As a career coach, I get this question frequently. The answer should start with the first principles.  Psychologists tell us, based on extensive research, that job satisfaction is dependent on four factors:

Interests – the sector, the organization's mission and values and your role should resonate with you.

Competencies - are your strengths (knowledge, skills and talents). Your role should allow you to leverage your competencies. The more you utilize your competencies, the better you get at them.  You create a virtuous circle – enhancement leads to additional satisfaction, which leads to more enhancement, and so on.  The notion of focusing on weaknesses is wrong-headed. You would not invest in something that does not provide a return.

Freedom and Autonomy – within the parameters of your role, you should be able to do the job the way you think it should be done. You are not micro-managed.

Relatedness – you relate to the people with whom you work.  They have values that are congruent (not necessarily identical) to yours. Values determine behaviours.  This is what is referred to as organization "fit."

 In addition to the foregoing, there are other criteria you should consider using:

 The Company

Ø  Quality of Management How well is the organization led/managed? Have recent decisions been good? Is there a clear Vision/Mission/Goals/Strategy?

Ø  Industry Leader - Is the organization perceived as an industry leader? Will this be a highly marketable experience? How will it add to my perception of the market? Can I leverage and expand my network?

Ø  Exciting Challenges - Do the issues/challenges facing the organization interest/appeal to me? Are they meaningful to me? How aggressive are its goals? How big is the challenge?

Ø  Strong Performance - How successful has the organization been? What is the calibre of resources available?

Ø  Talent - What is the level of talent in the organization? Are there resources to do the job that needs to be done? If not, can the necessary talent be acquired?

Ø  Colleagues - What are my colleagues like? Are they a talented/fun group?

 The Job

Ø  Exciting Challenges - Does the job itself offer interesting challenges? Will I quickly become bored?

Ø  Career Advancement & Personal Growth - Where could this job lead? What might be the next step in my career? How will I benefit from this experience regarding my learning as a leader and person?

Ø  Fit with Boss - Will I be able to work with my boss?

 Compensation

Ø  Appropriate - Is it competitive and appropriate for the scope of the role?

Ø  Aligned with Goals - Is the compensation plan aligned with the goals of the organization? Does it foster the appropriate behaviour?

Ø  Differentiated - is the compensation differentiated from that offered by other organizations.

Ø  Lifestyle

Ø  Is there respect for lifestyle and an acceptable pace and stress level?

These criteria provide a holistic approach to evaluating job opportunities and ensuring long-term job satisfaction. If you have any specific questions or need further assistance, feel free to ask!

As a career coach who provides ongoing services to clients, I often asked to provide advice in this, and similar, situations.

Situation

You are a team member with a key project, not the leader. The team functions well except for one member whose actions, or lack thereof, jeopardize success.

Action

Meet with the other team members individually or in groups of two or three.  Summarize the behaviours that the individual is demonstrating the impact on the team and project.  Secure agreement that others have the same point of view and the benefits of rectifying the situation.

Advise your colleagues that you are going to meet with the individual and have a conversation that:

1. Summarizes the key deliverables and timeline of the project.

2. Indicates why the project is essential to the organization.

3. Overviews and secures agreement on the individual’s deliverables as a team member.

4. Specifies and provides examples of the individual’s behaviours that are jeopardizing success. 

5. Asks for reasons, including personal ones, for the behaviours.

6. Asks how the team can help address these issues. If they result from the behaviours of other team members or individuals/groups in the organization, ask how a strategy can be developed to resolve them. If they are personal, what can the team do?

7. Secures agreement that the individual will change specific behaviours, what will or won’t be done and when.

8. Advises the individual that if things do not change you will have to review the situation and conversation with the team leader and potentially the project client.

Ask if other team members would like to participate in the conversation. Summarize your discussion with the other team members. Highlight commitments for change.

Observe the individual’s behaviour. If there are positive changes, provide positive and complimentary feedback.  If not, determine why and identify solutions.

If the intervention is successful, do not highlight your involvement to the team leader or client – they will find out on their own.

Your actions will demonstrate initiative, leadership, a focus on results and a willingness to deal with difficult issues, all of which will serve you well.

As a career coach, I have worked with hundreds of clients (I guarantee results) to help them decide whether to accept a job offer or choose between multiple offers. Regardless of your situation, you should think carefully before you make a decision.

