Tip of the Week – Know What You Want

If you don’t know what you want to do, how is anyone supposed to be able to help you?

There are many job seekers who are out there and really don’t know what they want to do. Or if they do know what they want to do, they don’t know how to vocalize it. Are you one of these job seekers?

• Can you clearly communicate to someone else the ways you bring value to an organization?
• Can you clearly communicate the aspects of a job that you love?
• Can you clearly communicate what your perfect job looks like?
• Can you clearly communicate what you used to do in your old job?

Don’t be suprised if you answered “no” to every question above. Most job seekers can not clearly communicate anything about what they enjoy, what they have done or what they would like to do in the future. Couple that with the fact that most people do not like to brag about themselves and you’ve got a recipe for pure confusion.

Think of it like the genie who grants you 3 wishes but does it in a way that you can not expect. If you told that genie that your wish was to “make $100K a year and live in Austin Texas”, that genie may grant you a position where you are working 80 hours a week under enormously stressful conditions. Your blood pressure goes through the roof. You’re angry all the time. You have customers/clients screaming at you constantly. You have a boss who is threatening to fire you at a moments notice. The genie gave you what you wanted. However, is your life any better? Could you have been clearer in your desires?

I challenge you to define:

• What do you do better than 95% of the people out there?
• What do you really enjoy doing?
• What kind of an environment do you want to work in?
• What is your realistic salary expectation?
• Are you willing to travel?
• Are you willing to relocate?
• Do you need any specialized benefits?

Once you have those answers, then you need to start to figure out how to tell someone else about them.

• Can you say what you do on a simplistic level and have someone understand it? Practice on a 5th grader, a server at a restaurant or your grandmother (you get the point).
• Can you dress up the story and communicate it to someone who is in the same business/industry/function as you?
• Can you dress it up more and communicate your values to a future employer?

If this task seems way too daunting for you, find a friend to practice it with. If it still seems too daunting, find a Career Coach to work with. Of course, I’m going to plug Austin Career Coaching, since I’m the Director of Networking there. However, pick one that you feel comfortable with and get them to start working with you.

Until you are clear on what you want and you can communicate it effectively, you will continue to spin your wheels.

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