Making a Career Transition

I love this business, pretty much 24/7! And what I especially love about it is getting to see an “aha moment” on my client’s face. Like today. My client and I were talking about these two words – integrate and separate – specifically as they relate to business and making a career transition.
All too often, I see clients who are hugely successful in their business life become absolutely lost and bewildered when it comes to the pursuit of a new career opportunity. Remember — business is business. The concepts, principles, strategies and tactics used to drive and achieve success with, and for, your employer can be fully integrated into making a highly successful career transition for yourself. Is it easy? No. Can it be done? Yes! Time after time, however, I see clients who “separate” or distance themselves from what they intellectually (and intuitively) know that it takes to drive, build, achieve, and sustain “success” in their job search.

Building a relationship is building a relationship, whether you have a job or whether you don’t. Competing is competing, whether you work for somebody or for yourself. Networking is networking. Organization is organization. Projects are projects. Planning is planning. Tracking new opportunities for your employer requires the same tenacity as tracking new opportunities for yourself. The skills used to manage a specific project for an employer can be the very same skills used to manage your own “career project”. The competencies used to succeed in one endeavor can be fully applied to succeed in another. Does the process work every time? No. But does it fail every time? Another no!
The primary difference, in my opinion, seems to be the recipient of your efforts. In the employee role, you are performing a set of activities for someone else – your company, supervisor, team, customer, or colleague. And in your role as Career Project Manager of BRAND YOU, you are executing these tasks and assignments on behalf of yourself. Bottom line — integrate, don’t separate from what you know works in business. If you did all the right things for your employer, I suspect that you have it within you to do all the right things for yourself, as you explore traditional employer/employee affiliations, or in starting your own business. It’s worth a try anyway!
By billiesucher and courtesy of CareerHub.com. The Career Hub blog connects job seekers with experts in career counseling, resume writing, personal branding and recruiting.