The Right Job, Right Now: The Complete Toolkit for Finding Your Perfect Career

INTRODUCTION

The one thing to make clear before we get going is that there is no such thing as the perfect career. Yes, you read it right: There is no such thing as the perfect career. But there is a career that is perfect for you. It’s one that has all the things that really matter to you at this point in your life, and takes into consideration your priorities and needs as well as what you have to offer a workplace, employer, field, or industry.

You may be completely disgusted, slightly bored, or simply stuck in a career rut. Or you may have a career problem that you’re not sure even has a solution. And once one career question is answered, it’s followed by another and another. If you’re like most people, you’ll probably have more than enough career questions in your lifetime and less than enough time to deal with them all.

You can buy ten books, each one addressing one of the issues you’re facing. Or you can spend hours combing through a long-winded text to answer one burning workplace dilemma. Instead, you’ve picked up the first practical career reference guide that can help you find the best-fit job, restart your career, and answer career questions as they arise.

If you need a complete career overhaul, then read the book from cover to cover. If you require help in one specific area, then skip to that section and discover several ways to tackle that problem. Either way, The Right Job, Right Now gives you a straightforward, no-nonsense approach to get on with the rest of your career life. Before you dive in, however, there are a few important things you should know.

How The Right Job, Right Now Works

The Right Job, Right Now is not your typical career guide. You won’t find long, rambling lectures about the one and only right way to conduct a job search or how to weave your spirituality into your job search. There’s no preaching here, just a clear path from start to finish on rethinking your career, accompanied by uncomplicated advice on common career and workplace problems. Regardless of exactly why you’ve picked up The Right Job, Right Now, it’s important to know what lies ahead of you. Think of this book as a career-planning model crossed with a career toolkit: You can use the book to create a feasible career development plan while you address everyday problems along the way.

Rethinking Your Career Path: Start at the Beginning

Many people are driven to buy a career book to help them start over from scratch. Or, for you first-time job hunters, to simply start from scratch. Perhaps you’ve found yourself several years into a career you hate. Perhaps you want to avoid falling into a rut from the beginning. Maybe life has changed and you need a job or career that’s a better fit to your new circumstances. Or perhaps you like your career, but have become a serial job hopper who hopes each new company will be a better match than the last. No matter what your career needs, The Right Job, Right Now can take you from start to finish. Based on the Kaleidoscope Career Model™, The Right Job, Right Now will help you map out a simple and productive plan and make good decisions that address current career issues and long-term plans. You’re not just preparing for your next job. You’re planning for your career.

To do this, you’re going to have to commit some time, but you now have a step-by-step guide to help you think through your options and how and when to take action. If you want to change careers, find a better job, or just figure out where you belong in the career galaxy, there’s no better time or way to get started.

Getting Help on Specific Questions: Get Right to the Point

Not everyone wants to start from scratch. Maybe you were surprised by your boss’s request for a copy of your resumé. Perhaps you want quick advice on how to handle an overly demanding colleague. Or let’s say you have a case interview for a job you really want and you don’t even know what a case interview is, let alone how to prepare for it. At times like these, you don’t have time to read an entire book on one topic, or comb through pages and pages to find a few solutions.

If you’re facing a specific problem, treat The Right Job, Right Now like a toolkit. Use the table of contents to locate your topic of interest and you can flip directly to that section for answers. Keep it in your desk to grab at a moment’s notice. You never know when you might get your first poor performance review, and you’ll want to know what to do when it happens.

Keep in mind that if you’re using The Right Job, Right Now for job trouble-shooting, you might find yourself skipping from section to section. With every career dilemma, the book will refer you to other relevant chapters and issues you might need to consider. It might inspire you to start at page one and develop your own new career plan.

Knowing Yourself

Perhaps the most important reminder I can offer before you get started is: Know yourself. Don’t worry, I’m not getting all psycho-babblely on you, just keeping you honest. Some people have the patience to read a book from cover to cover, to reflect on every question asked and every exercise posed. Others prefer to jump right to the answers, choosing the one that seems like the best fit. Whatever your personality or your level of commitment, The Right Job, Right Now can help you. You have to figure how much help you really want and what you are willing to do to get the help you need.

