If you are considering a career change or are out of a job, you may consider doing what most people do – immediately begin to update your resume. While this is a great thing to do (whether you are out of a job, are hot on the job seeking trail, or not), sometimes it is important to take a step back and reflect on things before launching into the tactical aspects of job transition.
One way to look at this is by giving the right side of your brain some exercise. The right side of our brains deal with the mind, body and spirit of ourselves. It is more abstract in its processing than the left side of the brain that attends more to the tactical and concrete aspects of things, like for example a resume or interview techniques or updating a LinkedIn profile, which is what most job seekers focus on.
(If you want to know more about left vs right brain issues, check out this quiz and this blog post)
To get in touch with the right side of the brain can mean better long term job satisfaction and job search results. To do so:
1. Start with career assessment.
2. Get in touch with your mind by letting go of past failures, creating a list of what brings joy, envisioning what your life looks like, what you want to change, the sacrifices you are willing to make, etc.
3. Get in touch with your spirit by getting a personal board of directors to help you. Find someone who is more successful than you and begin a networking relationship with them, then, set up your own success timeline.
4. Get in touch with your body by branding yourself for marketability. Look in the mirror and assess your own personal image –what are you conveying? Does it fit with where you want to be? Create the physical and electronic brand you need to be successful.
When you can reconcile these two sides of your brain by getting them both to work and work together, you can then commit to an action plan with timelines and deadlines that incorporate both the tactical stuff as well as the mind, body and spirit.
Need help doing both? Our Beyond Ready Workbook can help you do both things.
In the interest of full disclosure, I learned about a lot of these ideas at the NCDA conferencefrom an informative roundtable by Beth Bryce. You can learn more about Beth here:https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethbryce
