Mid-Career Leaders: 3 Smart Things To Do BEFORE Starting a Job Search
I was 27 the first time I was fired.
I had moved across the country from New York to LA to be a producer for the Wanda Sykes Show - a TV show. And I was super excited!
Then the show was canceled after one season. However, I was canceled first and it really hurt.
After getting very drunk with friends, my next move was to run around asking anyone I knew if they could hook me up with any job I vaguely thought I wanted.
I was shaking down my older brother for help with a job at the public radio show, This American Life, when he asked me a pivotal question:
“Is that the job you really want?”
The answer was no. I wanted to be a TV writer.
So, I wrote scripts, contacted agents, and landed my first writing gig, which eventually led to working on some of the most respected shows on TV. In turn, that helped me become the storytelling & communication expert I am today.
Without that question at that time, who knows how many years I would have wasted before I pursued my dream role?
How much angst I would have gone through, suffering in roles that were kind of what I wanted but not actually.
Now I’m a career & leadership coach who develops high-potential women leaders. I help get them the skills they need to approach career growth with calm and ease.
So with that in mind, before you pursue a new role, what can you do to prepare?
By the end of this blog you will learn:
Why you can get out of panic mode now
Why searching for jobs in mid-career is different
What 3 things you need to know before you start reaching out to your network
You Will Get Another, Better Role
If you take some time, get clear, and get some help, the experience of getting the role and thriving in it is going to be better than ever.
The question is not will I ever work again? Or will I ever get promoted? Even though it totally feels that way sometimes.
Instead, the question can be:
How soon do I want to move into my dream role?
What steps do I need to take to get there?
Often if we are laid off or passed over, panic can set in. We may start taking random steps to get into a new job, any job. With that approach you can almost guarantee, it won’t be the next strategic step toward the career future we dream of.
Or we might have a role and suspect it might be time to move. However, we either get wrapped up in our day-to-day and take no action, or again take random steps toward an unclear future.
What we did in our early career–pinballing from job to job, following a set of steps regardless of if we’re connected to their outcome–no longer serves us.
And that is why searching for jobs in mid-career and what you can do about that is different.
Why Searching For Jobs in Mid-Career Is Different
Early career is often about discovery. Figuring out what industries or niches within industries interest you and what your talents and abilities are in that realm.
Over time we get better at what we do, we gain subject matter expertise, and maybe we even like what we do. Maybe we’re good at it but we don’t love it.
Rushing into a new role that doesn’t work for you or staying stuck in a holding pattern in the role you have for an extra year or two can cost you:
Time - In mid-career, we’re adulting really hard. We are big on ambitions and goals but short on time. It’s an opportunity to be more strategic with our actions.
Money - Mid-career is when we are reaching our full earning potential. The next few roles are poised to level-set our earnings for the second half of our career.
Meaning - Let’s be frank. We’ve lived a good amount of time. We want what we have left to count. And if we’re going to spend time at work, it should work for us and the people we love.
Though you are short on time in mid-career, the good thing is you do have skills, resources, and you know yourself pretty well.
That means you have everything you need to get clear before taking calm, considered action.
Three Things to Know Before Contacting Your Network
Maybe your career has been a bit random or off the beaten path. Or you feel like you’re behind.
It’s okay.
Everyone you know who seems to have a perfect career trajectory made a choice to take control of their future and get strategic about what they wanted out of their career.
Start today by figuring out a few key questions:
WHERE do you want to go for the next half of your career?
I’m not talking about your next job, I’m talking about where you are when you retire.
Or at least where you are in 5-10 years.
Knowing the environment you’d thrive in or aspire to–whether it’s a boutique firm or a Fortune 10 company–is going to help you recognize what kind of organization you should move to next.
And that means a lot of things. The size of the organization, industry, growth stage, geographic location, and more.
Being as crisp as you can possibly be in WHERE your work takes place can also determine what your value proposition is. After all, your offer, not to mention the skills and experiences you need, will be different if you want to be the COO of Sony vs the Head of Operations for a VR startup.
By the way, there is a method to step this out. A way to take it step-by-step and take the overwhelm or paralysis out of the process. For the first time ever, I’m offering my Career Destination Excavation tool to help you figure out your North Star. It’s the first step in the AC Electric flagship Career Strategy GPS program and it’s available here.
WHAT do you want to do?
Your life is the months, weeks, days, and hours of your time, add up to your life, so spend them wisely.
Being honest about how you actually spend your days is one good way to start.
What are you doing now that you actually don’t like doing? That’s how you know what to let go of in the future.
What do you do with your time in your happy career future? Replace the stuff you don’t like with the things you do like.
All of this begins to form a more robust value proposition. One that isn't based on what you do now. It’s based on who you’re becoming in the future.
Example: Say you’re the only person at the company who knows how to deal with contracts. But you hate it. You want to be known for your presentation and client-facing skills.
The last thing you want is to advertise the contract stuff! That’s a surefire way to get much of the same and not evolve how you’d like.
Replace your current value proposition with the one you’re driving towards. Even if you’re not an expert in presenting or being client-facing, you’ve probably done it enough to be dangerous. Build on that.
What SKILLS & EXPERIENCES do you need to get there?
The last thing we want is to have you jump to a new role where you don’t grow or grow in a direction that isn’t meaningful to you and where you want to end up.
When you know where you’re going and what you do there and compare it to where you are today–that middle part: the skills and experiences you’ll need to get from here to there become much clearer.
That list of skills and experiences will help you understand what your next role description should be and what opportunities it needs to provide you. This makes screening for the right strategic opportunities much clearer.
Conclusion
When finding a new role, many mid-career women rush to take unstrategic actions or let their day-to-day get in the way of the big future they’re dreaming of. This can cost valuable time, money, and keep us from connecting with our meaning.
Though you might have been able to afford this in your early career, mid-career has different constraints and opportunities.
Investing time, energy, and money into getting clear on 3 key questions before you charge out there can set you up for long-term success.
And you know I’m about that.
If this resonates, for the first time ever I’m offering a step-by-step method to help you figure out your North Star and take the overwhelm or paralysis out of the process. My Career Destination Excavation tool that I use with every one of my clients in the AC Electric flagship Career Strategy GPS program is available here.