If you’re sick of your job and can barely get up in the morning and get out the door, then you may be more motivated to change than others are. But sometimes a stable paycheck or a long tenure makes it harder to take the first step to leave. Or, let’s say you’ve been interviewing for months for the same type of job, with no result. Friends, colleagues, and I can give you advice until we’re blue in the face, but until you take a closer look at your technique or approach and figure out what’s not working, nothing’s going to change.

You have to be willing to try something different or take a few risks. And for any career or workplace issue to be resolved or overcome, you’ve got to put in some effort. You need to realize it all comes from you. No one can do this for you and you have to accept that what worked five years ago might not work now.

Be honest with yourself. Do you have the time and energy to invest in a complete career overhaul? Or can you only manage a simple resumé revision? Some people want to take the time to find the best possible career. Others need only some resumé or workplace guidance. Wherever you fall on the energy, motivation, and commitment spectrum, The Right Job, Right Now can help. After all, your time is valuable and we don’t want to waste it. Just know that you’ve got to put some effort in to get anything in return.

Step by Step

As you make your way through the entire book, or through a single chapter, every To Do will always be listed as Action. That’s your cue that you need to do some work. You’ll also be cautioned to STOP several times throughout the book if there’s an action you need to complete before moving on, or if there’s something you have to know to avoid a serious career-limiting move.

For you list-lovers, at the end of each chapter you will find a complete recap and list of Action items. You’ll also find Good to Knows in boxes throughout the book that should provide answers to many of your questions. If your question isn’t answered here, check out The Right Job, Right Now online (www.therightjobrightnow.com*) for more information and resources.

Getting Extra Help

Maybe you aced your English classes but needed a tutor in algebra. Maybe it was the other way around. The point is, no one can do everything. Getting extra help in an area you’re struggling with is nothing to be embarrassed about. In this respect, career development is no different from English or algebra.

Career counseling and coaching is a big business. There is no shortage of professionals who can help you. Whether you choose to employ a professional in addition to reading The Right Job, Right Now is up to you. You can find a job on your own, but not everyone has the motivation or ability to go at it without some help.

If you’ve got some life issues that might be impeding your efforts, a licensed career counselor or psychologist might be a good first step. Let’s face it, life isn’t always a picnic. And if you are encountering personal, relationship, or mental health problems, a job search is going to be that much harder for you. The Right Job, Right Now is full of great advice, but you have to be prepared to take it. If you’re unsure about what you need, talk to a licensed counselor or therapist. (See Appendix B for some suggestions on how to find one.)

If your problem is motivational, or you need help or guidance to assess and better understand yourself, you might want to consider working with a career coach. Like counselors, they have gone through extensive training, but may be better poised to spur you to action or coach you through a specific professional situation. After all, many coaches are often former business professionals themselves.

Good to Know:

Both counseling and coaching are fields that require specific training and licensure. When considering whether to work with one of these professionals, be sure to ask about all those acronyms on his business card, such as M.S.W. or L.C.C.

As part of a session, the coach may administer a career assessment test. You may remember taking some of these in high school or college, answering what seemed like ridiculous questions: Would you prefer to fix a car or hoe a garden? However, many assessments can help you more than you think. It’s not just about filling in a circle to choose whether you’d rather wield a sword or bake a cake.

If you’re struggling with how to find happiness in your career, an assessment may help point you in the right direction. Some assessments are designed to help you focus your career options while others, like the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator, help you better understand your own behaviors so you can get a sense of what careers you might and might not like. Either way, don’t just take tests hoping for a brilliant epiphany. If you’re looking for an assessment that can help narrow your interests or isolate problem areas, Appendix A has some suggestions on where to start, or you can ask your coach or counselor.

More Than a Book

No matter where this book takes you, just remember: It doesn’t stop here. The Right Job, Right Now online (www.therightjobrightnow.com*) is designed to be your real-time companion with live discussions, real stories, and more help if you need it. Careers change, businesses change, times change. What works today might not work tomorrow. So stay on top of your career and what you need to advance it. You’re in the right place to get started.

PART ONE

What Do You Really Want to Do?: A Career Plan for the Rest of Your Life

Frustration, confusion, apathy—whatever it is that’s driven you to the career edge—you need a plan, a strategy, or, at the very least, someone to tell you what to do.

