Career Compass

What are your interests and assets? Where do you thrive best? How do you go about finding them? With the help of Urmila Venkatesh, Assistant Dean of Career Education at Stanford, we explore a few different frameworks, questions, and tools for doing some of this important introspection.Useful questions for reflection once you are ready to speak positively about yourself:What is it that I do well? What is it that I enjoy doing?What's important to me? What do I want to do? What am I curious about? How might I keep a record of enthusiasm?Relevant links mentioned in our conversation:FREE: Via Values Surveyhttps://www.viacharacter.org/survey/account/register FREE: Ikigai - article featuring diagramhttps://www.sloww.co/ikigai/ CliftonStrengths ($20)https://store.gallup.com/p/en-us/10108/top-5-cliftonstrengths Various FREE and Paid products from the Experience Institutehttps://store.expinstitute.com/collections/catalog

Finding the courage and confidence to leave the safe harbor. We discuss with Danielle Harlen, Founder and CEO of the Center for Advancing Leadership and Human Potential, where we might draw the courage to do this critical introspective work? Once the internal work is done, where do we find the confidence to put ourselves out there, and how will we know we are ready?Relevant links mentioned in our conversation:FREE: The New Alpha Resource Guide (FREE), which has tools, resources, self-assessments that are relevant to career/leadership development: https://www.leadershipandhumanpotential.com/resources

What does personal leadership have to do with your career journey? Danielle Harlen, Founder and CEO of Center for Advancing Leadership and Human Potential, and I explore the overlap between leadership, career, and realizing your human potential.Relevant links mentioned in our conversation:FREE Workbook: A Four Step Plan For Figuring Out What to do With Your Life—How to Get Un-Stuck, Un-Bored, and on Your Way: FREE when you sign up for our newsletter on the home page at www.leadershipandhumanpotential.com

Storytelling is powerful and has long been a tool for preserving wisdom and knowledge. How might you use storytelling to share with others about yourself in a way that is genuine and memorable, and in a manner that highlights your transferable skills?You are a series of stories from your past, that shape your present, and bring you towards a future. Possible prompts for your career compass journaling/reflecting:What are the stories that brought me here?What does that give me now?Where do I want those skills and experiences to take me from here?

We unpack a career story model consisting of interests, assets, and where you want to leverage them. It's one model that can serve as a holding place for the findings of your introspection and become a summary of your evolving career compass.A Career Story Model:What are my interests (pivotal or a-ha moments, long-term curiosities)?What are my asset (strengths, skills, hobbies, networks, etc.)?Where do I want to leverage them (sector, industry, organization, job function)?

We continue with the third and final part of the career story model, "where might you leverage your interests and assets." To aid you in figuring out your answer, we'll share a framework for understanding the world of work: sectors, industries, organizations, and job functions.A Framework for Approaching the World of Work: Sectors Industries Organizations Job FunctionsA few articles that might prove helpful:For a more traditional explanation of the sectors...https://www.ie.edu/school-global-public-affairs/about/news/private-public-nonprofit-sectors/For a vision of how the sectors might be merging...https://blog.boardsource.org/blog/the-for-profit-and-nonprofit-sectors-are-converging-what-are-the-implications-for-youFor snapshot of how industry representation has evolved on LinkedIn and a full list of industries...https://blog.lempod.com/linkedin-industries-list/https://developer.linkedin.com/docs/reference/industry-codes

We examine a few career stories. We’ll begin to draw some themes from these career stories and think about how they might connect to your professional accomplishments. Then we’ll look for headlines from these themes and discuss how to integrate both the headlines and the themes into your career compass products so you can become known for them.Surfacing your Themes:Think about a time this past month that something at home or at work bothered you enough (or inspired you enough) that you felt compelled to do something about it. Journal about it and dig for the possible themes that might be hidden in that incident. Consider discussing it with someone your trust. Impact Bullets: Go through your resume and LinkedIn profile and ask your for every summary or bullet: So what? What was the end goal of this effort? What was the unique impact of this effort?

How do you ask for directions in a new industry or organization? How do you talk about your themes depending on your desired destination? We’ll discuss the interactive mode of your career research, including the iterative process across these different aspects.Stanford Life Design Lab Videoshttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjwFGCpXfsbcwkoYlMtonFbC7qmxqNovTGood questions to ask during an informational interview from The Musehttps://www.themuse.com/advice/informational-interview-best-questions-to-ask

The career search can be challenging along a variety of dimensions from financial to physical well-being. How do you keep an eye on these various dimensions and why is it especially important during a career transition?Generation Wealthy Financial Templateshttp://generationwealthy.org/resources 5 Ways to Keep Going when the Job Search Is Getting You Down from The Musehttps://www.themuse.com/advice/5-ways-to-keep-going-when-the-job-search-is-getting-you-down Why Exercise Is Important for your Job Search from ZipRecruiterhttps://www.ziprecruiter.com/blog/why-exercise-is-important-for-your-job-search-and-how-to-make-time-for-it/

How do you write a cover letter that convinces them to interview you? How do you use the power of loose ties to make sure it gets a fair read.Stanford Life Design Labs: The Offer Searchhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mol-EF4KIR4&list=PLjwFGCpXfsbcwkoYlMtonFbC7qmxqNovT&index=6 Cover Letter Writing from the Musehttps://www.themuse.com/advice/recent-college-graduate-cover-letter-sample

An interview has a variety of components; pre, during and post. How do you prepare for the content AND for the people? What do the questions you ask say about you? How do you follow up for the greatest impact and learning?The STAR Interview Method from the Musehttps://www.themuse.com/advice/star-interview-method Comprehensive Interview Prep from the Musehttps://www.themuse.com/advice/your-new-favorite-nononsense-guide-to-preparing-for-an-interview Turbo Interview Prep from the Musehttps://www.themuse.com/advice/how-to-prepare-for-a-lastminute-interview-in-30-minutes

Your salary is important, however there are many other components of compensation to consider when negotiating a job offer.Compilation of Negotiation Articles from The Musehttps://www.themuse.com/advice/8-important-articles-to-read-before-you-start-negotiating-your-salary Sample items you can negotiatehttps://www.moneycrashers.com/negotiate-job-offer/

Once you know your market worth and what you matters most to you, here are some useful frameworks and phrasing for reaching a negotiated agreement.Questions You Should be Prepared to Answer from The Musehttps://www.themuse.com/advice/4-lines-thatll-catch-you-off-guard-during-salary-negotiations-and-how-to-prepare Questions You May Want to Ask from Monsterhttps://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/10-salary-negotiation-questions H1B Salary Databasehttps://h1bdata.info/ GuideStar (for information on nonprofit organizations)http://www.guidestar.org/ Useful Negotiation Frameworks for the Women in Your Lifehttps://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/04/08/300290240/why-women-dont-ask-for-more-money

Your first few months set a tone for the rest of your chapter at this organization. How do you set yourself up for a strong start? How do you decide where to begin?A Good Exit from The Musehttps://www.themuse.com/advice/peace-out-how-to-leave-a-job-on-great-terms Things to Keep in Mind as you Start a New Job from The Musehttps://www.themuse.com/advice/your-guide-to-your-first-week-on-the-jobThe First 90 Days Interview with Michael Watkinshttps://www.forbes.com/sites/learnvest/2014/06/11/how-to-ace-your-new-job-in-the-first-90-days/?sh=5e32ba2b360f