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Complex Choices

Learned Beliefs & Success

Last time we talked about the relevance of “internal stories” to career change and job search.  This issue takes a more specific look at beliefs, in particular how learned beliefs influence success.

What do you really expect?

How do you feel about your job search and career change?  To be successful in today’s job market you need to make strategic choices about where to focus your efforts. You also need to be persistent.  But what if you feel frustrated and disheartened by your results so far?

One thing you can do is to take a step back and review what you are doing. A few months ago I wrote about how allocating your search time effectively can help.  But what else can you do?

Self-efficacy & Success

How do you feel about your search overall?  What do you really believe?   For many years social psychologist,  Albert Bandura, (now Emeritus professor at Stanford University) studied human agency and the factors that predict success.  It turns out that how we perceive our capability affects how we function in many areas of work and life.

Individuals who perceive themselves as capable and expect to be successful in a specific behavior are more likely to succeed. This belief is known as self-efficacy.  There are many behaviors that you need to master to be successful in your job search.  How might you increase your self-efficacy?

Increasing  your Self-Efficacy

The good news is that your beliefs are not fixed.  Research provides insight into how to positively influence self-efficacy. There are 4 important sources of influence on your beliefs about your capacity to  achieve successful outcomes for a particular goal.

These are:

• performance accomplishments
• vicarious learning
• feedback
• anxiety levels

Let’s begin with performance accomplishments, and consider what you can do to leverage this sources of influence for your job search.

Performance Accomplishments and Self-efficacy

Knowing that the experience of success is important, how might you apply this to your job search? You may think that setting challenging goals will motivate you to achieve more.  But this research suggests that you also need to work on your career change and  job search in a way to allows you to achieve success on a regular basis.  This may mean revising your working definition of  success.

One simple step you can take is to break down your job search goals into small manageable tasks that you know you will accomplish.

How to Create Success Goals

Take a look at your job search goals.  How are you defining success?  Of course the end goal is to get the position that you want.  But what interim goals can you set for yourself? If it takes 6 months or more to find your position, how can you measure your success in the meantime? Maybe it’s a number of contacts, phone calls, etc.  What makes sense for you at this phase of your search?  Brainstorm all the activities that are part of a successful job search.

Begin by breaking your overall goal down into subgoals. What can you accomplish in the coming week? What can you accomplish today?   It’s easy to dismiss the small actions that build on each other to move you forward in your job search. Taking time to identify small goals not only helps you to stay focused, but will also enable you to experience the success that builds your self-efficacy, and thus your future success.

Next time, we will look at the other factors that are know to influence self-efficacy and consider what they mean for your job search.

I invite you to share your comments below. 
What goals did you accomplish this week?

Career Mentor Series:
Free Job Search Skills Training

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Which Stories are you Keeping? Letting Go?

Which Stories are Relevant?

Today’s 24/7 news cycles means that most media stories are short-lived.  Do you read employment-related news and wonder what they mean for you?

Did you see a recent Forbes magazine story that was widely reported about  why employers should be more concerned with retaining their employees as the recession recedes.  Is this good news for employees?  Trends in the desired direction are a good thing.

But there is also discussion about fundamental changes in the world of work.  If you browse business publications you might have seen the article by Anya Kamenetz in the February issue of Fast Company magazine.  She describes the four year career as part of a  “a new and bewildering world of work”  that is characterized by “insecurity, volatility, and risk“.

What do these stories mean for you as an individual? If you are unemployed, underemployed,  or even exhausted because your workload feels impossible, you may dismiss these media stories as irrelevant or misleading. Do you feel as if your day to day experience is lost among discussion that focuses only on the big picture?

Stories: External & Internal

Such external stories can be useful in keeping up with trends in your industry, as well as in the world of work. But often it is your internal stories that have the most immediate impact on your life.

In his book, 18 Minutes, Peter Bregman talks about how the stories we tell ourselves directly influence our motivation and success. Each of us construct our internal stories to make sense of our experiences.   How aware are you of your internal stories?

How to Get Inside your Own Story

Bregman suggests completing the sentence: “I am the type of person who …… “  In his view, our decisions are informed by our answers to this question, whether we answer it with awareness or subconsciously.

Make sure the story you tell about yourself (sometimes only to yourself)
inspires you to move in the direction you want to move.
Bregman (2011) p. 179

 

Your Story & your Career

You can focus this question on your current work or future career goals. What comes up if you complete 2 statements: “I am the type of person who …..”  and “I am not the type of person who …..” in relation to work.

