Looking for a job or starting a career?

Here’s a question to ponder… are you looking for a job or are you starting/enhancing a career? Maybe you don’t know. Maybe it’s too early in the game to be sure. Or maybe you don’t have enough exposure to the options that are out there to decide.  Perhaps you are not ready to even think about this question.

But it is a good question. One of the things I really enjoy about NLP (neuro linguistic programming) is that it helps to create more options for people. Options are often uncovered as the result of really thinking through tough or sometimes unthinkable questions. So in a moment I’ll throw a couple more your way.

Maybe I’m just an older guy (older than some that work at jobing.com, that’s for sure…) who has a penchant for stirring things up a bit. Or maybe some of my thinking comes from trying out lots of different things, looking back, recognizing the common thread and using that to define what I want in my career. Either way, I see a lot of people who seem to be ill-suited for what they do 50 hours+ weekly at their jobs.

And the stress of not liking what you do catches up. Not right away, but it does catch up.

There are lots of great assessments you can take to get an idea of what you would or would not be suited for and many companies today will test you as part of the application process. I am going to suggest you test yourself. Go deep inside and give the following two questions some consideration. The answers may surprise you.

Question one: If you absolutely knew you would not fail; what would you do for a living? Ok, now let’s eliminate movie star, TV personality – unless those are serious career choices and you’ve done (or are doing) the requisite training. Really ponder this one – if you absolutely knew you would not fail… Try to think in general terms to give yourself some room. Write down your thoughts. Put the list down for a couple days then go back to it. Do you still get a good, warm, excited feeing when you close your eyes and think about being in this type of position? If so great. If not – revisit the exercise.

Does the list move you towards an exciting goal – or, does it move you away from something you want to avoid? Ideally, you want to be moving toward something exciting and fulfilling. When you are motivated by away-from values you may have a tendency to change jobs lots of times in the future because you don’t have anything really pulling you forward.

So, if the list feels like it is moving you away from something; avoiding numbers, avoiding selling, avoiding working with lots of different people, etc., you may want to rewrite the list to identify what you want. In the example above it may be more accurate that you want to deal with abstract ideas and images, prefer to work with clients who are already sold on your company’s services (service orientation), and want to work in a place that has long-term employees who get along well and know each other. Get the idea?

Question two: (This is the one that occasionally causes smoke to come out of my client’s ears!) If what you are doing now is not leading you toward your goal – why are you doing it? Ouch, that hurts… Really, if your current activity is not moving you toward what you want you must either be spending your time moving away from your dreams or, at best, you are stagnant. Neither of these options is a power play for you in a marketplace that is already very competitive. You cannot honestly answer the second question until you get a clear answer on the first.

When you define, even in general terms, what you want in a career, you can then determine if where you are now – or where you go next – is moving you in the general direction of your goals. Take the time to think this through. Many years ago Zig Ziglar, an icon of motivation and sales training said it is better to be a “meaningful specific than a wandering generality.”

Get some specificity in what you want in your career. You are going to spend most of your waking time working in it. And, with some good thinking, planning, and a little luck; you may end up like some of the posters who, most likely, love what they/we do. When you get that; then it isn’t work… it isn’t a job… it isn’t even a career. It’s a calling!