Your Best Career Move

Time for a new career? Here’s what to consider.

By Kathy Bremer

You know in your gut when it’s time to move on. Maybe you’ve already done your highest-value work, or your organization is in turmoil, or your position is about to go away. When I wake up two days in a row lacking excitement about work, it’s time to consider a move. The reality in this economy is that anything can happen – quickly and unexpectedly.


That’s why you need a plan, a network and a system. These five strategies provide a proven approach to making the right transition. They lay the groundwork for successful moves for the rest of your life. An overall guiding principle is: You get a job through people, not a résumé. 

Strategy #1: Take charge. 
Decide that you are going to take control of your future. Realize that you have received a gift – the impetus to make a change for the better. Get a journal and start writing, planning and mentally preparing for the opportunity of your life. 
 

Strategy #2: Go deep. 
Self-awareness is the breakfast of champions. Spend time  thinking and writing about who you are, your assets and what matters most.

Ask yourself questions like:

• What’s my mission in life? What do I want to do before I die?
• What do I like/not like to do in work?
• What’s something big and new that builds upon things I have done and enjoyed?
• What are my core strengths? Read Now, Discover Your Strengths and take the online test. Decide to work 100 percent in your areas of strength. Never take another position that requires you to operate in areas of weakness.
• What is best and unique about me? Recall your three to five most significant work achievements – the ones that felt most triumphant. Write them down. Now analyze the talents and skills that enabled that accomplishment.

Strategy #3: Focus.
 Develop a strategic plan – with strategies, tactics, timelines and metrics. Begin by envisioning your end goal. Example: “In six months I will be working in a role fully aligned with my strengths that pays at least $x, is in y city and has z kind of culture.”

List the first 25 to 30 people you will call. Choose people who are likely to respond and can provide advice and referrals to others.

Orient your résumé around your accomplishments, strengths and desired outcomes. If you must have an opening paragraph, keep it short and focus instead of conveying the difference you made at each of your organizations, starting with the current/most recent. 

Strategy #4: Go! 
Start calling your first 25 to 30 contacts. Call all of them in one day, and use voice mail as a cultivation tool. Ask, “Would you be willing to give me advice?” In my experience, only once has someone said “no” to that. Follow up, get appointments and get going!

• Seek and listen to advice. Let people know your aspirations and ask for their suggestions. Who else should you be talking to?
• Follow up flawlessly. Write a sincere thank-you e-mail. Contact the people to whom you’ve been referred, using the referrer’s name early and often. Get an in-person meeting, even if you have to wait weeks. It’s the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
• Don’t waste time applying to jobs online. If you see something that interests you, network your way to the organization. There are rare exceptions that prove the rule, but do everything you can to avoid cyber-submissions.
• Create and constantly update a database. Include all contact information, summaries of conversations and names of referrals. 

Strategy #5: Hold Out for a really good match
. There’s no one with the same assets as you. There is a position for which no one else can offer anything like what you bring. This is the one you want. To find it requires focus and determination.

• Keep building your network, following up and meeting new people.
• Sheer numbers are important, as long as you’re meeting people who are in the ballpark of where you want to be.
• Leverage, but don’t overuse, your network. Update key mentors strategically.
• When you’re targeting a specific opportunity, try to find someone in your network who can help with access.
• When you find the right spot, you will know it. Then you can bring your network to bear as references and advisors.
• When you land the position, write a thank-you note to everyone who has helped you.

Your network is a resource for life. Stay in touch. Ask advice. Help as many people as you can who come to you for advice. It’s a tough, competitive world out there. And what goes around, comes around. 


Kathy Bremer has worked in journalism, marketing, advertising, public relations and fundraising in international corporate and nonprofit settings. She is currently the managing director of BoardWalk Consulting, which specializes in nonprofit leadership including board governance, strategy and executive search.