How To Identify Your Authentic Career Path

A big question a lot of professionals are pondering these days is “am I happy with my job choice?”. 

So where do you start when you are trying to find career-choice assurance? With yourself! Your absolute authentic self and what makes you truly happy and excited. There are many ways to accomplish this but the best place I’ve found for anyone to start is by writing it all down.

Get in touch with what your goals are and take inventory of the kinds of jobs you’re most interested in, the companies that really look interesting to you, and maybe even people you know who seem to have your “dream job.”

Even if you are “just looking for any job,” don’t forget these things. They’re important to keep in mind for the future and to keep you on track with your long-term goals.

So what do you do if you decide you want to change your career? It’s time to execute a job search!

The first thing you will need is a good resume. Below are 5 winning resume tips for achieving your job search goals:

Consistent – A good resume is consistent in terms of its punctuation, its language, and its formatting. There’s nothing more distracting for a Recruiter or hiring manager than a resume that has periods after some bullets, not on others, utilizes many different fonts and spacing, uses both past and present tense for the same job, etc.

Concise – Being concise in a resume and also in your LinkedIn profile is right up there with consistency. If the reader has to slog through information or struggle to understand a point, they may just skip over your info altogether.

Results-Focused – I love a resume that can illustrate really well, not only what someone did in a role or in school but also the outcome of that action and/or how it impacted that organization. For instance, if you were in charge of hiring Summer Interns, that’s great, but please tell me a bit about how many, how long it took, what methods you used, was it faster or more successful than previous years, did you hire any as full employees, etc.? This kind of information is incredibly useful and does a better job marketing you as an individual and telling your professional story.

Customized – Even if you just take 5 minutes, please customize your resume to the best of your ability for each role you apply for. It can make all the difference when it comes to a sea of applicants.

Reviewed – People tend to become very attached to their work experience and their resume and less objective about what’s being presented when it’s about themself. Having someone else review your resume will do wonders for you (even if they are not a resume or hiring professional) by pointing out items that don’t serve your goals, highlighting qualities or achievements you may have forgotten about or god forbid, spelling errors. The more eyes on it, the better.

You may also ask : “Is my LinkedIn and online presence really that important?”

YES. 

There may be some industries that rely less heavily on LinkedIn profiles than others, but they are few and far between, and will catch up to the rest of the world quickly. There’s a lot of recruiting, networking, and referencing that happens in the LinkedIn space so it’s important to make sure you’re up to date and fairly active. 

The best way to stay on top of your online presence is to:

Make all your socials private

Google yourself utilizing quotations around your full name, maiden name, etc. You might be surprised what you find.

Set up a Google alert with your name to alert you if something comes up in the future.

So now you have decided on a career path, got your resume ready and are gearing up for an interview. What’s the best way to prepare yourself to get the job?

Find your new job today.