Career Management Alliance Blog

According to MSNBC, “Americans hate their jobs more than ever before in the past 20 years, with fewer than half saying they are satisfied.” Since the average American will spend, conservatively, 95,000 hours in the workplace, I want you to have some say as to whether that is a sentence or a reward.

Many people stumble into a career. Some because they followed well-intentioned advice of family members or friends. Others misinterpreted web resources like assessment instruments which purport to match you with the right field. As the numbers show, that approach fails much too often.

What can you do to improve the odds? While there’s no quick, universal fix, let me suggest a way to narrow the search. Your goal is to find the right career field for you – as you define “right.” The key is getting the right answer to this very penetrating question: What must I do in any career field to be acknowledged as the very best—by my boss, by my internal and external customers, by my peers, and by myself?

Too often, answers inadvertently miss the mark by a wide margin. Lists of traits don’t count. You are probably already a “hard working people-person with strong communication skills and a great work ethic.” Congratulations! Those are the minimum standards. Nobody would hire anybody who didn’t practice all those traits.Responsibilities don’t count either. It’s not what you are responsible for; it’s how you move your company and its customers forward.

Results get closer, but they miss the mark. I won’t hire you for things you did in the past. I will hire you if I think the way you got those results demonstrates skills I need to grow my organization. Think of the question this way: What could you see the very best in this field do that sets her apart?

Here’s a very basic example. Consider a recent college grad with a degree in criminal justice. He wants to be a cop. He dutifully checks announcements posted on metropolitan websites. They all read about the same. A cop must understand the law, know how to investigate crimes, interrogate suspects, use weapons and the like.  

Now suppose he sought out the best in law enforcement in the nation. These professionals are keynote speakers at major conferences. They write the articles and books. They are nearly revered in their industry. If our grad asked someone like that, and pushed hard, he will get the right answer.That right answer might look something like this: “If you are willing to lay down your life for your partner without hesitation, you’re a great cop! If you won’t—I will not ride with you. . .ever!”

Our grad will never see that on any announcement. He may not even hear it in an interview. But it’s critical to his career success.

Now our grad has a real sense of what’s required. He may be happy someone will do that kind of thing and it’s not him. He may think, “I guess I could do that.” That’s not the right answer because it describes coping with the work. If he thinks “That’s made for me! Turn me loose!” he’s demonstrating passion that will help him succeed in a lifetime career.

There’s obviously more to the search than this brief post described. But here’s the key point: you must ask the best in the industry and you must push beyond the initial answers you get. If you love what you must be seen doing in a given career field to be acknowledged as the best, you have a rewarding career in front of you. Anything else is decidedly second best.

Posted by Don Orlando

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