Crisp, chaotic or confused?

Crisp, chaotic or confused. How clear is your thinking when looking for that next step?

When searching for your next step how clear are you are around explaining what you bring and what you are looking for is directly proportional to the level of effort and work you will need to do to find your next step.

Does your marketing material tell a clear story?

People generally want to help however most of us are time poor, so don’t have the bandwidth to try and decipher the types of opportunities that would fit.

Working with clients as their career coach is like being a professional translator or spell checker. People share what they are looking for and together we translate it into a language that resonates for employers, while also growing the clarity of the storey you are trying to tell.

The four levels of a good career storey are:

Crisp – this is where you can clearly articulate the type of role, industry and problems you are able to solve. It leaves the other person with an idea of the experience you have had in the past and how it relates to what you want to do in the future. You are able to join the dots and makes it easy for the other person to see if you are a great fit for the role.

Confused – this is the most common level that I see. this is where you have snippets of clarity yet it still requires some work on the part of the other person to understand it. It requires some work on the part of the listener to know what opportunities fit your skillset. There is no clear link between what you have done in the past and where you would like to go.

Chaotic – this is where every time you are asked “what are you looking for?” the storey is different. It jumps from one idea to another with little consistency. As a result the listener feels lost and unsure as to how they can help. It also means in an interview that you are selling yourself short and are likely to miss out, because of the lack of clarity in how your skills match what the employer is looking for.

Think of selling yourself as a process of being able to link your past experience and skills with how you can help someone solve the problems they are facing. If it is clear the problems you help solve, what makes you unique, and you understand how what you have to offer fits – your odds of being selected goes up exponentially.

This doesn’t just happen (for the majority of people). It requires work reflecting on the skills you bring (and want to use), having well-constructed stories of where you have solved similar problems in the past, and where you want to use the skills (sector, type of organisations, type of clients).

For example, one client went from vague about what he was after to refining down that he wanted a relationship manager role, in a specific sector, helping particular organisations, that match his past experience doing something similar to what he was doing for his current employer. Crisp!

Confusion means no – the chemicals prove it

I took part in a sales course where it was pointed out that Confusion will lead to a ‘NO”! Sales conversation over. They related it back to the chemicals released in our brains – that if jargon fills the sales conversation, the prospect’s brain will release cortisol, and they will immediately want to stop the conversation. On the other hand speaking with clarity releases endorphins that attracts people to what you have to say. The same principle relates to looking for work.

In conclusion – join those dots for other people so it makes it easy for them to follow. For those in your network it will allow them to point you in the direction of new opportunities. When interviewing it will highlight your skills and experience so you shine and stand out from the crowd. In your CV, it will allow your document to pop – with well formed examples that leaves the reader with no doubt of how you are the solution to their problems.