You have received a job offer. You are thrilled. You have worked very hard to make this happen. You have spent hours honing your resume and digital presence. You have done many mock interviews that you have videoed and reviewed. You have completed several rounds of interviews. You have even survived the “sanity check” meeting with the CEO/VP/Director or whomever. You have been validated and are flattered that you are chosen in this challenging environment.

You may even be in the enviable situation of having more than one offer and needing to choose one.

It is very tempting to grab it.  However, you need to stop and think.  Accepting an opportunity that is not “right” for you is a mistake.  If there isn’t a cultural fit, you will be miserable.  If the role does not present exciting challenges, you will be bored.  If the role does not offer opportunities to grow professionally and personally, you will be no further ahead than when you started.  You will become angry and resentful if the compensation does not market value for your skills and experience.  You do not want to find yourself terminated or leaving on your own volition.  The former will raise questions about your skills and knowledge, and the latter about your judgement.

Here are some things you might want to add to your decision criteria:

14 Questions to Ask Before You Accept the Job

You have worked very hard on your job search.  You developed a compelling Personal Value Proposition; identified target industries and organizations; networked your way into your targets; had many informational meetings; went through several rounds of interviews and finally got a job offer.

Before you accept the offer ask yourself these questions:

COMPANY

1.    Does the organization have a clear Vision and Mission that inspires me?

2.    Do its Values align with mine?

3.    How successful has the organization been?  Has it achieved its key goals?

4.    Do the opportunities, issues/challenges facing the organization interest and appeal to me?

5.    Is the leadership team talented?  Has the organization recently attracted strong talent?

ROLE

6.    Does the job itself offer interesting challenges?

7.    Where could this job lead? Is this a logical step in my career development?

8.    How will I benefit from this experience in terms of my professional and personal growth?

9.    Will this be highly marketable experience?  How will it add to my perception in the market?

10.  What are my colleagues like?  Are they a talented/fun group?

11.  Will I be able to work with my boss?  Do I respect and admire him or her?

COMPENSATION

12.  Is the compensation appropriate for the scope and expectations of the role? Is it at “market value?

Other

13.  Is there respect for lifestyle and acceptable pace and stress level?

14.  What else is important to me?

As a career coach, I empower my clients to take control of their interviews by helping them prepare for both informational and job interviews.

working together. we develop a script, and by anticipating 80% of the questions you will be asked, you can confidently navigate the interview. Body language and para verbal (pacing, inflection, etc.) communicate 4 times what the words do, so be mindful of these non-verbal cues. The key to a successful interview is preparedness - you can't think up answers on the spot and manage the other 80% of the communicatioin process.

Interviewers frequently ask the interviewees to tell them about themselves. Do not repeat your resume—they have hopefully read it—arguably, you are insulting their intelligence.

Open with something like "I am not going to waste your time by going through my resume - you know what is there".

Your past experiences are incredibly valuable in an interview setting. The best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour. Identify the key experiences/behaviours they seek from the job description, company website or any other source you can access. Prepare stories using the STAR format - Situation, Task, Action, Result. Your unique experiences and the way you handled them are what will set you apart in the interview.

Organizations are often interested in Problem Solving, Handling Conflict and Teamwork. Here are some examples of possible answers:

PROBLEM-SOLVING

Example Situation/Task Bullets

• In my role as Business Development Manager at XYZ Inc., I was responsible for a team of five tasked with organizing all of our client events.

• As you may know, XYZ Inc. is a top provider of enterprise security software.

• Our client events are vital to driving revenue. We host conferences and other events that feature expert speakers on critical issues in the industry.

• These events help us attract prospective new clients and retain our existing top clients.

• Unfortunately, event attendance dropped by almost 15% from 2011 to 2012, and customer retention also dropped during that period.

Example Action Bullets

• When I started planning the 2013 event schedule, I knew it would be critical to get attendance back to at least 2011 levels.

• I sat with my team members and interviewed our top sales representatives. I had some ideas about why attendance had dropped, but I wanted to look at it from all angles. Our sales reps felt we could better market the events through social media.

• We also sent a questionnaire to past attendees and partners and asked for their input on improving our events. In the feedback, we saw some key themes emerging — our clients had excellent ideas for new topics and speakers, and we also saw a clear desire for more structured networking as part of the events.

• Based on this internal and external feedback, I was able to revamp the event agendas to include additional topics and additional networking opportunities.

