There are so many things I love about my job. Every day I get to educate and empower people to take positive action to transform their careers. I get to hear fascinating stories of the twists and turns careers take. I get to support and encourage people as they find work they love. It’s awe-inspiring and humbling to be part of my clients’ journeys.
One of the reasons I do what I do is because I believe everyone deserves to find fulfilling work that leverages their strengths and interests. More importantly, I believe that work is out there waiting for you if you haven’t found it yet! Yup. There’s a dream job for everyone (though it definitely changes over time).
Guess what gets in our way of finding our dream job? We do!
There are two things I see repeatedly in my work with clients that are often a barrier to getting that dream job. It has nothing to do with resume format or LinkedIn profile skills or the usual things you would guess need to be improved.
It starts with strengths. First we need to know what they are, then (and this can be the hard part) we need to love our strengths.
Finding strengths sounds challenging, but it can be as simple as paying attention to the compliments you get or finally noticing what’s been in front of you. The important thing is to lean into those strengths when you discover them.
The harder piece for most people is to appreciate the strengths they find. And not just appreciate them, but to love those strengths because they are what make you authentically you! Even the weird strengths and the boring strengths.
I regularly work with people that don’t see the value in their unique strengths. I help them understand and appreciate how awesome they are so they can communicate that value to others. But it doesn’t happen until they find a way to love their strengths.
When we see the value and appreciate the value, we can share that value with others. If you’re thinking about starting a job search, start with love. Love your strengths and everything else that makes you authentically you. You'll be amazed at how much better your career story is when you do this!
#PositiveAction What strength have you had the hardest time appreciating? Ask someone else to tell you about a time when your strength helped them.
And as always, I have a book recommendation if you want to dive deeper. I didn't love it (see what I did there?) but it's extremely popular and I know it's been helpful to some.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay