THE CAREER SEARCH REDEFINED

CAREER SEARCH CRASH:

REDEFINED & REFINED

What if you decided to just take a job, sign on for an internship, travel abroad, or volunteer at a great non profit somewhere…. just for now?

I say… open up the tight, preconceived career box, take the lid off, and shake it around a bit so you can see what else might be in there.

These side-steps off your preconceived career track have morphed into critical stepping stones toward independence, personal growth, and just getting yourself out into the world. These “for now” jobs are simply dots beginning to line up along your loosely defined future path. These detours have become very common for struggling, post-college graduates. In fact, this phase of exploration and experimentation has become a normal, acceptable, and valued piece of the young adult career journey.

What I think is important is to acknowledge and learn to celebrate these diversions. It's the unexpected surprise we gain from these awkward detours that makes the uncertainty all the more worthwhile. We never know how the dots will connect looking forward, we can only connect the dots when we turn around and look back.

So we need to trust our gut

Trust our intuition

And follow our own passion...

Especially when the logical and sequential career job doesn’t seem to be falling into place.

So deep breath… relax…. and enjoy the ride. The best kept secrets and most rewarding surprises are always found while bumping up against the edges, and far off the well-worn path.

Time to explore the twenty-something career track a little more freely… knowing that all those key attributes for job happiness and success that you identified your senior year in college, may not be neatly packaged and waiting for you at your first entry level job.

Here are a few insights that may help guide you in this career adventure:

1) Take a job or internship where you will have a great boss. To have a mentor to shepherd you through the learning process, and to have someone who will eagerly teach you the ropes will prove to be a great advantage. This relationship will be of huge value, and will serve as a big confidence boost for a young adult just getting started on their career. If you can find someone like this, then you have found a great learning opportunity. Go for it!

2) Choose a job that has a notable brand-name and a strong reputation. Use your job experience here to boost your resume. To be affiliated or directly connected to corporate culture or a business that has universal recognition and appeal (Fortune 500 companies, a well-known non profit, universities, prestigious professional services, etc.) is likely to positively impact your future. The networking connections made here can open doors elsewhere.

3) Follow your passion. Do something you love to do. If you are happy doing something you love to do, the quality of the work you do will be reflected in your efforts. This will begin to make a great name for yourself. Your work ethic will be strong. Your motivation and engagement in the work itself will be high, and you will be happy because you are connected with work that you really care about. Passion is key for sustained happiness.

And of course, if you can find a job that includes all three of these three elements—lucky you -- Go For It!

BOXED IN? BUST OUT of the Conventional Job Search

In today's job search you need to shed the stiff expectations, the obvious search methods, and the conventional choices that lead to frustration, rather than reward. Work to discover and access your own unique skill set, your passion, and differentiate yourself from the millions of other recent college graduates on the job market hunt.

You need a change up!

Quit chasing titles, status, the big money-- as too often the external world and outward marketing ploys tend to focus our thinking and options on the material gain -- Quit chasing the text book job! Bust Out of the Boxed In cubicle chaos.

Something inside of us let's us know when we are not at our best.

Pay Attention!
Listen!

Or
You will lose your way!
You will lose your principles!
You will lose your genuine drive and passion!

Take some time to...
Be quiet
Reflect
Dream

Get Creative
Scheme
Get Busy
Take Action

What can you begin today that is a ....
A smart idea?
Innovative?
A new development?
A new solution to an old problem?
A quality investment of time, creativity, and your own resources?

Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind advocates that right brainers are now primed to rule this next business and career decade .... as we move from the Information-Technology Age, to what he has termed the Conceptual Age...  Pink feels that the keys to success in this next decade will rely on two broad skill sets:  Design and Empathy.  Adding aesthetic, creativity, color, and immagination to the automated, sterile, big box products coming out of the Tech era is going to be a skill set that is valued and lucrative in the next career market.  As well, possessing the emotional EQ to demonstrate empathy, tolerance, understanding and acceptance are going to be essential, required "people skills" as we work to build a more interactive global community.

Pink gives credence to the value that six sensibilities will bring to the future workplace: design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning.  He believes these traits will be necessary to keep people passionate, motivated, innovative, and productive in this next generation. 

(For a faster read, try Pink's adult comic book:  The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You Will Ever Need.  He highlights the "6 Career Secrets No One Ever Told You."

With these ideas in mind, how can you radically change the direction in your job search today?

Remember you choose where you go from here. You can change direction, change your strategy, change your own location, change your focus any time you want.  And you can do this as many times as you want!

What is meaningful to you right now? 

What can make a positive difference in this world?

Are you a business guy? Start a company.  Become an entrepreneur.

An educator? Find a job or internship in a high-need neighborhood.  Volunteer at your public library, Boys or Girls Club, local elementary school.

Do you think like an engineer? Jump into the Green Revolution.  Design, retrofit, invent, train environmentally-sound operations and people.

Trained in health care or nursing? Care for our aging population.  Tap their energy, their wisdom, their creative reservoirs-- make their final life chapter one worth celebrating. Outward Bound for Seniors!

Do small things. 

Do big things. 

Find somebody or something to be successful for.... 

Ahh! Now that's the way to put personal passion and your unique skill set to work in the world!