You’ve analyzed your talents and realize you, lets say, have knowledge and skills in the field of biology coupled with the ability to solve complex problems which may lead you to believe a career in medicine is appropriate for you.  But you don’t particularly enjoy any of these things and the thought of working with sick people isn’t appealing.   Just because you are good at something, doesn’t necessarily mean you enjoy doing it, but oftentimes it does.

We typically enjoy what we can do well quite simply because we are good at it.  This is where it is important to consider your passions and whether or not they align with the talents you possess.

Consider what Seth Godin said in Tribes. In discussing “something to believe in” he says, “Many people are starting to realize that they work a lot and that working on stuff they believe in (and making things happen) is much more satisfying than just getting a paycheck and waiting to get fired (or die).

He goes on to say “It turns out that the people who like their jobs the most are also the ones who are doing the best work, making the greatest impact and changing the most.”

The next step in knowing yourself in the career development process, then, is to identify your passions.  Many career assessments identify what I call passions as “interests”.

One way to identify your passions based on this interest model is to know your Holland Code.  Here are the six dimensions that your two or three digit code could be comprised of:

Realistic — Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Investigative — Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

Artistic — Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Social — Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Enterprising — Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Conventional — Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Source: http://www.onetonline.org 

What is your code?

You can click on each of the six areas to see job matches, or you can use any of the following assessments (some free, some not) to determine your Holland Code and search for occupations through ONET to determine career matches.

Self Directed Search

My Next Move

Strong Interest Inventory with 1 hour coaching session

THE MARCH LEADERSHIP CARNIVAL FEATURES ONE OF OUR RECENT POSTS

Over the last week, I’ve given a lot of thought into which client I should highlight as an example of discovering talents.  There have been many, all unique, with so many talents to share.  I anticipate using this person as an example throughout the process of describing how you discover yourself and match it to the market, so it has been difficult to pick the “best” one.

With much thought, I’ve decided to make this example personal.  No, I’m not going to describe myself and my journey, but I’m not going to use a paying client either.  Instead, I’m going to use someone who is more like me in genetics than anyone else on this planet, and someone who I helped before I even realized that career development was even what I wanted to do. Helping Graham, my brother, helped me discern that I wanted to be the go-to person for career help.

Why personal?  Because career exploration and decisions are very personal.  By describing someone who I have seen grow and mature through this process, I feel as though I can more adequately describe its impact.

So, with all that said, Graham will be my “guinea pig” as I walk you all through a real example the career process.

Graham did the KSAO process for talent identification indicating his top 2-3 strengths in each area:

Knowledge:

Sales and Marketing — Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

I would also add for him: Administration and Management — Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Skills:

Critical Thinking — Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problem solving.

Judgment and Decision Making — Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

Ability:

Inductive Reasoning — The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

Memorization — The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.

Remember, you can click on the title of each of these to see career matches.  What do you think Graham does for a living today? There isn’t a lot of consistency in his career matches based just on this.  Stay tuned for next week as we discuss passions and then describe Graham’s passions in relation to our process.  If you can’t figure out what he does yet, the pieces will come together over the next few weeks.

LESSONS ON LEADERSHIP FROM BOB WOODWARD

I had the unique opportunity to hear Bob Woodward, who along with Carl Bernstein broke the Watergate Scandal, speak in a private session to the Blackburn Institute at the University of Alabama.  Bob was asked the question, “What advice would you give to students about leadership?”

Instead of giving points on leadership, or even discussing one of the seven Presidents he has interviewed,  he told the story of Katharine Graham, owner of the Washington Post.  By describing the key points of one of their discussions about the Watergate story he emphasized these key points:

• She was “mind on, hands off”.    Meaning she hand her mind on the details of the business but did not micromanage.   She turned people loose to do their jobs.

• She knew what business she was in and had a statement of purpose to direct that business.   This gave her the ability to take risks and have patience to develop stories that drove her business.  She didn’t look at chasing the stock price or correcting issues with the quick fix, instead she focused on doing the business she was in, which she knew would lead to positive results.

• She had a “never, don’t ever tell me never” mentality.  Which led to results like Pulitzer prizes and exposing hard truths.

What story of a true leader can you tell?