Components of a Good Career Strategy

All my career clients start out with a career vision – what they desire to be achieving by the end of our engagement together. Even if they don’t know what that is called or looks like, it is getting clear on the feeling of where we want to end up at the end of our career. What will it feel like to have worked in a career that is meaningful and that you feel good about?

Once we are clear on the vision, there is a connected path into these four areas that we focus on and can look at any number of ways depending on the client.

4 components for a good career strategy:

• Become Resilient
• Build Your Resources
• Grow Your Presence
• Feel Your Career Vision

Become Resilient – How are you learning to go with the flow? In what areas do you need to activate the executive function of your brain more? Where do you get hooked in by negativity and fear in your job search, career exploration and career navigation? Create internal strategies that take you out of flight or fight response and manage your fear and negativity in a productive way. This determines the success of your career strategy.

Build Your Resources – This is about cultivating your professional network, where are you giving back, where are you engaged in work activities, as well as extracurricular activities. Staying engaged builds passion, and companies want to hire passionate employees and leaders because passion is contagious and cultivates innovation and creativity. Do something meaningful that is engaging others in your life and building your professional network.

Grow Your Presence – You need to grow your branding and messaging, online and offline. Craft your 30 second value proposition, share resources in your groups, position yourself as an expert in what you do, leverage your strengths to grow your brand and network, blog, share what you know to help others. What we give, we receive. It is a natural law of the universe. How are you serving your community online as well as face-to-face?

Feel Your Vision – Part of creating a career strategy is being able to sit in the vision of what you desire. Even if you don’t know the title of the position, what will it feel like to be in that position, obtain flexible work hours, work with a boss that acknowledges you, have colleagues that respect each other and collaborate on projects together, and achieve clear communication. How good will it feel?

Every time we step into feeling our vision, we release chemicals in the brain that create new networks and activate the frontal lobe of the brain called the Executive Function. Doing this takes us out of negative, fearful thinking and helps to rewire our entire nervous system to support us creating a new reality.

Start each day with feeling first and then thinking. Feeling is what creates the momentum for a clear career strategy focused on what gives you fulfillment.