How would you sum up your professional experience and describe your ideal next opportunity? As recruiters, we pose that question to candidates all the time and often hear how challenging it can be to answer it effectively.

Career transition at any stage of one’s career can be challenging, fraught with concerns about making the right move (and implications of making the wrong move); the process can feel overwhelming, and there can be a frustrating lack of ROI on search efforts. Moreso, it’s often a solitary exercise, and can be hard to do on one’s own. There’s a resource you may not have considered.

We met Mitchel Roling through our extended recruiting engagement with eMarketer (now Insider Intelligence) and saw the significant contributions Mitchel made to that fast-scaling organization through his data fluency. Mitchel gained skills and experience that he was ultimately able to build into his own consultancy, My Dataist (hyperlink). Today he’s advising a host of clients around their data needs— and, of course, he’s our trusted go-to for anything data-related. With the power of data and analytics top of mind, we thought it timely to have Mitchel weigh in on the topic.

Early on in my career, as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (psychotherapy and career counseling), I discovered the magic of outdoor sessions. Inevitably, a single walking session would unlock a year of “a-ha” moments in a mere 50 minutes. Between the movement, the fresh air, and the escape from the intensity of constant eye contact, the outdoor stroll seemed to overcome so many of the artificial obstacles in the typical counseling setting.

As recruiters and career coaches, we’ve found that the most common reason individuals decide to leave an organization is lack of career growth potential. That’s particularly troubling in light of the fact that a significant percentage of these individuals were employees that the organization had hoped to retain– a loss magnified by the high cost of employee turnover. What contributes to this missed opportunity?

In our last 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?

We met Kimberly Morgan a few years ago, as she was transitioning to a new sales leadership role. Her infectious energy, realistic optimism, and tireless drive instantly impressed all of us at CFW. She became a fast friend of the firm–a sounding board if we had industry questions, an example of an inspiring leader when we’d talk about great sales managers, and ultimately, an exceptional hiring manager when we’d send her sales candidates. Kim launched her career in advertising and grew to leadership in the AdTech space.

“Success” starts from the outside. You hear it. Someone who knows tells you. It embarrasses you to not disclaim it. Then the compliment is repeated, reinforced. You walk away in order to change the subject. It feels good. It feels so good that the first time you hear that you’re “successful” it’s hard not to repeat it to someone soon. Word by word, including the disclaimer.

This is success observed; success under glass.

Then follows recognition. It starts from the outside. Deference is paid to you. The people who are important acknowledge that you are important, too. Your income grows. Your title grows. Your office grows. Your responsibility grows. Your pressure grows, your work load grows.

Whether you’re supremely happy in your current job, beginning to consider what comes next, or actively on the hunt, an intentional approach to career planning can help set you up for success and make the process easier. We reached out to career advisor and Co-Owner of CFW Careers, Cynnie King, for some tips and tools that she and the individuals she’s coached have found most effective through the years. Check out her five tips for successful career planning below!

After an interview, it’s easy to walk out of the room (or hang up the phone), take a deep breath and say “phew, glad that’s over.” The last thing you feel like doing is crafting a thoughtful, insightful note to send to the interviewer(s). Most professionals already know that it’s best to send a thank you note after an interview (within 24hrs!). Surprisingly, most professionals also tend to miss this golden opportunity to solidify the positive impression they just left on the hiring manager because they feel rushed, they don’t know what to say, or they consider it a trivial part of the vetting process.

Impostor Syndrome is an experience most of us have grappled with at one time or another, one that both distracts us and stifles our ability to put our best foot forward at work. Could there be a way to reframe this experience in a manner that allows us to take back control? To help us address this question, we called in a good friend of the firm, Stephanie Blair, an executive coach and consultant focused on grooming and growing innovative talent within sales-centric teams through her strategic advisory firm, Know & Flourish. Read on for her take on how we can identify and harness our awareness of our own Impostor Syndrome to take actionable steps through and forward