Resources

Career Consulting: Choosing or Changing Your Career, Conducting a Job Search

People often ask, “How can I know what’s out there?” whether their transition is involuntary or voluntary. The fact is, the most effective way to choose or change your career or job is to work from the inside out, identifying what you do well, what you enjoy doing, what you want to learn, and what you are tired of doing. Such a Self-Exploration process allows you to search for your next right step with confidence, avoiding any need to survey the overwhelming number of possibilities that might be “out there” but not right for you.

Self-Exploration can take many forms, and there are many sets of Self-Exploration exercises and questions available. My approach is to start with broad questions, which you can find here: 

I also recommend Richard Bolles’ What Color Is Your Parachute, a classic book (updated annually), which includes his signature “Flower Exercise Self-Inventory” version of Self-Exploration. This book also describes how hiring really works and how you can manage the process with confidence and success.

Executive Coaching: Building Your Confidence, Competence, and Effectiveness

One way to think about Executive Coaching is that it provides support and guidance for you to enhance your existing strengths and grow beyond weaknesses. You don't have to be sure which is which when we begin, but it's helpful to set goals and objectives we can use as touchstones. These questions will help you develop those goals and objectives and guide our work so it makes the biggest possible difference to you.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower is usually credited with the saying, “What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.” The “Eisenhower Matrix” is an excellent way to sort out which tasks to do first, which to schedule for later, which to delegate, which to ignore. There are many versions of the matrix available, along with some apps, or you can create your own. If you want to use an existing resource, this one is simple and accessible.

Resilience and Balance

Stress is almost inevitable when we are in transition, such as during job search or career change. Stress also often accompanies new or changing responsibilities. We can’t always avoid overwhelm or exhaustion, but there are ways to reduce the stressors we encounter and to learn to recover quickly and gracefully.

Practice Joy Breaks

As advised by the late Ann McGee-Cooper, learn to notice when you are becoming unproductive or discouraged, so that you can turn to a joy break to refresh you.

Cultivate Laughter and Play

Laughter is a wonderful way to release stress and build resilience. In general, laughter is likely to be more full-bodied and rejuvenating when we are not looking at a screen, but funny animal videos and webcams can provide quick pick-me-ups anywhere. If there are pets or small children in your life, make it a point to genuinely play with them at least daily. By genuine play I mean more than finding a way to amuse a child or critter: Let yourself see the world from their perspective, get down on the floor if you can, let yourself be silly for a while, laugh at a 7-year-old’s jokes as hard as she does, giggle just because it feels good.

Get a Reality Check

Incipient burnout is sneaky: We may not see that our virtues, such as persistence, empathy, or collegiality have slid over into traps such as stubborn refusal to face facts, exhausting ourselves to spare other people, or letting people take advantage of us. If you are feeling persistent exhaustion and cynicism, if you are feeling less and less effective, you may be at risk of burnout. Catching it early is the best way to get back to being energetic, optimistic, and effective.