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A Story of a Job Search ( contd )

Chapter 1: The Assessment

As Seth arrived at Alexander’s, he was in a buoyant mood. The self assessment exercise that Linda had given him made him realize that he did have several skills that he could bring to his next role and that life wasn’t as bleak as he had first thought. The exercises also clarified, in his own mind at least, where he wanted to be 5, 15 and 40 years from now and although he wasn’t sure how he would get there, he knew that Linda would guide him. Yes, Seth felt a little bit better than when he was last at Alexander’s. In fact he felt considerably a lot better.

“So, how did you find The Seven Stories Exercise, Seth?” Linda enquired as she sat down opposite Seth. “Oh, hi Linda,” Seth glowed as he looked up, “at first, to be honest, I thought it a waste of time because all I had was a list of vague descriptions like, writing or working on projects, and then I remembered what you said about generalizations and that the experiences had to be concrete examples; so I redid them. I have to admit that as I was writing down my actual accomplishments more specifically, I began to feel really good about myself and what I had done. I mean really good. For example, there was a time when ….” Linda looked at her friend and noticed that as he was retelling the story that his whole demeanor had changed; his shoulders were straighter; he was leaning forward engaging her; he was smiling more and importantly, she sensed an energy about him that drew her into the story that he was relating. This bode well, she thought, for when he starts going on interviews. “……and what I had actually done had lain buried beneath all my self doubt,” Seth beamed as he concluded his story. 

“Once you had completed your list and ranked them so that you had your seven key stories, did you then analyze each story using the template that I sent you last week?” Linda asked. Once again, Seth smiled and pulled out several sheets of paper and laid them in front of her. Each page was headed ‘My Seven Stories’ and each had a subheading with the number of the story and a description of the experience. Underneath each description where the questions that she had sent him to help guide his analysis:

1. What was the main accomplishment for you?
2. What about it did you enjoy most?
3. What did you do best?
4. What was your key motivator?
5. What led up to your getting involved? (e.g., were you assigned to it; did you think it up yourself, etc)
6. What was your relationship with others? (e.g., were you the leader; did you work alone; how did you inspire others; were you a team member, etc)
7. Describe the environment in which you performed
8. What was the subject matter? (e.g., budgets, strategic analysis, etc)

Linda read each page thoroughly and could not help but be impressed by what Seth had written and ergo what he had accomplished. As she put down the last page she looked across the table at Seth who looked anxiously at her waiting for her response. “Seth, Wow! These stories, your accomplishments and your analyses are amazing! By analyzing each story the way you have, I hope that you can see that there is a thread that runs through virtually all of them. You can see the things that you do well and that give you a buzz. What you have written here will be invaluable when you prepare your positioning or summary statement in your resume, and also for your Two-Minute Pitch.”

The two friends sat in silence, each savoring the moment. Linda was happy with the progress that Seth had made, and Seth was happy knowing that although there was still some way to go with his job search, there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

Eventually the silence was broken by Seth who said, “Linda, you haven’t asked me about my Fifteen-and Forty-Year Vision.” Linda blushed, “You right Seth”, she said as she wiped the froth of her Cappuccino from her mouth. “Tell me about your vision.” Once again, Seth produced some pages that he passed to Linda. “No Seth. I want you to tell me where you are now, today and where you will be 5 years from now; and then I want you to tell me where you will be in 15 years time and finally what your life will look like 40 years from now. I don’t want to read about it; rather I want you to tell me.”

Seth gathered his papers and left them in a pile at his elbow. Without glancing at them, he proceeded to tell Linda about his vision for his life over the next 40 years. He spoke about his circle of friends and the kind of work that they would be doing. He spoke of his relationships and the importance of his family during this period. He spoke about marriage and the number of children he would like; where his family would be living and his desire to travel and take his family with him. He covered his hobbies, and the activities he would like to have done at each stage of his life. Seth also told Linda about his spiritual needs and how they were important to him in finding his balance. He covered his health and how he planned to maintain his health despite the grueling career path he had envisioned. And finally, he laid out his vision for the kind of work that he would be doing at each stage and the role that he aspired to.
 
As he covered each phase, Seth became more and more passionate about his life. Linda felt touched by the intensity with which he told her of his vision and his passion was such that she never doubted for one moment that he would achieve most of what he had just told her.

“You have done a lot of thinking about yourself Seth over the last 14 days: what you enjoy doing and do well; and your long-term vision. I would encourage you to continuously add to your Seven Stories with each accomplishment that you have. However, we now need to start exploring job possibilities and particularly how to target the job that you want. Your assignment over the next fortnight is to develop a target list of at least 200 positions, and I don’t mean job openings. In selecting a target, I want you to consider three things: the industry or organization size, the position or function that you want to target and finally the geographic area. You will be surprised as to how quickly you can come up with 200 positions. We will then develop your A-, B- and C-list from those positions you come up with.”
“Is that all?” Seth mumbled rather gloomily as the sense of self-satisfaction that he had felt only 5 minutes ago came crashing down around him. Linda chuckled and reached across the table and pressed his hand. “Ah, not quite. I would like for you to read Parts 1-3 from the book ‘Launching the Right Career’, by Kate Wendleton. Kate is the founder of the Five O’Clock Club and the methodology that I am taking you through now is covered in her book. Importantly, there is a section in Part 2 that discusses how to change careers that you may find useful judging by your 40-Year Vision exercise.”

As Linda left Alexander’s Seth suddenly felt a sense of dread. Everything seemed fine when he was with her, but sitting at the table alone, and staring blankly into an empty coffee cup, the self doubts came flooding back. ‘What if I don’t find a job; what if I run out of money; what if….’ Seth looked down at his notes on his 40-year vision and even though he realized that anything can happen in those 40 years, his thoughts as he left Alexander’s were no longer consumed by self doubt but by a determination to make it happen.

Note to the reader: You can download The Seven Stories and the 40-Year Vision Worksheets by clicking on the links below:

• Analysing Your Seven Stories (click here to download)
  
• The Seven Stories Worksheet (click here to download)
  
• The 40-Year Vision Worksheet (click here to download)

References:
‘Launching the Right Career’ by Kate Wendleton; Thomson / Delmar Learning (2006)

What is Human Architecture?

Identifying Talent

Developing Talent

Retaining Talent

Launching Individual Careers