Discovering What Makes You Tick and How it Informs a Fulfilling Career Path

Where are you in your career, where are you headed this year, and where will that lead years from now? For many of us, it’s daunting to try to figure out how to get from here to there. 

In a previous post, we posed three questions to help you clarify your career goals, launching the process of career evolution or transition. That pre-work is essential to helping you identify critical elements, such as your strengths (when you’re in flow), your values (what’s most important to you), and the professional context in which you’re most likely to thrive. How do you take the insights gained from self-reflection, an audit of your Strengths & Interests and/or the objective assessment of a 360 Review, and translate that into actionable steps?

Career Pathing is an individual or facilitated process of discovery that brings into focus ways you can play to, deploy and further develop your core defining professional attributes. It provides a sense of direction, not just moving you to your next job, but building toward your career future, 2-3-5 years down the road. It moves from: “What business challenges have I felt best suited to take on?” to “How does that define the role I might play?” and, “What business challenges do I seek out?” It also moves from “How do I define career success?” to “What do I need in order to get there?” 

Paths can be defined by a myriad of qualities from industry and company (size, stage, values…) to role and nature of the work. Sometimes there are big differences in those options; other times it’s more about nuance (e.g.- same industry, same type of company, but a different stage of growth). This is the starting point for exploration. What comes next is equally important:

1. Map the market. Whether you’re expert in an industry, have a strong sense of the companies in that space, or a solid understanding the jobs available, there’s always more to be learned. It’s important to consider different paths from multiple angles, exploring questions from the macro: “What are the current market trends?”... to the personal: “What kinds of roles align with your strengths, interest and other requirements?”... to the practical: “What are the financial realities?” (benchmarking compensation)

2. Approach the process with a sense of curiosity. What sparks your interest— an industry, a company, a professional you admire?Identify trusted resources with whom you can have confidential conversations and ask some open-ended questions to gain additional perspective on the industry landscape and where you fit into the picture. Thoughtfully preparing a list of questions will help you surface opportunities you’d not considered, roles you didn’t know existed, and ways to leverage your strengths that hadn’t crossed your mind. Questions like “What companies do you find best positioned, or on the rise?“ and “What kinds of jobs do you find best aligned with my strengths?“ are a great start. 

3. Dig deep and learn as much as you can about the opportunities along that career path. Not only superficially defining jobs, but fully researching and understanding the nature of the work and how that’s aligned (or not) with what you’re seeking. 

4. Identify reasons you don’t want to pursue a particular path. Equally as important as validating the desirability of one direction, is disqualifying another (which could be based on earning potential, kind/type of job opportunities, etc.) before you move too far in that direction. What may have seemed like an aspirational title or job or an exciting industry may be less so when you get the full picture. Don’t be afraid to course correct! 

Career pathing is an intentional, strategic approach to planning one’s career, increasing the likelihood that you’ll not only find fulfillment, but, best of all, you’ll enjoy the journey. It’s not one-and-done, rather, more like sailing a boat: you embark, and as the weather changes, you may need to shift direction, and you may even decide along the way that there’s a more appealing or better destination. With a map and compass in hand, you’ll be able to chart your course to get there. 

To learn more about the CFW Careers Coaching practice and how we can help facilitate your Career Pathing process and effect positive changes in your work life, contact cynnie@cfwcareers.com or rachel@cfwcareers.com.