If you're feeling restless in your career and wondering what else is out there for you, it may be time to start exploring options. One of the first items we tackle in our Career Reinvent™ Boot Camps involves defining what "reinvent" means to the participants. It turns out there are a wide variety of flavors for this term, and it's possible to be interested in multiple flavors at the same time—a kind of reinvent ice-cream sundae!
Whether you’re looking for a job, asking for a promotion, or focused on reinventing your career, you need to be able to articulate and showcase your Professional Value Proposition (PVP). The same goes for situations where you are asking for more, including angling for a promotion or seeking a raise. It turns out, uncovering and articulating your PVP is a challenging exercise. Here are ideas to help:
It happens to just about everyone during their careers. Those who say it doesn’t are fooling themselves. The “it” I’m referencing is a period of doubt about where they are and what they are doing in their careers. It's a period of self-questioning that can lead to change or just more of the same. If change is the answer, you have to rewrite the story you've been telling yourself about you.
Every year I read Peter Drucker's classic article, "Managing Oneself," as part of my personal-professional career navigation process. His powerful questions and frank commentary on what we need to do in our careers helps me reorient and reset on my priorities and activities. I've added five questions of my own that are relevant in our emerging world.
Reinventing yourself in your career is hard work and best done with a guide. If you want to get started on your career makeover, here’s an exceptional limited time offer for a few individuals.
A good number of people I encounter, talk about doing something different in their careers. For those individuals who cultivate the courage to pursue career reinvention, there are stark differences in the thinking and behaviors between those who succeed and those who don't. Here are my observations based on several years working with dozens of aspiring career reinventors.
Finding a new job and finding a new career are two very different activities. For the former, it often pays to be opportunistic. However, for career reinventors, waiting or hoping for someone else to show up with your idea for your next professional move is mostly an exercise in futility. Career reinvention is a full contact, immersive, and deliberate activity.
The biggest challenge faced by many individuals who desperately believe they need to do something different with their careers is moving from recognition to action. Here are some ideas to help you start moving.
For some individuals navigating the mid-career blahs involves taking on added job responsibilities or even changing positions within their firms. Others seek out new experiences by shifting firms or possibly taking on like-kind roles in new industries.While there’s work involved in all of those cases, the degree of difficulty is relatively low for job changers compared to the challenges faced by those I reference as career reinventors. For this latter group, the process of determining what to do is the first big challenge.
The decision to embark on a career reinvention process is non-trivial. If you do, prepare yourself for a process that includes ample learning and regular iteration between the stages. Much like running a marathon, your commitment to sustaining the process determines your outcome.
