Denise Brosseau - Building Well-Connected Leaders
Thinking About A Transition? 10 Steps to Get You Started (part II)
Time to look for a new job in your field or perhaps a new career all together? Here are five more things you can do now that will put you on the path to success.
6. Adopt an attitude of possibility
Transitions require a change in attitude – about yourself and your possibilities. The present can be comfortable, even if the job you have today is no longer giving you what you need. Change – particularly if you’ve been doing the same thing or been in the same company for awhile - can seem daunting. An attitude of possibility means allowing yourself to believe that you will succeed in this transition. As Ben Zander, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, says in his wonderful book, the Art of Possibility, give yourself an A and then imagine what you will have to do in the next few months to earn that A. If you KNEW you were going to do an absolutely terrific job at this transition, and that you were going to land in a new role that was just what you wanted, wouldn’t that give you the energy and the excitement to move forward? Take some time to adopt that attitude of possibility and even write down the things you can do to earn that A as you progress through the steps to your better possible future.
7. Consider a complete reinvention
The best part of going through a transition is that the next role you will take is not yet defined. (I know, right now, that seems like the worst part, but stay with me here.) If you are willing to explore new fields, industries and opportunities, you could find yourself much happier and more fulfilled doing something you never expected. Wouldn't it be nice to jump out of bed every morning eager to get to work.
Your next job could be exactly the same as what you do now, but in a completely different organization – like my friend Mary, who went from a 20 year career in corporate law to serving as the general counsel for a large non-profit in her area. You could re-purpose your skill set to take a role in a completely different field, like my own transition from corporate America to running a non-profit organization and from a non-profit role to working on a political campaign full time. You could even take your expertise developed from ten years doing corporate M&A work to starting a consulting practice, as one of my clients is doing. In each case, a year before we made the transition, none of us would have been able to imagine that we would be doing something so completely different than what we’d been doing before. By staying open to new ideas, you can land in a fascinating new place that feels ‘just right’ for you.
8. Use LinkedIn to learn more about your target roles
Here are a few ways to explore new job possibilities using the advanced search features in LinkedIn. Search on keywords to bring up profiles of individuals in jobs that use the same skills you already have. For example, if your background is in product management, look at the profiles of other product managers (or former product managers). What do you have in common with these people? What other roles or jobs have they held that sound interesting to you? Do you have a connection to any of them through someone you know that might introduce you?
Take a look at the profiles of people in a similar function, role or industry as those you are exploring. What can you tell about how they positioned themselves for these roles? Again, can you connect to any of them, either by phone, email or in person? Maybe there is a former colleague or someone from your alumni organization that can introduce you.
People love to talk about themselves – even if you had 15 minutes with someone on the phone, you could ask them how they found their present role and what they do every day or what skills are necessary to be good at what they do.
Use the company search feature on LinkedIn to learn as much as you can about the people who work at any company you are targeting. If you can find someone who recently left the company, they can often be a great resource for learning more – but remember, sometimes people who have just left a company didn’t do so of their own volition and their viewpoint may be a bit skewed.
9. Craft your talking points
No matter which direction you decide to head, you are likely going to need to convince a few people along the way that you are the right person for the job. Whether you’re talking to hiring managers, board members, or potential clients, you’ll need to have a set of talking points that explain what skills and expertise you bring to the table. The way to prepare for these discussions is to review your past experiences and identify what you’ve accomplished that you are most proud of – times when you (and your team) really went above and beyond to meet a difficult deadline or close a big deal. Times when you authored an industry-leading white paper, crafted an important partnership or led a big project to success.
Once you have identified a few of these, write them up following the format Problem – Solution – Outcome (PSOs). What was the Problem/challenge/issue you (and your team) were faced with, what Solution did you come up with and what was the Outcome? These PSO’s are your talking points for interviews or discussions about your future. When someone asks how you’d face a particular challenge that might be a part of your new role – you can talk about a PSO that defines a similar challenge you’ve faced in the past and how you addressed it.
10. Hire a coach to be your accountability partner
When you’re busy doing what needs to be done to be successful in your present role, it is difficult to stay on track with finding a new one. Finding a coach to be your accountability partner will provide you the needed impetus to stay on track for your job transition goals. We specialize in job transitions for executives, and as such we have a variety of resources and expertise that can make the process go more smoothly. If you're looking for your own expert, be sure they can offer you assessment tools to help you determine where your strengths and interests lie, online expertise in building your LinkedIn profile, expertise in resume and interview preparation and knowledge of the myriad online and offline resources for job searchers. If we can be of help, contact us.
Posted by Denise Brosseau on 6th November, 2009 | Comments
Tags: LinkedIn, accountability partner, transitions, coach, Art of Possibility, interview prep There are no comments for this post Post a CommentHTML is not allowed in comments, http://... will be automatically linked.
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