There was a time when we chose careers and professions for a lifetime. Much was made of the importance of choosing wisely, for the choice would dictate how we would live our work lives. Articles were written to help those suffering from the malady labeled “career indecision”. Instruments were developed to match us to the “right career”. The decision once made felt irreversible.
But what if we were wrong or what used to work no longer works?

Fortunately today’s environment is more conducive to making career decisions throughout our lives. That’s the good news. With the good news comes the challenge of figuring out – not just once, but multiple times, what we really, really want to be when “we grow up.” (Keep reading this blog on gibsonworks.com for tips on choosing your work.)

Many of us are redesigning our career into multiple ways of working. We do not have to decide between teaching or writing… or practicing law or working in the medical field…or playing the violin or helping others plan their future. We really can have our cake and eat it too.

I am posting a link to a very useful article that was written by Eileen P. Gunn and originally published in the Wall Street Journal on December 18, 2006. In the article Ms. Gunn offers 15 questions to help clarify your career expectations. By answering these questions you will have a good handle on what you want from your career and what you might do to make sure your work is working for you.

Take a look URL for this article which appears in today’s Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/C61218GUNN.html

The usual starting place for looking for new work is taking an inventory of your skills and interests and seeing how they “match” the job market (i.e. defined occupations). A better place to start is by casting your glance inward…closely examining what you can do, like to do and what and what captures your attention. Finding new work does not and indeed may not be a matching game.

The idea of matching ourselves to an occupation is an approach that has its roots in the 1909 work of Frank Parsons–trait and factor theory, a rational decision-making approach to the process of choosing a career. Parsons was a no-nonsense guy who said that choosing a “vocation” (which is what work was called in the early 1900’s) was simply a matter of understanding yourself, understanding the requirements of the workplace, and employing “true reasoning” in connecting the two. Advice that has withstood the passage of time but could use a bit of updating to make it useful to you today.

Figuring out what you want to do “for a living” is very different from looking for a job that matches your skills and interests. Fortunately today’s work world gives you much more flexibility in designing what, where and how you want to show up for work. So, before you step out into the “job market” spend sometime with yourself…or you may miss the opportunity to discover the work you must do.

You know the feeling.

You never felt quite at home when you worked for “Company X”. It wasn’t the work-per se but something about the environment that didn’t feel right.

Maybe you were working for a company that did not work for you!

The usual job-hunting process begins by taking inventory of your skills and determining how closely they match the skills that the company wants. Not a bad place to begin, but definitely not a place to end. You need to take a closer look at the company to discern how well it fits with your values and style. For example, if working as part of a collaborative team is important to you, you will feel out of place in a company that does not recognize and reward teamwork.

It just will not feel right there.
You do not want to be one of those people described on your way out, “He/she just was not a good fit,” do you?
So, when you are interviewing at a company take time to get a feel for the place. Talk to people other than the hiring manager and recruiter. Hear what others have to say about working for the company. Dig deeper to figure out the company’s culture and if it is a culture that works for you.

Just as you should avoid the temptation to begin your job search by dusting off your resume,–you should also pause to consider what you want from work. You may have become so busy with your career that you have forgotten to ask yourself this important question. Or maybe you have become so accustomed to working in a job that you do not like that you now believe that you really cannot expect find happiness from your work.

This assignment does not have to take a weekend, nor does it have to be an addition to an already full “to do list”. Have fun with it! For example, in the next meeting you attend where you can doodle or Blackberry or whatever you do when you are sitting in a meeting and bored out of your mind. You know what I am talking about. Hey, the meeting is a drag, so why not do something that is far more interesting and just might be the beginning…of more interesting work.

Your coworkers will think you are a diligent note taker as you make a list of those things that you like about the work you do and where you are doing it. They do not need to know that you are also making a list of those things that you do not like about the work you do and where you are doing it…and creating a third list of those things that you really, really wish were part of your work.

Get started today.

Once we realize that we do not want to do the work we are doing—we think that the first step in doing something different is to update our resumes. We have been taught that we cannot look for a job without having a current resume. Why? Because that is what potential employers will want to see.

Makes sense, or does it?

What if you have discovered that you no longer enjoy the work you are doing, but you are not sure what you would rather be doing. If you are not sure what the next job looks like, you will have a difficult time crafting an appropriate resume.

Our resumes report what we have done –not what we hope to do, so they are little help in envisioning our future work. Resumes are historical documents that provide potential employers a snapshot of our career histories. They do not paint a picture of our futures.

Nor are our resumes blueprints for what we enjoy doing. Our resumes are not intended to showcase our needs, dreams and values. If we are trying to figure out what is next…updating our resumes is not the best place to start.

A better place to begin is by putting aside your resume and examining yourself. What do you want? What do you enjoy? What do you want to take with you when you leave the work you are doing– and what do you want to leave behind?

“Change is never linear.” Paul Saffo forecaster and essayist
We may wish change took place – one step at a time in perfect sequence.
For if change was linear we could…
- make a plan

-manage change

-take control…and not have any surprises.

Why don’t we welcome surprises? Maybe because at first they throw us off balance – disrupting our well-thought out plans and robbing us of our perceived control of our lives.
Of course we have some control over our lives…and making plans for our futures is important. But…our plans will work better if they are flexible—allowing room for the unexpected.
So, as you continue to think about what you hope to have happen in 2008, remember to leave space for the unplanned happenings. You will be glad that you did.

Forget about making New Year resolutions … at least for a week or two.

This is the time of year when blogs are stuffed with advice for making and keeping New Year resolutions. While the beginning of a new year entices us with its blank slate of opportunities, I suggest that we avoid the temptation to craft our resolutions until we have had some time for our resolutions to take shape.

For the rest of the month, start each day with an intention—intention to do something that day. Choose something that is important to you. Make it something that will make completing it make you feel good. Put it at the top of your “to do” list today and every day for the rest of the month.

Keep track of these daily intentions for they are your markers for creating your goals for the New Year.