths you’ve overlooked. I love this exercise because so often others see gems in us that we simply do not see in ourselves.
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When I did this exercise a few years back, I received a lot of feedback that talked about how articulate I was, how I was able to convey complex ideas in simple terms, and that I had a leadership and visionary presence. If you had asked me to list my strengths, I probably would not have included any of those on the list.
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Doing the exercise gave me permission to start owning what the bigger parts of my talent that I didn’t often see myself. It was one of the best things I’ve ever done.
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So see what comes up for you, that others share. It’s a great reminder that whether job search or career, you can’t really do it all by yourself. Let others help you form the vision of how you show up in the world.
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The Reflected Best Self Exercise is copyrighted work from the Regents of the University of Michigan. You can purchase the entire exercise and get your results for a nominal cost by going to the website, here.
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If you are stuck in your career or job search with the mindset of “not knowing” what you want to do, or if you are feeling the pull of burnout and stress, ask, “Hey, what is it that I am innately strong at?” And based on that, start exploring the type of work you would be well matched for. Then see what happens.
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