Part 1: Out of Work?: Use Your Mirrors

Don't neglect to reflect. It's the most overlooked key to job hunting.

Patricia Kitchen | Change@work

September 28, 2003

For most job hunters, the first step is to log onto Web sites or pore over help-wanted ads. But they skip the key step that helps focus their sights and sell themselves: self-assessment.

Of all the career techniques, experts say, this is the one most neglected. We are a nation of doers, not reflectors. And that's just what's called for -- getting quiet, plumbing the depths, digging through what we think we're supposed to feel, to get to what we do feel about what's most important in our work lives.

But there are compelling reasons for doing early on what Manhattan career counselor Anita Lands calls "creating a database on yourself."

First, when it comes to career options, "people limit you before you have a possibility to grow," says Joy Cavalieri, a private career consultant in Plainview. Well-meaning teachers or family members steer you away from paths they see as risky or impractical. But if you blindly follow their lead, you end up wearing someone else's suit your entire life, one that doesn't necessarily fit.

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Second, you do a far better job of selling yourself in cover letters, at networking events and on job interviews when you know yourself, your strengths, your strongest interests and can express genuine enthusiasm for the work. And doesn't that sound like a more appealing approach than memorizing those canned answers to interview questions?

Self-assessment involves answering some fairly basic questions, including: What activities do I do well that I also enjoy? What have been my proudest accomplishments, big or small, whether others valued them or not?

What are my inherent interests -- the subject areas I find fascinating? How do I like to spend my day, working independently or with others in a bustle of activity?

To what degree am I willing to sacrifice inspiring work for higher pay or vice versa?

Simple questions, surely, but not always easy to answer truthfully after years of being prompted to value money, prestige and pleasing others above the reward that comes from doing work you love. "Dig beneath that false reality," says Cavalieri, who re-evaluated her own career path just last year.

You can do that by carving out time for reflection, journaling, testing the waters by doing volunteer work or reading any number of books such as "What Should I Do With My Life?" (Random House, $24.95), the bestseller by Po Bronson. That book had quite an influence on Evan Silverman, 32, of Brooklyn. He had a healthy career going as director of Internet services for the National Basketball Association -- good money, high prestige. But his gut had been saying, "I need to explore the world."

About three years ago he got interested in horse racing after seeing a television show on Secretariat. After reading Bronson's book and doing plenty of soul searching, he decided to leave his job and learn more about horse racing. He e-mailed 10 thoroughbred horse breeding farms in upstate Saratoga asking if they needed help, heard back from three and spent this summer as a farmhand, keeping a journal of his daily observations.

In addition to learning about the horse business, he also liked the fact that "it was a solitary pursuit. I didn't have to worry about staff."

Back in Brooklyn, he's continuing to explore, and is considering teaching, working with animals or writing a book on this summer's experience. "I'm trying to figure out how I want to lead my life; that's difficult and exciting." Surely, self-assessment can be messy. But there are resources to help. You can work with counselors at job centers, libraries and college career centers who are trained in administering assessment tests, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or the Strong Interest Inventory. But these tests are not designed to give you the magic answer -- only ideas for occupations that may be a match. It's up to you to explore them further to find out.

Kate Wendleton, president of the Five O'Clock Club, a Manhattan-based career coaching group -- on the Web at www.fiveoclockclub.com -- tells of one member who went though the self-exploration process and ended up returning to a corporate job. A few years later he came back, went though the program again and went on to become a hairdresser. The first time, says Wendleton, he wasn't honest -- "he wrote down what he thought the world would approve of."

So here's one more question to add to those mentioned earlier: What's more important, playing to my image or to my authentic self?