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Job hunting - to say that it is a little stressful would be an understatement. It is INCREDIBLY stressful, particularly when we are looking for not just any job but a job we can find fulfillment in. Finding that kind of job is not easy and many of us don’t even know where to begin. That is why I sat down with Lisa Lewis Miller, career transition coach and founder of Career Clarity, to spill some of her best insights on how to manage the job search without so much of the stress that normally comes with it.
If you are currently overwhelmed by the job search process, Lisa has been in your shoes. Working in Washington D.C. in grassroots advocacy and communications consulting before starting her business, Lisa found herself trapped in a job that paid the bills but didn’t quite feel like the right place. Worse, she didn’t have any idea of what the right place could be and the result was more and more stress building up.
“I was stuck in the purgatory of ‘I can’t leave because I don’t know where to go, but I can’t stay because it doesn’t feel good either.’”
Finding her calling as a career transition coach, Lisa has now created a company that not only gives her genuine fulfillment but also helps others feel empowered to do the same and find clarity within their careers. Through her work, she’s come up with a few excellent tips that can help you approach your job search with a newfound sense of clarity so you can find the right job for you!
Making The Best Of Our Current Job While We Search
I have to say that Lisa’s first tip is a personal favorite because it is an often overlooked one! When many of us first realize it’s time to look for a new job, we often are in a mindset of fear, stress, anxiety, and maybe even anger because of our current job. Whether we are worried about possible layoffs or fed up with toxic coworkers, we are often being stretched way too thin or pushed to our limits each and every day - and that is not the best mindset to be in when trying to start a new chapter in our professional life!
That is why Lisa highlights the importance of finding ways to set boundaries in your current role that will improve your work situation. Asking for a later start time or an earlier end time so you can spend more time with family, or delegating your tasks to others can be subtle tweaks you can ask for that will greatly improve your mental state as you are reevaluating your career path. It’s not always easy to ask for the things we need at work, especially if we are afraid of upsetting superiors or getting laid off, but Lisa reminds us that we deserve to have our boundaries respected.
“If an organization isn’t willing to accept the amount of work that you can give them with sane boundaries, it’s probably not a place that’s going to be a long term fit for you anyways. But your skills and gifts and capabilities absolutely can translate to somewhere else.”
No matter what happens at your current job, it is important to remember that your skills will fit somewhere else. And losing one job is often the first step leading you to an even better one!
Figuring Out Where To Go Next
Giving ourselves some much-needed distance and space from our current job will help lift some of the fog many of us have on identifying the right job for us, but Lisa notes that there is another piece to the puzzle around career transition stress. The dreaded job search! For many of us, when we are on the hunt for a new job, the first thing we do is race to any job site we can find and get to scrolling. However, Lisa’s biggest suggestion is to put down the computer for a moment.
“When we go on to Indeed or LinkedIn or whatever the job search site might be, our anxiety tends to take the wheel and make us feel like we’re being productive by continuing to look and search. But ultimately… you’re not ending this work feeling like you have clarity and focus on what you should do next.”
The fact is, we can have all the opportunities in the world in front of us, but if we don’t have a crystal clear vision of what we need in our next job, it doesn’t matter how many job postings we see or apply to. Without that clarity, we’re headed on the path to winding up in the same situation we’re trying to escape from: locked in a job that doesn’t fulfill us. Taking a step away from the job postings can be a vital time that gives us time to release our anxious thoughts and refocus on what we need to do.
A Framework For Finding Career Fulfillment
Once we have managed much of the stress around where we are now in our career and search, Lisa has one key strategy to help manage the stress and pressure around identifying where we truly need to be. We are all searching for that career that gives us genuine fulfillment and purpose, but the task of finding it can be daunting. That is why Lisa has broken down the process into a simple four pillar framework. She goes in depth on how to implement this framework in her upcoming book, Career Clarity, but here’s a quick overview you can use to help guide you through your job search:
Our strengths and gifts
What work tasks feel energizing and naturally motivating to you?
Our magnetic interests
What types of problems do you like to solve and for who?
Our Personality
What kind of organizational culture appeals to you and how you are naturally wired?
Our Lifestyle
What benefits/compensation/flexibility level best fits into the lifestyle you want?
“Using a framework like that can be an incredibly easy way to take the feeling of anxiety, swirling, or wondering and translating it into something that’s much more tactical and practical.”
Having these pillars clearly defined for yourself is a great starting point for finding a job that falls in alignment with who you are. With this knowledge in hand and setting healthy boundaries in our current work-life situation, we are ready to approach our job search from a place of focus, peace and clarity that will help us finally find the work we have been looking for and put us in the mindset to take action on making our dream job a reality.
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Have you heard? Self-love accountability has gotten a whole lot easier! We’ve launched Self Care In Action, a brand new virtual self-care accountability group to help you relax and recharge in the comfort of your own home! Learn more here and join us for our next session on October 13th at 5:30pm ET!