The Career Report

 
  Volume 1 - Issue 15 - March, 2008

 

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Am I Having a Bad Day, or is It Time to Go?
It’s Time for a Career Assessment

 
As I write this article, thoughts of work drift to coming days of warmth and sunshine, and I’m eternally hopeful that spring is around the corner.  I look forward to the changes each season brings.  It got me thinking about the transformations our careers take over the years, and I realized that we all yearn for that change sometimes.  It may be just a passing thought. Sometimes the thought won’t go away.  So how do you know when it’s time for change?
 

There’s no magic bullet, but there are a series of questions you can ask yourself to help determine if next steps are necessary.  After all, you know yourself better than anyone else.  Consider the following:

  • Am I making a difference?
  • Is the difference I’m making actually the difference I want to make?
  • Do I really know what I want to achieve? 
  • When was the last time I wrote down my goals?
  • Am I adequately being rewarded for my efforts?
  • Do my future opportunities for growth seem limited or does my current employer still offer opportunities for me? 
  • Have I learned something new in the last six months that contributes to the growth of my career?

And one more: Is this just a reaction to a bad day?  We all have them.  Your decision to leave shouldn’t be an escape, but a concerted effort to advance in your career.

 
Next, assess your career history and your current employment.  List your accomplishments.  What do you enjoy doing?  What don’t you enjoy?  What are your strengths?  How do you play to those strengths and shore up your weaknesses?
 

With that done, it’s time to do some future planning.  We all talk about 3-, 5- and 10-year career plans, but how many of us have truly mapped that out?  It’s not an easy exercise, but it is a crucial step in moving forward.  Mapping your goals doesn’t mean you have to stick to the plan if better opportunities present themselves later on, but it does give you a framework for your decision-making.

 
Congratulations!  You’ve just completed one of the most difficult analyses you can do.  It’s personal.  It’s difficult.  It’s exciting.  Now that you have a template for this assessment, keep it handy and repeat this exercise at least annually throughout your career.  The result will be a thoughtful, deliberate plan—a plan you have some control over.   Now isn’t that better than having someone else determine your career?
 
 
It’s Time to Go
10 Next Steps
 
We discussed the career assessment and took you through the analysis steps.  You’ve determined it’s time to go, so what do you do next?   Before you jump into a job search, there are things to do.  To help you prepare, here are some tactical steps to consider:
  1. Document your accomplishments.  Think about your most complex projects over the past several years and make note of your skills and accomplishments.  You will use these as examples for your resume, but it’s also an excellent exercise prior to each interview.
  2. Update your resume.  List full contact information on your resume—especially a cell phone number.  Save the resume in Word format as “Your Name.doc” so the recipient can find it easily.
  3. Organize your e-mail.
    • Set up a personal e-mail account.  Save your fun e-mail addresses for another time.  It’s hard to take you seriously with an e-mail address like partyanimal@abc.com.  If you don’t have one already, compose an e-mail signature with your full contact information, including your e-mail address.
    • Do not use your work e-mail since correspondence can be saved on your employer’s servers.
  4. Record a professional and upbeat home and cell phone voice message.  If you have doubts whether or not your family will relay important messages, subscribe to the phone company’s voice mail.  In addition, you’ll be assured that the potential employer won’t hear a busy signal or be bothered with call waiting.
  5. Stockpile your vacation days.  You’ll need them for interviewing.
  6. Update your references and verify their willingness to continue as a reference. Get their permission, request current contact information (including e-mail), and most importantly—know what they’re going to say about you.
  7. Put together a list of network contacts—people from the gym, associations you belong to, church, volunteer organizations, friends—and let them know you’ll be conducting a job search.  If it’s a confidential search, proceed with caution, but utilize your network contacts as much as possible.
  8. Track your job search.  You’ll need a logical system that tracks who you’re going to contact, the date they were contacted, their phone number and e-mail address, position discussed, result of the conversation, date resume was sent, and a follow-up date.  Whatever information they request or you say you’ll provide, do it in a prompt fashion.
  9. Contact your recruiter.  If you’re not using a recruiter, ask those you trust to refer you to a recruiter in your specialty.
  10. Brush up on current interview techniques, such as behavioral interviewing.  It’s an extensive subject, and too much to cover here. There are sources to prepare you for these types of interviews, so be sure to spend some time covering this topic.
  11. Be prepared to answer the question, “Tell me about yourself.”  We call it a 30-second commercial.  The interviewer is looking for a summary of your career and what you’re doing now.  No personal information.  Rehearse it until you can say it smoothly and with confidence.
  12. Check out your electronic footprint. Google yourself—know what’s written about you in cyberspace.  Update your LinkedIn and ZoomInfo profiles, as well as any social networking profiles (like MySpace).
  13. Understand that looking for a job can be stressful.  Prepare your family for the upcoming search.  You’ll also want to give thought regarding how to continue providing quality service to your current employer while conducting a thorough job search.  It won’t be easy, but it’s definitely do-able.
Don’t skip these steps!  Job search preparation will be key in yielding the results you want.  I hope I’ve given you a good start.  Utilize the vast resources available to job seekers.  And remember, use the knowledge you’ve gained to get you where you want to be.

BioScience | Informatics | Information Technology

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