Frank Judd, Director of Client Accounts, answers all of our questions about finding, obtaining, and thriving in a new job or role.
FUNCTIONAL FLUIDITY: HOW DO I FIGURE OUT WHAT KIND OF ROLE I WILL THRIVE IN NEXT?
Most skill sets are transferable throughout any industry unless you’re in medicine and law. The first thing you have to do is self-evaluate.
There will always be a learning curve to some degree from one company to another, but foundationally, from a function and skillset perspective, you should still be able to find a position in which you can do a similar job.
The first thing you have to do in this self analysis is figure out the types of environments in which you thrive in. if you know you’re great in corporate america and you don’t mind being a part of it then maybe corporate america is where you stay. The startup environment isn’t’ for everyone. Everyone thinks that going somewhere super entrepreneurial sounds fun, but they don’t realize how much work they’re going to be doing.
It’s essentially a pressure cooker-type environment.
Exactly. And then there is the inverse of that holds true as well. You may be in corporate america and know it is not the type of place and environment that is going to push you and make you a success. Then you would want to focus on something a little smaller. You would want to look for an organization in which you would have the opportunity to wear different hats. Figure out what those multiple hats look like.
Speak to the hiring authority, recruiter, or whoever is making the assessment call.Any time you apply for a role or going full force into an opportunity, you want to make sure you are find out what the responsibilities are and what is expected of someone in this role in the first 30 days, 60 days, etc. You want to make sure you know how this person is going to be deemed a success or a failure. Start to put those elements up against the things you’ve done and are core competencies of yours and maybe consider what of those can be opportunities for you. From this perspective you are then able to evaluate whether that opportunity makes sense for you and if your skills actually translate. The only way you will know is by asking questions to people within that industry and within that organization. Ask questions like: Where did the last person fall short? What did they do well that you need to ensure continues? Where are the gaps that i need to fill? How can i take this role to the next step?
You have to look and be really honest with yourself. In some cases I would recommend to start by looking at your most current role; however, for many people based on tenure you would want to assess as much as you can. This is the life of your experiences. You must ask yourself “what am I really strongest at?” Ensure that it is measurable so when you relay this message you are about to express those successes. You want to ensure, to some extent, that you have real proof of your successes.
Self assess. Start to think about the things you’re really great at and that you can attach those quantifiable results to and speak to. Also ask yourself if you like doing that thing. Often times, regardless of what your core competencies might be, you don’t genuinely like to do those things. You just happen to be good at them. You want to start to play off of that.
Maybe there are things you are really good at and there are results associated with them. You begin to think “hey this is what really fulfills me professionally.” This is how you start to outline and target the type of opportunities and organizations that you can go to that will give you the opportunity to focus or carry out that function at the grandest scale.
Because, we can assume you’re likely not looking for a new job so you can do the exact same thing you did before. Maybe you are, but if you’re not it wouldn’t make sense for you to solely promote what you were doing before.
Right, but there is also more. There might be things that aren’t your core competencies that maybe you’ve dabbled in without the opportunity to explore further. Perhaps, that thing has become an interest to you. You would want to make sure you are pursuing opportunities that would allow you to be more well rounded and give you exposure to something that you maybe didn’t have.