What insights do your answers provide that might be relevant either to the work you do now, or want to do in the future?  How has your story changed? How is it changing as you learn and have new experiences?  Are there parts of your story that no longer serve you?  What will you let go of?  The good news is that because we construct our own stories, we also have the power to take them apart and rewrite them.

Knowing yourself and the unique contribution you can and want to make can function like a “lighthouse”, especially important when the seas are choppy.  Being mindful of your internal stories can help you to navigate increasing uncertainty in the workplace. Taking the time to observe your internal stories allows you to evaluate the ways they support or hinder you in your work and your life.

A Story to Rewrite?

For example, you may discover that you tell yourself that “you are not the type of person who is good at presentations”.  Is presenting an important element of your career success?  If it is, do you want to change that part of your story? What can you do to make it a priority to develop that skill? What’s the first step?

More often than not, changing your story requires more  than attempting to change thoughts. In this example, it also involves taking action to develop new skills. Assuming that you learn the skills you need, you can  rewrite your story based on the results of your actions.

I invite you to share your comments in the box below.

Should you wait?

Reviewing Your Year

What stands out for you when you look back on your experience of 2011?  When I review my year, one thing that is prominent is the experience of “waiting”.  I felt as if I was waiting because a significant planned change did not happen.  An expected family relocation was put “on hold”.

Uncertainty as an Obstacle

One of the challenge of uncertainty that it makes it difficult to fully commit. For example, because I expected to be moving I delayed getting started on a new project I had planned for 2011.  But plans are not guarantees. Things may not happen as planned!

Are you making decisions or putting things on hold? In today’s job market, finding a new position usually requires a lot of personal commitment. You need to devote time, effort, persistence, and resources to get where you want to go.
But how do you decide what to commit to?  Where should you begin?

Your Life Intentions?

Although new year is typically a time to set goals, there is a step before that.  According to Marie Nemeth, author of  Mastering Life Energies, the place to begin is to reassess your life intentions.

What do you want to be known for? What do you want to contribute? Knowing what is most important to you is your compass for choosing your goals.  Do you want to be an innovator in your field, a mentor to others, a successful team member?

If you’re not sure what to include in your life intentions list, use Nemeth’s inventory to get started.   Remember that your list is unique to you.

A Foundation for Goals

If you are feeling pressured in your current situation, spending time thinking about what you want may seem like a luxury. Career goals may feel elusive and out of reach.  Yet, your life intentions are the foundation from which to develop your goals.

Being clear about your intentions has very practical advantages.  Although the importance of different intentions to you may change over time, they are not dependent on external circumstances.

“Maintain coherence by bringing everyday actions
into alignment with what is most important to you.  (Marie Nemeth)

Once you are clear about your intentions, you can be more creative in how you choose goals.  If external circumstances get in the way of achieving your goals, you can return to your intentions and find new ways to move towards them.  You can review what you are doing on a practical day to day basis, and ask whether or not what you are doing supports your life intentions.

COMING SOON:  Are you ready to take action on your intentions?

Later this month, I will be offering a free class to provide
practical help with organizing your job search.

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The 4 Essential Pillars

A Foundation for Job Search Success

Do you Have the Skills you Need?

4 Pillars To Support your Job Hunt

What does it really take to find work in today’s economy?

If you feel that your job search efforts are not getting you where you want to go, it may be time to take a step back to assess the gaps in your skills. Unless you are a career professional you are unlikely to think much about your job-hunting skills until you need to use them.

As a job seeker you know too well the factors that are outside of your control. But improving your knowledge and skills about job search is one thing that you can influence. Discover what you can do differently to give yourself the best opportunities for success.

In one of his most recent books, The Job-Hunter’s Survival Guide,
internationally acclaimed career expert, Dick Bolles identifies the key elements of job search success.

In his view, great job-hunting skills are built on
these 4 pillars:

1. Taking ownership of your job search
2. A willingness to invest time and effort
3. Self-knowledge based on a thorough inventory of yourself
4. Current knowledge and skills

Four Questions You Need to Ask

Consider the following questions to understand how these 4 factors apply to your job search.

1. Who’s job is it?

According to Bolles, the first pillar is to “assume that finding work is your job.”  This may seem self-evident, but for a significant proportion of job-hunters today, new opportunities have always been easily accessible. What has your experience been? Maybe you are in a position of looking for work, having been in the same company for several years.  It can be a daunting prospect.

Taking ownership of your job search doesn’t mean that you have to do it all on your own. The most successful job seekers are those who have access to the resources they need. They have a  well-developed professional network, and know how to get the help and information they need to make progress. This also means have a support network when the going gets tough.

