by Fabianna Mueti | Oct 13, 2020 | Career Happiness, Mapping and Transition, Self discovery, Succeeding where you are
Since 2003, millions and millions of people have joined Linkedin; for different reasons – to network, to find job opportunities, to find new talent (for recruiters and hiring managers), to build your personal brand, promote your services/products, etc. While many people have mastered how to effectively use the platform to advance their careers, we’ve come across many dormant LinkedIn profiles when scouring the platform to find desired profiles for the roles we hire for. Now, more than ever, virtual networking, as uncomfortable as it may feel, is a skill many of us will have to grow. Today, we explore 3 key ways you can up your game in how you use this vital platform to grow your career.
1. Finding job opportunities – Sure, job boards are great, LinkedIn however, provides more than one way of finding job opportunities. Apart from advertised positions on the platform, a job seeker may also connect to recruiters and hiring managers to enquire about new opportunities in organizations or in spaces they work in. With the rise of social recruiting through social media platforms and referrals, having existing relationships with recruiters and hiring managers can introduce you to opportunities you were not privy to. Of importance here, is to always make sure you have an updated LinkedIn profile that appeals to recruiters and hiring managers. In this blog post, we discussed some of the things recruiters look for on your LinkedIn profile.
2. Increasing your network – As mentioned, virtual networking has been on the rise as more and more social media platforms increase. LinkedIn is especially a crucial platform for those looking to connect with like-minded individuals in their field of work or potential clients for their products and services. It’s also a great place to initiate partnership requests in relation to your work or ask for assistance to learn about specific industries and professions. It’s not just enough to connect to people in your industry, if you’re looking to grow your network, then you have to engage with peers and thought leaders in your industry; comment on their posts, share relevant information, go a step further and invite some of them for coffee, or a phone chat to learn more from them. Check out this blog post, for tips you can use to create meaningful LinkedIn connections.
3. Create your brand – LinkedIn has been able to provide many people with opportunities to build their brands, therefore allowing them to curate an audience niche that relates to and/or engages with their products, services, or content. For instance; if you’re a Career Coach who specializes in helping people revamp their CVs, job hunting strategies, or navigate their career transition journeys, then you’re likely to have many job seekers and professionals looking to transition in your network. The information you share, the way you engage with your audience, who you interact with, etc, are all means of creating your personal brand on LinkedIn. This creates an avenue for the RIGHT people to reach out to you and for you to reach out to them for various opportunities or reasons that can lead to your professional/career growth. Here’s an article on how you can leverage LinkedIn to build your personal brand on LinkedIn.
If you have a LinkedIn profile, consider what information it’s sending out to your visitors. If you’re job hunting, would a Recruiter approach you? If you’re a thought leader in your industry, would people trust your thoughts and opinions based on the information you share? We wrote about 5 ways you may land your next job on LinkedIn here. Part of our Career Acceleration Program is helping professionals revamp their LinkedIn profiles, reach out to us today, and learn how you can be part of our growing community of meaningful and balanced career seekers. Email – happycareers@edgeperformance.co.ke.
by Fabianna Mueti | Oct 1, 2020 | Career Happiness, Mapping and Transition, Self discovery, Succeeding where you are
We’re in the last three months of the year! Can you believe how quickly 2020 has flown by? This years’ events have led many of us on a reflective journey, without doubt, this has included our careers and what this year may mean for our future career plans, or lack thereof, or maybe, what this year means for the next decisions we make concerning our careers. Our co-founder Martha wrote this reflective post on LinkedIn about how we can turn tragic events into gifts, drawing from her own career journey, read it here (ideally before you finish the rest of this email 🙂 ). Have you found yourself almost obsessively pondering about where you are in your career? Reflecting on the skills and knowledge you have accumulated and wondering how you can leverage them for this moment and the future? If so, This post is for you. We highlight two questions you should ask yourself when conducting a career audit, to hopefully help you manage your career in the right direction.
