April 2010

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

Do you know what you want to be when you grow up?  I hear career transition prospects say this every week.  Has there ever been a better time to figure this out?  Unemployment is 10% nationally and in our state 12%. Thousands of people have been laid off and according to The Bureau of Labor and Statistics for the foreseeable future; unemployment will continue to be about the same.  Many say this will be a “jobless” economic recovery.   And to make matters worse, recent surveys indicate that of those employed, over 55% say they are dissatisfied with their jobs and would make a change tomorrow if they could find a more rewarding career.  Thousands are under-employed: those who are just hanging in there due The Great Recession.

So have you thought that maybe it’s time to re-think what you are doing or, better said, not doing with your career?  An old Chinese proverb states “The person who does not worry about the future will shortly have worries about the present.”  I read recently that Senior Executives spend only 3% of their day thinking about the future.  That equates to about 14 minutes. If you believe, as I do, that time is your most valuable asset, consider a career change. 

Frequently, I have heard someone say “The future is now,” which is a powerful statement for sure.  Having been in the career transition and development business for over twelve years, I can attest that if your intuition is telling you to move on, it is time to move on.  Your intuition is 95% correct.  It’s your emotional intelligence combined with facts that are at work in your brain, so act on it.  You might ask, “How can I do that?  What are the steps I should take to find a more rewarding career?”  Having coached over a thousand people in the last twelve years, I can attest that it starts with making a plan and working the plan.  You might consider how you can combine your career interest with your skills to produce an income, a simplistic formula for sure, but much more difficult to orchestrate.   

We are all gifted with our own personal occupational interest.  Psychologists have identified six occupational interests that we all have in some rank order.  They are as follows:

1. Realistic - Jobs that allow to you to have hands on activities. Building and repairing, working outdoors.  People with a values system of being practical and using common sense.
   
   
2. Conventional - Very analytical, detailed, organized.  Setting up procedures and managing data. They are not risk takers and they like to work in structured work environments with accountability.
   
   
3. Artistic - Interested in the arts and often have talent in music, visual arts, communication activities where they can use their innovation skills.  Very independent and committed to their talents.
   
   
4. Enterprising - People who are interested in business, politics, managing and motivating.  They are the entrepreneurs and they enjoy status, influence and are the risk takers.
   
   
5. Investigative - These people enjoy learning, researching, writing.  They are interested in math, science, medicine to name a few.  Their values system is one of analysis, independence, and curiosity.
     
6. Social – People who care about people.  They enjoy teamwork, helping people, giving to the community or to a worthy cause.  Their value system is one of generosity, giving back and caring for others.
   

From these six descriptions can you determine in rank order where you would assess the highest?  The key to a more rewarding career most likely will be a blend of your top three occupational interests.  For me, I’m Enterprising, Social and Realistic.  A simple description of my most rewarding career would be one that allows me to use my enterprising skills.  I’m high entrepreneurial, so I’m okay with taking some calculated risks.  I enjoy being in a leadership role where I can use my verbal, motivating and directing skills.  Since my second occupational interest is Social I’m all about helping people.  I enjoy the emotional dividends I get when I help people find and land more rewarding careers.  I also enjoy giving back and doing what I can to make the world a better place.  So the perfect job for me is one that allows me to run my own business that helps people.  That is what I do and I can’t think of another occupation that would give me the blend of financial and emotional rewards that I get from my current career.  I also assessed high as a non-profit director, minister, director of an assisted care facility or hospital administrator.   When I discovered these occupational themes about 12 years ago, at age 58, I realized that most likely, reinventing myself as a career transition coach was the most feasible.  So I set out on a quest to do just that and it has been the most rewarding career decision I have ever made.  I made a plan and worked the plan.  I only wish I had discovered these interests at a much earlier stage of my career.   sometimes wonder what impact it would have made on my life.   Had it not been for the merger of my company back in 1998, thus forcing me to seek alternate employment, I might not be where I am today.

It quite often takes a tipping point to make such hard decisions.  Ask yourself, “What will my tipping point be?  Is my intuition telling me to explore the opportunities out there?  Am I entrepreneurial?  Am I at a stage in my career that making money is not the primary motivating factor?  Is it time to find and explore a better work/life balance?  Do I want to give back to the community?  What will my legacy be? Am I approaching half time in my career?  Maybe it is time to go to the locker room and strategize on my second career, my "encore career.”  In sports, half-time is a time to re-energize, decompress, re-evaluate the first half and listen to the coach.

If the thought of finding a more rewarding career appeals to you, and if you would like to explore making the plan and working the plan, feel free to contact me for a complimentary session on career transition.  We have a tried and proven process to make your career dreams come true.

“Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.“
~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

“Follow your passion, and success will follow you.”   ~ Arthur Buddhold