• I then created a whole new marketing plan, including a social media marketing component, to promote the new and improved agendas for 2013. We brought in a social media consultant to help us amp up exposure on both LinkedIn and Twitter.

Example Results Bullets

• We saw the impact of our changes right away. We saw a lot of buzz on LinkedIn and Twitter and had a record number of advance registrations for our first big event of 2013.

• For that event, we saw increased attendance by more than 25% over the previous year. We also saw a massive improvement in our event evaluation scores.

• In particular, attendees enjoyed the new networking component; over 75% said they would likely recommend the event to a colleague.

• Internally, we got great feedback from sales and senior management. I was singled out by the CEO and asked to present an overview of my approach to his senior staff meeting.

TEAMWORK

Example Situation/Task Bullets

• At Bank XYZ, we were preparing to roll out the new release of our online corporate banking platform.

• My role was to manage communications with customers about the new release, which involved coordinating with dozens of people from technology, operations, various product areas, customer service, and marketing.

• This particular release included a significant new reporting feature that customers needed — so it was essential to get it right.

Example Action Bullets

• Unfortunately, the developers ran into technical problems with the new reporting feature that was supposed to be the centrepiece of the release. They had to scale back and offer only limited functionality to make the release date. We knew that some clients would be disappointed.

• It was my job to get everyone's input on how to communicate it to customers — and I had to do it quickly because the decision was made right before the release date, and we wanted to give customers the courtesy of a heads-up.

• After a lot of back and forth with the engineers and the senior people in Product, Customer Service, and Marketing, I drafted the announcement to customers. I emphasized the positive aspects of the new functionality, explained the delay, and laid out the timeline for the full functionality.

• I also had to work with the group to quickly put together talking points for our Client Account Managers and revise the training and Help documentation.

Example Results Bullets

• I got sign-off from all stakeholders within 24 hours — a minor miracle that required a lot of persistence.

• We could then communicate strategically and proactively to clients before the release went live.

• Clients positively received the release communications. Though some were disappointed with the limited functionality, many were pleased with the benefits of the feature in the beta version and appreciated the timely and clear communications.

• I received nice kudos from the senior managers in Technology and Customer Service — they told my boss that I was invaluable in keeping everybody focused on the customer experience and making the tight deadline.

• My manager was so happy with my performance that I was promoted to Manager level primarily due to my work on this project.

As a career coach, I spend a lot of time preparing clients for job and informational interviews - we video and analyze practice interviews designed explicitly for that role and organization.

Research has shown that 80% of communication is non-verbal - body language - communicating messages to the other person(s), even in virtual situations.

The key to successful interviews is preparedness - you cannot think up answers and focus on the 80% of communication that is non-verbal simultaneously. You end up losing eye contact and fidgeting.

A significant part of the verbal component is para-verbal - the messages conveyed by tone, pitch, and voice pace (speed) and deal with 'how' the messages are delivered rather than 'what.'

Pause for 3- 5 seconds to make sure you understand the question - what they are getting at - and your answer. If you need more time, say so. Do not say, "That is an interesting question". Short periods of "dead air" are acceptable.

Eye Contact. Looking directly at the person you're talking with helps communicate your sincerity and increase your message's directness. If you look down or away often, you present a lack of confidence or deference to the other person.

Body Posture. Research has shown that how you stand or sit is a huge part of how you come across—and even how you feel. While facing the other person directly, an active and erect posture lends additional assertiveness to your message. Keep two feet on the floor. Rest our forearms on the table - it will help to stabilize yourself. Steeple or interlace your fingers until you want to make a hand gesture. Sit still - challenging in a swivel chair. You may want to look at Amy Cuddy's Ted Talk on body language.

Gestures. Gestures go with posture to lend strength to your self-expression. Accentuating your message with appropriate gestures can add emphasis, openness, and warmth. While gesturing is culturally related, a relaxed use of gestures can add depth or power to your messages. However, remember you are not using sign language.

Facial Expression. Let your face say the same thing your words are saying. Your expression should agree with your message. A friendly communication should come with a smile. Get to know how your facial muscles feel in various expressions—relaxed, smiling, angry, questioning.

Fluency. A smooth flow of speech is a valuable asset to get your point across in any conversation. Clear and slow comments are more easily understood and powerful than rapid speech filled with long pauses and stammering.