1. Is your skill-set still relevant? – The conversation about the Future of Work has been happening for many years now. To witness so many changes that had been theorized and predicted to happen in the future materialize within a span of months such as mass remote working has been…. quite something. Now, many people find themselves thinking about what this period means for their future careers. Professionals in some of the industries that have been hit the hardest by this pandemic such as hospitality and tourism, have to critically reevaluate how their skill-set can be utilized in new industries, or even, pursue different career paths entirely. Others may find themselves in situations where their skills are no longer relevant in the new world. Answering this question honestly allows you to analyze your strengths, weaknesses and take the necessary steps needed to propel your career to the next level such as taking online courses, or working with a career coach to remap your career journey, volunteering to up-skill among others.
2. What new things have you learned about yourself in the last six months? – Many of us discover new things about ourselves when going through a life-changing experience, and this is one that is being collectively lived by many around the world, so really, we’re also learning a lot about each other, and this can be an opportunity to explore new interests, opportunities, networks, etc. So what are things you have learned about yourself that you didn’t know before? What new interests have you developed and how can you pivot them (if interested) into your career? Has being quarantined made you realize you need to reassess your purpose? If this is the case, the next phase should be to figure out what resources, tools, and possibly professional help, you need to realign your career goals to your new discovered interests and/or needs. Self-awareness is a continuous journey, and we outlined in this blog three ways you can develop it for career success.
For further reading, please check out this post we wrote containing five reflection questions you should ask yourself if you’re wondering about your career direction. If you found this useful, please forward it to your friend or network. Check out more content on our Career Happiness Center. As always, feel free to reach out to us at happycareers@edgeperformance.co.ke if you’re looking to address your most pressing career challenges.
by Fabianna Mueti | Jun 11, 2020 | Career Happiness, Mapping and Transition, Self discovery, Succeeding where you are
Your career does not have to be static. I wish the eighteen years old me struggling to figure out what degree to pursue would have known this, ha! Choosing a career path can and often does feel very binding, and while it is, to an extent, it’s important to know that the career path you start with doesn’t have to be what you do for the rest of your life. Our passions, interests, and strengths evolve, and sometimes, that informs our decision to pursue different careers.
Many of the clients we have coached to transit from one phase of their career to the next, agree that knowing your strengths and unique ways of contribution is a prerequisite of making this life-changing decision.
Today, we outline below 3 ways you can discover your core strengths and why it’s important to have this knowledge before embarking on a career transition journey.
1. Seek honest feedback – When considering transitioning into a new career, asking for honest feedback from people you have a trusting relationship with is key. This could be your supervisor, peers, clients, or anyone else who cares about seeing you grow in your career. You want to make sure you’re talking to people who care about your growth so that they’re honest about your strengths and areas of development. This is why it’s important to cultivate meaningful, trusting relationships with the people we engage within our professional lives. Usually, people around you will have observations that can give you additional data to use in making career transition decisions. Here is a guiding article you can use to get honest feedback, spoiler alert; it takes time, building trust and effort.
2. Follow what keeps you in-flow/energized – As explained here, “flow is the mental state in which a person is engaged in an activity where they are fully immersed with a feeling of energized focus, involvement, and success in the process of the activity”. What are these activities for you? How do they fit into the goals you have set for your career goals and the next career you’d like to have? Simply, what type of tasks do you enjoy doing and how can you tap further into those strengths to create a foundation that will help you begin the career transition process? This also makes it easier/smoother and you pick up things faster, which helps you identify what next steps you need to take, for instance, if you enjoy sharing knowledge and information, you could reach out to a coach in your area of interest who can be your mentor and hopefully connect you to learning opportunities, or you could start a blog or social media page where you share said content and seek engagement.
3. Work with a career coach – Working with a coach enables one to reassess their strengths through the provision of tools and resources customized for this very need and one is able to get an objective perception of their strengths. Further, one can also learn more about the skills needed for them to thrive in the next phase of their career and know which best next steps they should take to fill any gaps before or during the transition period; this usually will include setting clear goals, coming up with an action plan, and the confidence to pursue these goals. We wrote more about the importance of working with a career coach here. This is a good way to ensure you’re making informed decisions that will ultimately benefit you personally, and professionally.
Looking to transition into a new career and are not sure where to start? Reach out to us today; happycareers@edgeperformance.co.ke. Follow us on our social media for more similar content: LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
by Martha Karimi | Mar 23, 2020 | Career Happiness, Mapping and Transition
Ok guys, how did you get into the career you are into today?