2. What are my expectations?

The 2nd pillar Bolles describes is “be willing to work hard on your job-hunt”. Working hard means not only investing time and energy, but also making good choices about where to focus your efforts.  Reaching your goals may take more time than you hoped. It is essential that you conduct your search in a way that is sustainable.  This means integrating ways to take care of your health and well-being as part of your search strategy.

3. Have you taken the time to fully assess who you are and what you want?

It’s easy to think “I don’t have time for that”, but in this competitive market it is more important than ever to be able to stand out. This means knowing who you are, and what you want from your work. A search that is based on your self-knowledge will be more focused, and thus more likely to be successful more quickly. You will be better positioned to find and communicate clearly with the people you need to reach.

You may feel that it’s better to try to keep your options open. But if your search is unfocused, your efforts will be diluted and less likely to be effective. Or as Bolles states succinctly in his book, ‘staying loose’ about what you’re looking for is job-hunting suicide (p. 4)

4. How current are my job-search knowledge and skills?

Hiring trends vary over time. Technology is having a major impact on the job search process. It’s not easy to keep up to date. If it is some time since you’ve engaged in a job search, it is likely that you will need change the way you did things last time.  Increase your chances of success by learning as much as you can, and by updating the skills you need to be able to be successful in today’s job market.

Share your Views

How do you feel about your skills? What topics would you like to know more about?  Feel free to share your comments below.

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 Career & Work Life Matters
ISSN 2150-6299
Vol 2, no. 20

Are you Prepared?

Recent research by Mercer found that employee loyalty – defined as the proportion of employees who report that they were “seriously considering leaving their organization” -  is declining worldwide.

As you might expect, the percentage point increase was higher in countries with growing economies such as Brazil. However, even in the U.S., more people are seriously considering leaving their jobs.

When compared with the data collected before the economic downturn, the results of the most recent  survey (2011) found that 9% more employees were considering leaving .

Replacement Jobs as Opportunities

What implications might this have for you if you are engaged in a job search or considering career change?  Of course not everyone who is considering leaving their job will actually do so.

However this trend information is important because “intention to quit” is related to actual turnover.   Even in an environment of slow job growth, replacement jobs are a source of opportunities. These positions can become available unexpectedly.

Are you Prepared?

Are you prepared if such an opportunity arises? Have you taken time to think about your career goals?   Are you connected enough to learn about opportunities through your network? Consider what you need to do to be ready. What’s your first step?

Feel free to add your comments below.

		Career & Work Life Matters ISSN 2150-6299 Vol 2, no.18
Are you Choosing How to Use your Time?	When it comes to organizing your job search, it is essential to make informed choices about how you use your time. There’s a lot to do. It’s stressful. Don’t just jump in and hope that you will get where you want to go. Read this article for tips on how to allocate you time. Choose the activities that are more likely to get you the results you want. Begin today by downloading the free worksheet below.

Are you Making an Informed Choice?

 Are you frustrated because it seems like your career change or job search is going
nowhere? It’s not easy to stay motivated when you are not seeing results from your
efforts.  There are always factors outside of your control.
But one thing that you can influence is how you spend your time.

Not all activities are equal when it comes to making the progress you want.
Of course there are no guarantees, but you can increase the probability of success by being selective in the approaches you choose.

Maximize your Effectiveness

The approaches used to fill openings are dynamic. Hiring practices change over time and vary with economic cycles and across industries. Are you up to date with current trends in your field? By being informed, you can increase your chances of success.

One example

According to the 2011 Careerxroads Sources of Hire study, referrals accounted for more than a quarter of all external hires.  These data highlight the role of existing employees as an important route to filling positions. You may feel frustrated by this information. After all, these potential opportunities remain “hidden.”

What does this mean for your job search? One thing you an do is allocate time to build connections with people already employed in the companies you want to work in. This will put you in a better position to find out about opportunities.

By knowing about trends, you can make choices about how you spend your time that strengthen your job search and move you closer to your goals.

Take the First Step

Download this free worksheet to help you take take the first step to allocating your time.
Make choices that will help you to reach your goals more quickly.

Share your comments or questions below.

		Career & Work Life Matters ISSN 2150-6299 Vol 2, no. 17
Solving the Career Puzzle	When things are uncertain, it is difficult to move from idea to action.Would you like to shift from “just thinking about it” to taking specific actions to make the changes you want in your career and work life? If you are struggling to translate your ideas into action, structure may be the missing piece.

What is the Cost?

