The Women’s Conference Jan 2010.  Courtesy of Youtube.com 2.15

My clients have come to me in all stages of career development and transition, discovering that these 5 mistakes have undermined early career change efforts or they’ve sought coaching assistance in time to course correct.  Here’s hoping these tips keep you ahead of the job candidate pool!

1.  Not Knowing What You Bring to the Party.  A common error in a new career or job search is pulling out the old resume and dusting it off simply by adding in your most recent job(s).  Before re-writing that resume and cover letter, take time to reassess how your career knowledge and experiences have blossomed.  Review what you have learned since you last wrote it and what specific benefits you added to the work you’ve done up till now.  Know your personal growth attributes as well and consider how you’ll include those in the information you pass on to your prospective employer or client.  There are many free assessments online, take a few different ones to uncover the infomation you need to know most about yourself, or consider paying for a Myers-Briggs or DiSC assessment.

2.  Not Knowning What the Party Will Bring to You.  If you haven’t researched the career offering or job, even if it was recommended by someone you know and trust, you can’t know if it will be a fit for you.  Investigate the client or company first, how long they’ve been in business, what their policies and practices are, the kind of people who work there and how long they’ve been there, what the education and background is of those you’d be working with and any information on a supervisor.  Then find out as much as you can about the work you’d be doing.  Besides reading about all this, form questions to ask when you’re called for an initial phone consultation or interview.  This knowledge demonstrates your interest, but also saves you lots of time in not pursuing something that’s not a match.

3.  Staying Within Your Comfort Zone.   Be willing to consider job possibilities that aren’t linear.  You may come upon a job that isn’t exactly what you had in mind, but uses many of the skills you’d hope to use and it is also a good fit.  Talk up your interests and work experiences with others and not just the title of the job you seek.  If you’ve done some research, you can even tell your associates a few different industries or jobs that you know use your skills.   Ask if they can refer you to someone who already does this kind of work, then conduct interviews with these individuals to learn more that will expand your options.

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Sometimes I inadvertently stick out from others in a group and end up heading up a project that I’d only meant to offer input on like everyone else.  You can probably relate to those times when you’ve had an idea and try to fly it and suddenly you’re in charge.  It happens for a variety of reasons:  maybe you are impatient about things getting going and step in while others drag their heals, or they’re just going on about their lives not noticing a deadline is looming…but you do…and maybe it’s simply your natural leadership style of initiation that gets you in these unexpected leadership roles.  

So you assume the role of leader, but should you get verbal opposition, you get frustrated, especially if you’re doing most of the work and others are merely offering opinions.  At this point you really wonder how you got where you are and yet you don’t “say no” because you’re committed to the outcome.  So how can you be more competent in this role once you’ve taken it on?

Here are 6 tips that I’ve learned from the trenches, to help you out in these situations:

1.  Don’t cast yourself as the victim–you poked your head up and took it on.  Now be ready to be an excellent communicator of each idea and action step and recognize there will be others who won’t align 100%, or at least at first.  Make them your favorite ally by keeping them particularly in the loop and applauding the ideas they have that forward the action.  Hear any disgruntledness with an open mind and a curious, “hmm, that’s a thought…” and try not to show your agreement or disagreement at those times.  Let the others in the group help sway them to what works best at the final decision time.

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