I can clearly remember the point in my career when I started asking myself “What the hell am I doing?”.
After a fulfilling career in the defence force, I found myself bouncing between various roles: working for a video teleconferencing company, customer service roles for the local government, and even a short stint at a telco. Money was tight, and I often lived paycheck to paycheck. To say I was unsatisfied with my current work situation was an understatement.
Fast-forward to today and I have worked in many fulfilling roles in learning and development and leadership and am running my own coaching business. How did I get here? One of my key steps along the way was to take a moment to consider my values.
Back then, when I was bouncing between a series of unfulfilling jobs, I began questioning my why and spent months, even years, grappling with this question. I asked myself the question, “What do I love doing?”. After some serious brainstorming, I came up with one common theme; I found joy in helping people. In every role I’d done, I’d relished the opportunity to help others on their journey. When I began to develop expertise in an environment, I felt compelled to share that knowledge.
So, I had identified my first value: Helping people. This realisation led me to dig deeper and come up with a list of my other values:
- Authenticity
- Generosity
- Leadership
- Empathy
- Integrity
Once I had worked out a list of values, I started asking myself, “If these are my values, how many of them can I live by doing what I’m currently doing?” The answer was, not many. I had to be creative and think about what I could do that would align with who I am.
So, I did some research and came up with another list, one that included different roles that involved these values. This new list included corporate trainer, organisational specialist, HR generalist, and support worker.
After taking a hard look at what these roles required and comparing them to my achievements, I realised I had some work to do. I settled on corporate training, saved some money, and took two weeks annual leave to do face-to-face training to get my Cert IV TAE 40110.
I looked for every opportunity to gain experience. My manager supported this, and together, we identified opportunities within our team where I could facilitate training on technical skills, resilience, and handling difficult customers.
It’s amazing that by considering my values and identifying a goal that aligned with them, I could change my outlook on life. My mindset shifted from how unsatisfied I felt in my current job to how this job could help me become the person I wanted to be. I embraced it.
Conducting Your Search
If my story resonated with you, you might like to spend some time thinking about your values and how your career could align.
Identify Values
Write down your core values. These are the principles and beliefs that matter most to you. Order them from highest to lowest importance. If you need help identifying your values, you could ask yourself:
- “What aspects of my role do I love?”
- “What traits do I admire most in others?”
- “What moments in my life have felt the most fulfilling?”
Search for Roles that Fit
Using a search engine like Google, research job roles that include a focus on these values.
If you’re unsure what to search for, try thinking of it like a funnel. Start broad before honing in on various roles that appeal to you. Here are a few broad search terms you can try:
- Jobs that demand empathy
- Jobs that emphasise creativity
In your search results, you may find articles from job seeking platforms such as Seek and Indeed outlining careers that align with certain values.
For example:
12 Interesting Jobs for Creatives – Indeed
25 Careers for Creatives – Seek
Evaluate Fit
From these broad career areas, you may like to narrow it down and review some specific job ads. This may give you a better sense of the day-to-day work tasks that may be involved and the skills required. You could also reach out to people in those fields and ask about their experiences.
When looking through job ads, you can consider how they match your values and current skills, keeping in mind the possibility to gain new skills. Highlight key phrases and requirements that resonate with you.
Be Curious and Creative
Don’t hesitate to dig deeper and explore roles you might not have considered. Sometimes, the best opportunities are in unexpected places.
By aligning your job search with your core values, you can find a career that’s fulfilling and sustainable in the long term. This approach ensures that you’re not just looking for any job but the right job for you.
Remember, you don’t have to do this alone. Talk to your manager about opportunities within your current role that align with your values, seek advice from colleagues, and discuss your goals with friends and family. They can offer valuable insights and support. And if you need help identifying your core values or finding a career that aligns with them, I’m here for a chat.