You could wake up every day wishing you could quit your job, but the minute you decide it’s time for a change, figuring out what you want to do next becomes one of the hardest tasks on your to-do list. That’s why so many people avoid it and stay at companies way longer than they should. Or, they waste months and months hoping that their next career move would come to them in their sleep or, worse, end up in new jobs that still don’t satisfy them.
You can get clear on your next career move without wasting time.
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But, you don’t have to make any of those mistakes. With a few simple steps, you can get clear on your next career move quickly, so you can finally move forward in your career and land a new role you’ll love. And, the good news? It doesn’t require you to set up dozens of informational interviews that sometimes leave you more confused.
Step One: Ask Yourself the Hard Questions
I know it’s tempting to want to run from your current job when you’re so unhappy. But instead of running from something, you need to run towards something, especially if you truly want to fix your issue of not being fulfilled in your career. This means you have to be willing to ask yourself the hard questions to get to the root of what you’d like to change and what needs to be improved.
Here are some questions you should ask yourself: What’s making you unhappy in your career right now? Consider the work you do, your current work environment, and the products, services or clients your company serves. Next, when do you recall being the most excited about the projects or things you were working on in your career? What type of environment do you see yourself thriving in the most? What type of company would you be proud or excited to say you work for, and what do they do?
Step Two: Take Time to Window Shop
Once you’ve taken some time to ask yourself these questions, it’s time to window shop to get clearer on the right next role for you. Window shopping is exactly how it sounds. But, rather than shopping for clothes, it’s the art of shopping for jobs without the pressure to apply right away. It’s a concept I teach my clients that helps them go beyond just reading a job description for the sake of submitting a resume. It forces you to take a deeper look at what’s out there, in a fun way, so that you become more aware of your options, while also narrowing in on the roles and companies that excite you.
The truth is there’s an abundance of companies, roles and things you can do in your career right now that you might not have even heard of before. Recently, one of my clients wanted to transition from nonprofit to for-profit, but she had a limited view of her options. It wasn’t until she window-shopped that she discovered that she could leverage her nonprofit experience in a consulting capacity. She became aware of various types of roles and ended up landing a position at a consulting firm that works with nonprofit clients. Taking a step back to become aware of what’s out there allows you to make an informed decision about the right next role for you so that you can be proactive, strategic and intentional about your next career move.
Step Three: Identify Your Sweet Spot
Now that you have a better sense of the different roles and companies that excite you and align with your career goals, next, you want to identify your sweet spot. Your sweet spot is where your interests and your expertise meet. Getting clear on your sweet spot is essential because it doesn’t help to just know what you want to do next. You also need to ensure that you can successfully excel at what you want to do next and get hired for it.
For example, you might have discovered that you’re interested in moving from HR to communications, and you love both media relations and internal communications. But, maybe you don’t have relevant experience for media relations roles, and you have more transferable experience for internal communications positions. If that’s the case, you’ll likely have a better chance of positioning yourself as a top candidate for the latter, which will increase your chances of getting hired for a role you’ll still enjoy. When you take the time to get clear on your sweet spot, you might even discover that you don’t have to take a step back in your career to do work you’ll love.
Determining your next career move doesn’t have to be super complicated. If you’re willing to take a step back and think through these three steps, you’ll quickly discover clarity and a sense of confidence in pursuing your next career move.
Adunola Adeshola coaches high-achievers on how to take their careers to the next level and secure the positions they’ve been chasing. Grab her free guide.