Although rarely admitted, one of the underlying reasons that people end up in careers that are misaligned to their true selves lies in the fact that our careers are often imposed on us by our guardians, and/or though sometimes rebellious we still manage to succumb to family pressure because that line of work is “marketable” or “it runs in the family”.
Feeling like you belong in the above categories? Don’t worry! Today, there are numerous tools that can help you start gaining clarity to guide your career decisions. We found some to kick you off!
* Sparketype is a self-discovery tool that helps you understand what keeps you in flow. You can then use this information to explore the right jobs/tasks for you. More details here
* In his popular TED talk – Start with Why; Simon Sinek expounds the importance of asking yourself the question; WHY? In his case studies; he shows how important it is for you to feel connected to what you do and how this inspires others. Listen and reflect discover what really matters for you!
* Want to learn more about your personal preferences and tap into these to add value to your team? What gives you energy? Understand how you make decisions? Take the classic Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Assessment here today and start your journey to self-discovery!
And of course, if you want in-depth analysis and support in figuring out your career direction, feel free to talk to us today! Wondering what to do with your career? Halla at happycareers@edgeperformance.co.ke
by Fabianna Mueti | Jan 27, 2020 | Career Happiness, Mapping and Transition, Self discovery
For most people who feel stuck in their careers; whether it’s being in a job they don’t like, job applications making little to no progress, or, wanting to switch careers and not knowing where to start, it can seem daunting to want to ask for help. And this can lead one to question their abilities, sense of worth and suffer from imposter syndrome. This is where a Career Coach should come in.
Jobs and careers occupy a big chunk of our lives, so it’s critical that we invest time, and sometimes our resources to figure out what we can’t seem to do on our own, that is impeding us from progressing further, or feeling fulfilled.
So we compiled a list of reasons as to why you need a career coach:
1. Tailor-made solutions – Sure, Google is great, but the articles you’re reading are unlikely offering solutions tailored to your needs, personality, and maybe, current confusion, and they may not define your problem as you’d like. A Career Coach exists exactly for this purpose; to help you define your challenges, provide you with clarity, and help you map out what you want to do. Not only that, but working with a Career Coach provides you with an opportunity to get real-time feedback on the progress of action steps agreed upon.
2. Increased self-awareness – Because Career Coaches use a variety of tools to assess your needs and help you identify your strengths, weaknesses, interests, goals and so much more, the result is an increased awareness of self, which enables one to make informed decisions about their jobs and careers.
3. Improved accountability – Because life can get really busy, or, procrastination can get in the way of progress, a Career Coach helps you to become more accountable to yourself. With agreed-upon action plans, whether it’s revising your CV, creating an elevator pitch, looking for volunteering opportunities to transition careers, and so forth, it’s hard to avoid accountability when you’re investing to improve your current situation.
4. Honest feedback – Most of us ask for career advice from family, and friends because it’s easier and cheaper to do so. A career coach tells you what you NEED to hear. A friend may look at your CV and tell you it’s great, a career coach will look at it, and point out 10 mistakes. Why? Because that’s their expertise, and their opinions are not biased; their role is to point out your inconsistency, dismantle some of the myths you may have about jobs and careers, and pretty much give you a reality check of what needs to be done. Who wouldn’t want that?
5. Build confidence – Unless you were not intentionally invested in your career coaching sessions, it’s hard to not build up your confidence as a result. One of the key roles career coaching plays is to identify some of the fears you have around pursuing your goals and providing you with the information and tools to conquer them and help you get out of that comfort zone. Career coaching helps you introspect, ask yourself difficult questions, and face some of your fears that bar you from achieving your potential.
Have you worked with a Career Coach before? What was your experience?
If not, at edge, we have a number of Career Coaching Programs that aim to answer some of your most pressing career queries and provide you with the tools to navigate these challenges. If you’re interested, please email us at happycareers@edgeperformance.co.ke.
Get a sneak peek our career coaching by watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvRnyw8_D7Q
by Fabianna Mueti | Dec 3, 2019 | Career Happiness, Mapping and Transition, Self discovery
Ho ho ho! Tis’ the season to reflect on your career!