Listening. Listening is an essential part of any conversation - see my post.

A career coach is different than an executive coach.  The former helps you:

1.      Identify your interests, strengths (knowledge, skills and talents).

2.      Identify the sectors, organizations and roles that are of interest to you and would be interested in you.

3.      Craft a compelling resume and internet presence.

4.      Develop and implement an effective networking campaign.

5.      Capture full value from informational meeting.

6.      Manage job interviews that result in offers.

7.      Negotiate employment contracts.

8.      Integrate successfully into your new organization (onboard).

9.      Deal with issues that may arise in your new role (performance reviews, a new boss, difficult colleagues, etc.

The latter is more focused on helping you become more effective in your role and organization.

When do you need a career coach?

You don’t know what to do next.

You are aimlessly searching LinkedIn and other posting sites and feel there are jobs you can do but aren’t sure if you want to do them.  A coach can help you identify possibilities that might be a departure from your past experience or that you haven’t considered.

You are applying to anything and everything with no results.

You are applying to dozens of posting with no results. You are doing some networking; however, it is not producing results either. You are spread an inch deep and a mile wide. You are doing some networking; however, it is not producing results either.

You are not confident that your resume is compelling.

You are not confident that your resume is reflecting your experience and attributes in a compelling manner.  You wonder if it is getting through candidate tracking systems and screens.

Your networking is not productive.

Your networking is limited to your circle of friends and acquaintances.  You are not able to connect/meet with people in the sectors, organizations and roles that are of interest to you.

You are not getting past the interview stage.

You get some interviews, but they do not lead to job offers.  You are uncomfortable in interviews and not “selling” yourself effectively.  You do not project self confidence and assuredness. You are surprised and unprepared for some of the questions you are asked and are often caught off guard.  When asked if you have any questions, you do not have any meaningful ones at hand. You do not know what to do at the end of the interview and how to follow up.  When the organization does not move to the next steps, they said they would you do not know what to do.

You don’t know how to evaluate a job offer.

If you get a job offer, you don’t know if it reflects your market value and is equitable.  You would like to negotiate some changes but don’t know how.

You don’t know how to manage the first couple of months in your new role/organization.

 You are not sure how to manage your “onboarding” to ensure that you build a solid foundation for success.

You don’t have a resource to manage issues that may arise.

You may have an early performance review that you are not prepare for and respond to.  You get a new boss who was not involved in your hiring and are unsure as to how to build a relationship with them.  You are having problems with a colleague and don’t know what to do.

If these are some of the challenges you face now or could face in the future you should consider a career coach.

If you have a son, daughter, niece, nephew, grandson, or granddaughter who is about to graduate or has recently graduated from university or college they are facing significant headwinds in launching their career. There are things you can do to help them.

The unemployment rate for 15- to 24-year-olds is double that for Canada as a whole.  Universities and colleges will tell you that 90% of grads are employed within six months of graduation.  According to the “2021 -22 Ontario University Graduate Survey”  University Employment Outcomes, Graduation and Student Loan Default Rates (gov.on.ca)  published by the Ministry of College and Universities, almost 40% of grads are earning less than $40,000 annually which means they are working part-time or at minimum wage jobs.  Six months after graduation, 24% are not employed and 45% are looking for work. Less than half of graduates thought their work was related to the skills they acquired at school and the subject matter of their program. 

They, and you, are frustrated and discouraged by their inability to launch their career. Their self-esteem has taken a nose-dive, and they have fallen into a downward spiral; their lack of success has discouraged them from trying. If they do get a job interview, their lack of self-confidence knocks them out of contention. They don't know where to turn or what to do. They have taken to sleeping until noon and partying too hard.

You want to get involved. If you are their parent, it's your job, and you've been successful in helping them in the past. If not a parent, you want to help in what way you can. Despite the urge, beyond providing emotional support, don't do it.

Here's why:

• Your involvement will likely contribute to their angst.

• Your advice will not be taken; it is a twenty-something’s mandate to ignore their seniors’ suggestions.

• Your involvement will likely be resented and become a source of conflict that will spill over to other aspects of your relationship.

• You are not an appropriate career counsellor – therapists don’t treat their own children, relatives or friends.

• Your purview is likely too narrow. In most cases, your knowledge of options available to them is restricted by your experience. You may be knowledgeable about the sector or industry in which you work but not much beyond it. There are brand new sectors such as artificial intelligence that didn’t exist just a few years ago.

