Figuring Out What To Do Next

We all come to that point in our careers where we get asked “What do you want to do next?”

I have to answer this right now as I’m going through a career pivot and truly have to decide what I want to do next. I have to decide so I can apply to the right jobs, at the right places and hopefully, secure a job I’ll be happy with. It sounds exciting to think about but it can be daunting. There are just so many things we as people can do! After a couple of weeks of being a little bit stagnant, it was time to just sit down think about it and write it down.

I love writing notes but I like making tables/charts more. So to figure out what to do next - I made a chart. Two columns “Things I love doing” “Things I hate doing”. I started with the ‘hate doing’ first because psychology tells us the brain reacts more to negatives than positives so naturally, those were WAY easier to come up with. The shortcut then is to write down the opposite of all the hates but that’s not really LOVE. That’s more like “Things I don’t hate doing.”

To figure out what I loved to do, I thought about the times I’ve been super excited to get out of bed for work, felt energized at work, felt hyper-ish and happy just recalling a moment. I then broke those moments out - what the moment, was anyone else involved, what was my role in the moment and what other moments felt that way. By doing this, I could narrow down if it’s replicable or not. Some moments, it was a particular person I worked with. I might never work with that person again but I can seek positions that work with someone that has skillsets that are similar to the person I loved worked with.

Once I figured out my “loves” I started looking for jobs where some of the responsibilities and/scope aligned with the position. I got a whole bunch of different titles - “Strategist” “Chief of Staff” ‘Business Operations Director” “Change Management Director” etc etc. I saved bullet points to make my own job req with most of my loves. The next step is to find a company I really like (we’ll talk about how you figure this out) and see if they have a position that lines up with my “loves”. I’ve found a couple that I feel really good about but I wouldn’t be able to be this narrow without sitting down and writing it out.

So on your next commute, or on a 15 minute break or literally any other time you have 10 minutes, try this exercise out! It’s a love/hate situation :)

Recognition & Recall

Recognition:

• 1: the action of recognizing : the state of being recognized:

• 2: special notice or attention

source: Merriam Webster

Listen up folks! Whether you’re a manager or an individual contributor, recognition is KEY. It is key for you to recognize others and it is key for you to recognize yourself. Someone do something helpful for you? Send them a thank you and be specific about what they did and how it helped. Your boss has been really awesome lately? Let them know about it. (Yes, you should recognize people above you). Recognition matters because it’s a motivator, a validator and helpful for job hunting.

I started doing a little “self recognition” early on in my career. If anyone sent me a thank you note or a kudos on something, I saved it in a folder. I put this under “self recognition” because on bad days- I reread them for a confidence booster. On days like today, when I’m updating and redoing my resume, this folder is an AWESOME recall tool. Let’s break it down.

There is no way after working for multi years you remember your accomplishments. There’s also no way you’re constantly updating your resume (but you should). Okay so now you have to update your resume but you have no idea what to put. This is where the recognition helps with recall.

As I mentioned before, I used to save every note, kudos and the documents related to those. When I left a job, I forwarded those emails to myself and when I could, saved the documents. I saved the documents FOR MY OWN USE and NOT for distribution. )This is important because in some cases that’s illegal and well, don’t do illegal stuff.)

Today, that folder became super helpful. I needed to redo my resume ASAP after a conversation with a career coach. She was asking me if I had any examples of certain things and I couldn’t think of them off the top of my head but I just knew I had at one point. I rushed home and low and behold, my recognition folder came in clutch with the recall!

You might be reading this like - oh shoot I’ve never done this or thought about it. Well, you can get started today and here’s how

• Search your inbox for “great job” “thank you” or “award” - anything recognition related

• FORWARD THOSE EMAILS TO YOUR PERSONAL ACCOUNT (if you don’t have a personal email, dude, get one)

• Set up an archive folder and put all of those emails in that folder so it’s easy to find in the future!

• Find any related documents you created that you got the recognition for. Save those! You’'ll want to use these to recall your actual contribution

• Send out a recognition to 3 people today

  • That’s right, this is a pay it forward blog and strategy so get those recognitions out

You’re going to thank yourself one day when you’re 1 down on yourself 2 need some examples of what you’ve actually done with your career. Recognition & recall is so important for the day to day and the future. So get started TODAY!

Building Your Employee (Personal) Brand

Knowing who you are as an employee is important. Other people knowing who you are as an employee is EXTREMELY important. I worked for an amazing Marketing Manager early on in my career (shoutout to you Monique Hayward)! Monique taught me a valuable lesson - everything is a marketing problem. Everything including you. If you’re a great employee and no one knows about it, what gives? If you have unique skills for that project that’s posted but no one knows your skills? Well, chances are you’re definitely not going to be thought of for that project. So you’ve got to build your employee (or personal) brand early. Your brand is the culmination of your actions and your behaviors. It’s being what you say you’re about. It’s not good enough to state it, but you’ve got to back it up with action. Here’s how to go about defining your employee brand.

• Write down 3 words/phrase you would use to describe yourself in the workplace. For me it’s these: Problem Solver, Collaborator & Action Oriented. Three because that’s enough to remember and rattle off in an interview with examples quickly.

• Go and ask 5-10 people that work with you the closest either in the present or past to identify 3 words they’d use to describe you and why each one of those words.

• Check the alignment between your words and their words! Are they aligned? Are they way off? If they’re aligned, great! You’ve been backing up your words with actions. Not aligned? You have a choice.

  • Adopt the new words you’ve heard - this is the audience reflecting to you your brand

  • Adopt new behaviors to align with how you want to be described

• Seek opportunities in your day to day to continually represent your personal brand. If you’re an ideator- next time there’s an chance to pitch an idea, pitch an idea! Are you know for attention to detail? Make sure the next project or update you give is detailed and doesn’t miss a step.

Your brand is your most important asset because it represents you in the rooms you aren’t in. Your number one goal should be for folks to talk about you in a room you’re not in, the same way you’d talk about yourself in the room if you were in there. A brand is consistent - and consistency if your behaviors are key. Eventually over time you’ll move beyond just 3 words and you’ll have an elevator pitch. But for now, start with 3 descriptors.

Take the tip & leave a tip: what’s your personal brand?