The festive season is upon us, and as you take the time to plan for the end of year vacations, we’d like to urge you to consider doing the same for your career. How do you feel about the progress you have made towards your long term career aspirations this year? What shifts should you be making in 2020?
Undergoing a career self-evaluation allows you to track the progress you’ve made, and identify opportunities to tap into, for your growth.
To kick you off, grab some warm chocolate and muffins and indulge in these reflective questions. Alternatively, you could consider taking our newly launched Career Happiness Assessment Tool.
- What is the proudest career goal I achieved this year?
Look back at the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year. Did you want to get a new job? To get promoted? To switch careers? To start your own business? Learn a new skill? Expand your network? Whatever it was; evaluate what steps you took to achieve them, and progress made. If you did not take any steps to achieve any of the goals, ask yourself why this is the case and come up with a strategy to implement your goal in the next year.
- What new things did I learn, that expanded my skills and knowledge?
Who are you becoming? When you look back at who you were at the beginning of the year; what new skills and knowledge have you gained? How did they add value to your work? Learning is a never-ending process that should always be a part of your career journey. If you did not learn any new skills, this likely means that you did not find new ways to improve the way you do things; whether in your work, in how you communicate, how you search for jobs or network, and so forth. This is regressive, and should not be the case in the New Year.
- What mistakes did I make this year, and what did I learn from them?
One of the many ways we are able to become better is by acknowledging our mistakes and taking the initiative to learn from them. Thomas Edison tested 10,000 bulbs to find the one that would light up our world. Here is an article we did that talks about being personally accountable at work. We hope you can also apply this article to other areas of your life.
- What are the areas I need to improve in?
In order to identify your areas of weaknesses, you need to honestly self-assess yourself. If you’re finding this difficult, you can utilize the relationships you have at work, or in your personal life to ask for feedback. Additionally, you can take up self- assessment tests on the internet to help you get a clearer picture of your strengths and weaknesses. An example is the 16 personality test that you can take for free.
- How did I step outside my comfort zone this year?
One of the key components of growth is how uncomfortable it can be. Often at times, getting to the next level in your career requires you to put yourself out there in diverse scenarios that may not be as conventional as you would like. This may include things like attending networking events to pitch a partnership as an introvert, or taking on more responsibilities outside of your JD, volunteering on the weekends in order to transition into a new career, and so forth.
- What does success mean to me?
Everyone’s definition of success is relative. For one person; it may be a healthy work-life balance, for the next; it could be a fat bank balance, for the next person; it could be the ability to work remotely as they please, and for another; it could be to become a CEO of an international company. So how do you define success for you? If your career life does not represent this definition, in what ways are you working towards it getting there?
- What changes do I need to make, to have a more fulfilled career life?
In all honesty, how satisfied are you with your career life? Do you not enjoy the work that you do? Are you unhappy with where you are now? Are you not adding value to your current workplace? Are you unaware of what career path you want to take? Now would be a good time to draw up a plan that can change this narrative. It may involve updating your CV and LinkedIn profile to kick off a new job search, taking up online courses to increase your skills, attending a career coaching program, and so on. No clue where to start? Talk to us, our Career Happiness Satisfaction Tool might kick you off in the right direction.
- What are my goals for the next year?
Last but not least, the next step should be to come up with next year’s goals. Take this opportunity to compare how they have changed from the goals you had at the beginning of the year and point out which areas you will need additional support in. As always, your goals should be SMART. If you’re afraid you may not hold yourself accountable to a high degree, now is a good time to seek out a trustworthy accountability partner. Read this article on, 8 ways to help you set and achieve your career goals in the New Year for more context
We hope you found the above questions useful. In addition, we’d like to share with you our recently launched Career Happiness Center where we have a myriad number of tools (articles, videos, checklists) as pertains to job hunting, succeeding in interviews, managing your boss career transition, etc. to help inform your 2020 goals and help you smash them!
As you begin to indulge in the festive season, we leave you with this profound quote by the late Anthony Bourdain; “If I am an advocate for anything, it is to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river”.
Happy Festive Season!
