When I ask people what kind of a job they are looking for, they answer with things like accountant, marketing, sales, and on the list goes. What they are giving me is their title, not a kind of job. I want to know what they can do.
For example, Disney Interactive Media Group often has a position titled Development Director. When I ask people what that means, they come up with sales and marketing and fundraising and things like that. All wrong. At Disney, this is a project manager. Their job is to get the project done on time and on budget. But if you search for project manager, you will come up empty.
Change the search.
Don't search for titles, search for skills, talents, strengths, activities. If you want to work in accounting, put down what you bring to the job and the kinds of activities you are interested in doing. It really doesn't matter what the job is. It only matters what you want to do.
That means you know what you want to do. Time to do some discovery about yourself. And it doesn't matter how old you are or what you have been doing. You need to know more about yourself so you know what you should be looking for in your next job.
My favorite starting activity is from the book "You Majored in What?" In the first two chapters you will learn how to create a Wise Wanderings Map. Go to the library or the bookstore, take a pad of paper, and do the exercise. It will take you about two hours to read the first two chapters and start the exercise. When you are done, you will have a much better idea of what you should be targeting.
The next step is to buy a copy of the book "Strengths-Based Leadership." Not so you can read the book, but so you can take the profile. This means you cannot buy a used book. Somebody else will have already used the secret code and you will have wasted your money. Make sure the code at the back of the book is still sealed before you buy it.
This profile will take you about two hours to complete. Lock yourself away where you will not be interrupted. Doing the profile and getting interrupted will change things. Get someplace quiet and get it done.
Once you have these two exercises in place, you can start to target what you want to DO in a company, rather than what you want to be. If you have the DO, the be will take care of itself.
If you skip this step, you will probably not be as happy in your next job and you will not be as good as you can be. Do it right, make good decisions, and the rest will take care of itself.