How engaged do you feel about work?  If you are not happy at work, you may feel that this is not the right time to take action. More often than not, making change involves taking a risk.  It is important to consider your willingness to take risks.

It is also important to consider the costs of not taking steps to improve your situation. What actions can you take that will have a positive impact?  Decades of research show that unemployment is associated with negative health outcomes.  But research by Gallup found that individuals who are actively disengaged from work are also at risk of poorer health.

Do you want to make a change in your career and work life, but struggle to get beyond the “thinking about it” stage?  According to Scott Belsky, structure is essential for translating ideas into action.  In his book, Making Ideas Happen, he writes “Organization is just as important as ideas when it comes to making an impact.”

Putting a Structure in Place

Change can feel overwhelming.  How do you begin? What should you do first? Uncertainty is integral to career change and job search. It’s part of what makes the process difficult. That’s why having a structure to support you is so important.

Even the biggest change consists of smaller steps. Can you break it down into tasks that you can begin and complete?  Even if you are not yet clear about all the actions you need to take, is there one task you can do to begin the process?  For example, in my own career change experience, signing up for a “Return to Study” evening class was a pivotal step. I did this before I made any decisions about leaving the job I had at the time. It was a small step. I did not yet have a clear path to follow.  But it did provide the impetus for my next step of applying for my degree studies.

Your first step will vary according to your situation. Another  example might be calling 5 people in your network to ask if they know anyone in your target industry. To see a more detailed task list for someone in active job search,  have a look at this chart created by expert author, Orville Pierson.

Translating ideas into small action steps may seem like a simple process. But that doesn’t mean that it is easy. There are “good reasons” to avoid identifying specific tasks to complete. For example, if things do not go as you expect, and they often don’t, you may feel like you’re on an emotional roller-coaster. On the other hand, unless you have support of a structure in place, it’s too easy to procrastinate or get distracted.  You also miss out on potentially valuable feedback about the effectiveness of your activities.

If you are feeling stuck, can you create the structure you need to move forward? What might be a good first step?

What helps you translate your ideas into action?
Share your experience below.

What are you promising yourself?

Are you Keeping your Promises?

A promise is defined as “a declaration that
something will or will not be done“.

When was the last time you were on the receiving
end of a broken promise? How did you feel?
Disappointed? Upset? Angry?

How do you feel if you don’t keep your promises to
yourself? Does it drain your energy?

Sometimes it is easier to keep out commitments to
others than to keep our commitments to ourselves.
Research shows that an effective way to increase
commitment to a goal is to share it publicly.
Declaring an intention helps to follow it through.

The Benefit of External Reminders

This week I have been experimenting with
participating in a new accountability group. Each
day we declare a specific goal at the beginning of the
day and then report on whether or not we “keep our
promise” at the end of day.

If it sounds simple, it is.  But in this era of so many
distractions having easy daily reminders definitely helps with focus.
This is especially true when
it’s time to do the tasks I would prefer to avoid!

Sometimes even a simple external structure
can make a big difference.

Managing Distractions

What promises have you made or do you want to make
that you haven’t yet begun?
What support do you need to get started?
What is getting in your way or competing for your attention?

Making changes to your career and work life is not
a linear process.  It’s typically a series of steps, beginning,
making some progress, stalling, and beginning
again.

It’s easy to get distracted from your goals when
change takes time, you don’t get the outcomes you expect or other
demands pull you away.

Nietzsche said:
“One must have a good memory to be
able to keep the promises one makes.”

What can you do to jog your memory and provide easy reminders
of your promises to yourself?

What do you do to help you stay focused on what is most important?
What helps you keep your promises to yourself?
Share your experiences in the comment box below.

What is your why?

 Are you intentional about your career and work life?  Recent research finds that the majority of U.S. residents are not.

The results of a recent telephone survey of 1000 people (National Survey of Working America) found that  fewer than 4 out of 10 people (37%) report making a “conscious choice” and following “a definite plan” when “choosing their present job or career.”

Does this surprise you?  What prevents us from being more proactive when it comes to managing our career?  Uncertainty? Not having the skills? Perceived lack of opportunities?

There are no doubt many reasons. One reason may be that we focus just on the major decisions, and lose sight of the daily actions that can influence our lives.

In his book,  “We are all Self-employed“, Cliff Hakim suggests paying attention to the choices we make in everyday life.  No matter what our situation, day to day choices influence our lives.

The summary below is adapted from Hakim’s work.  Which choices are you making more frequently?

In today’s turbulent world of work, it is perhaps more important than ever to be mindful of  the small choices and decisions we make each day.

Feel free to share your thoughts by posting a comment below.