When you were a child, you were probably asked this question often: What do you want to be when you grow up? As you got older, you were expected to know the answer. But with the number of career changes in the average job seeker’s life, you might wonder again: What does the future hold for me?
In one study conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, younger baby boomers held an average of 11.7 jobs from ages 18 to 48. During this same time, they experienced an average of 5.6 periods of unemployment. With re-employment, some job seekers made minor or major career changes. A construction worker may decide to start his own home-remodeling business. A newspaper reporter may become a TV news anchor. A physician may quit and become a comedian. Or a scientist may pivot to his dream job in carpentry.
Having “career clarity” about where you are heading will:
Help you identify the types of jobs you want to pursue
Give you insights into the specific skills and qualifications you need to be a great candidate for the role
Help you identify who is hiring for the positions you seek
When you’re ready to apply for a position (or contact an organization for a career research conversation to uncover a soon-to-be unadvertised opportunity), it’s time to bring in a Life Working® professional resume writer. We’ll inquire about your future career direction and request job postings that reflect your ideal job. We view your resume as a marketing brochure that positions you as the best candidate for the roles you are targeting. To be effective, we need to know what employers are “buying” to know how to “sell” your experiences and accomplishments.
Forget About Where You’ve Been, Focus on Where You’re Going
Your resume and LinkedIn profile are not a “career obituary” of where you’ve been — they should be forward-looking marketing documents that showcase your successes, impact, results, skills, education, and experience in the context of where you are headed — with a strong emphasis on the value you can deliver to your prospective employer.
An experienced professional resume writer will take a diverse work history — for example, a 30-something who has worked in television news, as editor of a sports magazine, has experience in public relations at a small, local university, and who worked in an ad agency — and create a cohesive, compelling career story showcasing his achievements and qualifications as a press officer for an international sports team.
It’s finding the thread to weave together an eclectic work history — or finding a pattern in your previous positions within the same field — that will help set you — and your career documents — apart. Helping a prospective employer understand who you are — and, more important, what you can do for them — is the key. So, deciding what you want to be “when you grow up” or even “next” is critical.
How often have you been talking to a colleague about their job search, and they say, “I’m not picky. I want a job that pays more.” It’s not about being picky — or not being picky — it’s about being focused.
If you know what you want in a career, it is much easier to find. With clarity about the jobs you’re seeking, you can tailor your resume and cover letter to showcase why you are the ideal candidate for the position — cutting through the clutter of hundreds of other applicants.
How can you achieve a crystal-clear job target? We offer career exploration coaching in the Life Working® Career Assessment Center. We will partner with you and help you work through the process.
Getting Professional Help
We will help you assess your interests, skills, and values, investigate career options, and define a career path. You’re guided through the career exploration process using various tools and methods. There are six key areas to consider: your skills, personality, interests, values, aptitudes, and strengths.
Career Assessments - Find Out Who You Really Are
Assessment testing is the first step in discovering the real you. We provide a wide range of customized career assessments and exercises. These tools are your window into your true style, natural abilities, interests, skills, values, and personal motivators.
Here’s an assortment of some of our interactive tests and exercises:
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI): Deepens self-awareness by understanding blind spots, work style preferences, and ideal work environments. By helping people better understand themselves, Myers and Briggs believed that career seekers could select occupations best suited to their personality types and lead healthier and happier lives.
Strong Interest Inventory® (SII): Matches your interests with potential educational, career, and leisure activities, using your individual preferences to help discover what you’d most enjoy doing with your work and free time.
Highlands Ability Battery™ (HAB): Measures your innate abilities, problem-solving approaches, and interpersonal communications styles. It’s the most effective career aptitude test available, and you can use this knowledge to make more effective career decisions. Because the HAB provides insight into how you reason and approach problem-solving, the test-taking experience has been known to spark self-awareness.
SkillScan: Helps you gain the personal clarity to make informed and intentional career decisions. Find out what you are good at, enjoy doing, and explore jobs and careers where you can use your best skills.
This skills assessment is helpful at any stage of your career, like when you:launch your career
return to work
manage your career
VIA Character Strengths Survey: Highlights character strengths that may improve work performance and well-being. It’s a psychometrically validated personality test that measures the character strengths of an individual's upbeat personality.
Wisdom and Knowledge: Creativity, Curiosity, Open-mindedness, Love of Learning, Perspective, Innovation
Courage: Bravery, Persistence, Integrity, Vitality, Zest
Humanity: Love, Kindness, Social Intelligence
Justice: Citizenship, Fairness, Leadership
Temperance: Forgiveness and Mercy, Humility, Prudence, Self-control
Transcendence: Appreciation of Beauty, Gratitude, Hope, Humor, Spirituality
Values assessments: Provides a shorthand for describing your motivations. What does creating an inventory of your values have to do with career exploration? This list of value priorities or essentials can help determine a career path that will align with what is truly important to you.
Once you finish the assessment tests, you will be able to clearly articulate how your successes and qualities align with your prospective employer’s mission and describe how your strengths and talents make you the best candidate. Communicating how you add unique value gives you a leg up on the competition. It puts you on your way to finding meaningful and fulfilling work and deeper career satisfaction.
“Understanding your professional values – and how they will fit into an organization’s culture – makes you more marketable from the standpoint of hiring managers,” says Life Working® Founder and Certified Career Coach Wilma Nachsin. "The career assessment process informs how you present yourself during an interview. It will help you clearly define what makes you the best candidate for the position you are seeking."
What’s Next?
Here are the next steps in implementing an effective job search and getting hired:
Connecting the dots between your transferable skills, personality type, interests, and values and clarifying the positions you will be targeting.
Preparing your resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile.
Developing your professional brand and list of target organizations.
Leveraging strategies and resources to put your job search into action.
Honing your interview and salary negotiation skills.
If you need more help or advice, check out Life Working® career coaching services, resumes & writing services, and schedule your free consultation.