Sareena Dalla Brookshire

 The job search process can feel like a roller coaster. 

One minute you are riding high with a pipeline full and interview rounds and the next you are turned upside down starting the whole process over with a blank slate. Sound familiar?

The truth is, if it’s been awhile since you last went through a search, it can take a couple of reps until you truly get clear on what you want, and in turn find your rhythm. 

Here’s how you can smooth out the ride:

1. Reframe the job search process as an opportunity to fine tune, learn and discover. Simply shifting your lens from “I have to do this” to “I get to do this,” can make a huge difference in your overall outlook.
2. Expand the short list from dream companies to dream opportunities. Often, my clients have a single dream company in mind, only to be disheartened if it doesn’t work out. Expanding the opportunity set to focus on what you want to accomplish across a number of different...

There are three types of career changers. Knowing which one you are can make a huge difference in your job search strategy.

The first type is an industry changer. You’re looking to do the same type of work, just in a different industry.

For example: You’re a marketer in healthcare, who wants to do marketing in a consumer goods company

The second type is a functional changer. You’re looking to stay in your industry but do a different type of work. 

For example: You’re a marketer in healthcare, who wants to do product management in healthcare.

The third type is a wholesale changer. You’re looking to do something entirely new in a new industry. (e.g. you’re a marketer in healthcare, who wants to do data and analytics in a tech company)

I’ve personally been all three over the course of my career. Each have their own sets of career change opportunities and challenges, but by far wholesale changer requires the most career change planning.

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If you want to impress in an interview, know you are being evaluated on a hidden responsibility not listed on the job description.

With virtual interviewing and virtual work as the new standard, the needs for hiring managers are shifting.

Hiring managers now must consider a two-part evaluation (1) is this the right person for the job, and (2) will this person be effective remotely long-term?

Just like as in-person work environments, leaders want to build teams that are self-sufficient and resourceful and can continue to drive outcomes.  

As a job seeker, here are two ways to answer these questions.

First, ask insightful questions on how the team has transitioned virtually over the past months. Learn what’s worked and what is still a work in progress.

Second, discuss your own observations, a specific relevant experience (that tie to what you just learned above), and how you’d approach onboarding, coming up a learning curve and integration over time periods (30, 60 ,...

If you’ve been working for more than 10 plus years, by virtue of tenure, you’ve developed a number of relationships.

You’ve seen colleagues rise within companies, leave companies or chart new paths.

How do you stay in touch effectively and genuinely?

Here are three strategies to stay connected.

1.  Be helpful: Share a resource, connect them to other folks in your network, support their business, help share their ideas on social media.

 2. Seek and share advice and council: As you grow, there are opportunities to learn from each other’s experience irrespective of seniority. Look for natural ways to foster dialogue particularly if there are causes or related problems that connect you.

3. Share annual updates: Proactively keep them updated on events in your life at least once a year. Find the channel, format and altitude of sharing that is most authentic to you and that lets your network know what you’re up to. This may be different based on...

I can't tell you how many times I've heard clients tell me, "I just need to think it through and figure it out."  In theory, this makes sense. However, in practice, this often is a recipe for disaster.

What I know to be true is that clarity comes from the practice of reflection (thinking) but more importantly action (doing). For in action, we learn and understand what works and what doesn't, what we like, and don't like and through that filtering, clarity emerges.

What does this mean for you? If you are kicking around a career move, the first step is… to take a step. Here are a couple of suggestions if you’re just getting started:

• GET SMART: Set a weekly learning objective to learn from your current network. This will help you understand other roles within and outside your industry. Set a target to keep you accountable (# of informational calls, key materials consumed, etc)
• TAKE INVENTORY: Look back at any past performance reviews or feedback...

When you've been in the workforce for over 10+ years, the first thing to change is the mentor-mentee relationship. You're no longer right out of school and you have experience, so by definition the types of mentorship you need is different.

One of the most untapped resources are PEER mentors, people who are at your level of the organization, who you likely collaborate with frequently, and who also share varying degrees of expertise.  Invest in this brain trust.

 Added benefits? With strong peer mentors you'll have a stronger view of the needs across your organization. Collectively, each of you can help one another collectively rise as a cohort. Last, often times in year-end assessments, it is feedback from peers that is weighted heavily.

How do you build strong peer mentors? MENTOR BACK. Teach your peers what you know, share generously and look for ways to help them also grow. I guarantee you'll find this also makes for a much happier work environment.

Onward, 

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2020 had fundamentally changed us.

It’s caused many of us to look inward and reflect on who we are, what we want to do with our lives and what truly matters.

That naturally sparks dreams in the personal and professional camp—with many of us then realizing these worlds are harder than we’d like to decouple. 

Whether it’s a hunch, a gut feel or full clarity of what needs to change…don’t ignore it.

Lean in. Learn more.

Try something. Start the thing.

Take that first step.

Anticipate a stumble (or many stumbles).

But that will guide you to the next move

And the one after that

Keep going.

Don’t stop.