• You don’t have the skills and knowledge. What worked for you when you started your career no longer applies. It’s an entirely different ball game; the competition is intense, and the rules have changed.

There are things you can do:

• Be supportive.  Thousands of postsecondary have not yet launched their career. In 2020, 590,000 students graduated from a Canadian post-secondary institution, an increase of more than 100% while the economy grew 17.4% in real dollar terms – the economy has not grown with the growth in post-secondary grads.

• Offer advice when asked but don’t dictate; you aren’t a career counsellor so don’t try to come across as an expert.

• Don’t be an enabler. You shouldn’t expect them to put their shoulder to the wheel to launch their career if financial and other support is unending.

Consider engaging a career coach to help in the process.  Many bring the expertise that will make a critical difference.

Leveraging a Liberal Arts Undergraduate Degree in a STEM Universe

You graduated, or are about to graduate, with a liberal arts degree and majored in English Literature, Political Science, History, or the like. You did not have a talent for or interest in mathematics or science and did not take courses in those areas in high school and therefore could not take them in university. It is universally acknowledged that the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) will offer the best career opportunities in the coming decades

So, what do you do now? Firstly, you need to determine your strengths (skills, knowledge, and talents), aptitudes, and interests. Secondly, you need to identify the sectors or industries that offer the best opportunities for personal and professional growth that resonate with you. It is a safe assumption that these opportunities will reside in growing industries where the demand for talent is robust and growth will provide opportunities for career development. Thirdly, you need to identify roles or functions that fit with your strengths and interests. Finally, you need to develop and execute a strategy that will launch your career in that sector and function.

Several assessment instruments can be helpful to assist you in better understanding yourself, including Meyers-Briggs, the Strong Interest Inventory, and Strengths Finder. Write 250 words on the following; Life View – what is important to me in my life; Work View – what is important to me in my work; and Flow Experience – times when you were in the “zone” – what you were doing and who you were doing it with. Talk to people in different roles and industries – find out what they do and what they like about what they do.

In its 2018 study ”The Future of Jobs” the World Economic Foundation (WEF) identified the top ten skill demands in 2022 as (in order): analytical thinking and innovation; active learning and learning strategies; creativity, originality, and initiative; technology design and programming; critical thinking and analysis; complex problem solving; leadership and social influence; emotional intelligence; reasoning, problem-solving and ideation; and, systems analysis and evaluation. Note that there are only two skills directly related to STEM and they are fairly far down the list.

There are innumerable articles, blogs, and books about what will be the growth sectors in the 2020s and the consensus indicates that those sectors will be;

• Artificial Intelligence

• Robotics

• Financial Services (eCommerce and Blockchain)

• Healthcare

• Professional Services

• Social Media

• Renewable Energy

All of these sectors will require technical skills in some areas however, all will also have functions that do not require those skills. Today’s functions will exist in the above sectors including Finance, Human Resources, Sales, Marketing, and Operations. WEF research identified the following as emerging non-STEM job roles that leverage distinctively ‘human' skills including Customer Service Workers; Sales and Marketing Professionals; Training and Development, People and Culture, and Organizational Development Specialists; and, Innovation Managers.

Customer Service Workers: Every organization has “customers” in the broadest definition of the word and will need people who can satisfy the needs of those customers.

Sales and Marketing Professionals: Every company that sells goods or services requires sales and business development teams. The ability to market and/or sell technology-based products does not require the ability to design, develop or make those products. An understanding of the application, features, and benefits is required along with the ability to change prospects into customers. Sales are all about relationship management, being comfortable with risk-taking, the ability to connect with people, understand their needs and solve their problems.

Training and Development, People and Culture, and Organizational Development Specialists; organizations will be faced with the need to hire the right people and develop their skills. Companies will need to successfully adapt to new technologies and markets which will require new skills. Retaining top talent will necessitate an appropriate culture.

Innovation Managers: technological and market developments will require innovation and people to lead and manage those processes. When you have identified your target sector(s) and role(s) you will need to develop and execute a strategy to capture opportunities. That strategy will require a compelling resume and digital presence (LinkedIn), an effective networking campaign (80% of jobs that are filled are never appear in the public domain, and interviewing skills (interviews “close the sale” and get you the job)