If you have a quick career question or need fast advice in one specific area, go back to the table of contents and jump to the section that can give you the help you need now. If you need a plan to make a job change, a career switch, or a complete career overhaul, keep reading.

Part I introduces what’s missing from most career books: an easy-to-use plan. Called the Kaleidoscope Career Model™, it’s a simple method for taking a complete look at yourself and your career. It’s not a psychological analysis of all your career misgivings, it’s just an uncomplicated way to take an inventory of all you can give to a career or job and determine everything you want in return.

Don’t put your feet up just yet. Just because it’s easy to follow doesn’t mean you don’t have work ahead of you. But if you’re ready for a straightforward and realistic approach to finally take career action, this is it.

1

Getting Started—Ready, Set, Go

Jason is a thirty-year-old working professional.¹ His dad’s birthday is tomorrow and Jason, total slacker that he is, hasn’t bought him a gift yet. His time is limited so he heads over to the local mall on his lunch hour. He wants to get a great gift but he has no idea what to buy. He hasn’t talked to his sister to see what she is buying, he hasn’t called his mom to ask for suggestions, and he hasn’t done any online research for any ideas. Like many men, Jason dreads shopping, so he’s not familiar with the shops in the mall. When he gets there, he walks in and starts wandering. He assumes he knows his dad well enough to find something he will like. Jason rambles from store to store looking for the perfect gift.

Time passes quickly and before Jason knows it, he has ten minutes left on his lunch hour and no gift. Finding himself in the department store, he settles for a shirt and tie. He pays quickly and walks out disappointed. He has a gift that he knows his dad will use, but it’s not what he wanted. He also knows he didn’t get to half the stores in the mall.

There is a way Jason could have made his search for a present much easier. You know those mall directories that have those big You Are Here signs on them? Had Jason thought to consult one, he could have figured out where he was in the mall and what choices were nearby. Or he could have looked at all the options, gotten a gift idea or two, and then determined the quickest route to his destination. Jason probably didn’t have to settle.

This story isn’t about a man’s unfamiliarity with the mall. It’s about knowing what you’re looking for (in this case a gift) but not knowing exactly where you’re going or how to get there. You can’t merely say you need a gift and expect to find the perfect one. You have to research what the recipient might like, look at your store options, and make a plan for the time you have available. In the same way you can’t say you need a job and expect to land the perfect one. You have to examine your options, make a plan to narrow them down, and find the right one.

Ready …

The Right Job, Right Now involves hard work, commitment, and action. There’s no such thing as a silver bullet that will deliver your dream job after you read a few hundred pages. If you are truly frustrated with your career and willing to take action, you will get results!

The source of career frustration can be any number of annoyances or difficulties. For Brandon, it’s that jerk of a boss who makes waking up every morning equivalent to a trip to the dentist. For Julia, the only passion at work is on the afternoon soap opera video streaming to her computer daily. For Kristine, it’s the nature of the work she has to do—the cubicles around her are filled with intelligent, mutually respectful colleagues, but she’d rather socialize by the water cooler than make another cold call to yet another prospective client.

Complaining to anyone who will listen doesn’t help. Your mom doesn’t really understand what you do. What exactly do you consult on, dear? Your friends are about to start a collection to send you to a therapist (or maybe a new therapist), and when you talk about your job dissatisfaction your spouse looks at you with a blank stare that says, I look like I’m listening but, really, I’m drowning you out.

Perhaps you’re about to begin your career and afraid to graduate because you can’t imagine finding a job you love. Maybe you’ve moved from one job to another trying to compensate for a bad boss or boring work assignments. Or you stay in the same lackluster position thinking it can’t get any better or that you shouldn’t cheat on faithful stability. Regardless of the reason, you are probably thinking career perfection is unattainable, that it doesn’t exist. Keep in mind, however, that career perfection isn’t about rising to the top of the corporate ladder or getting it all (whatever that means). It’s about defining and getting what you want the most. And that is definitely attainable.

You may want a boss who is a true mentor, four weeks of vacation, and a clear path for growth. Your colleague may want a flexible schedule, domestic-partner benefits, and that next plum client assignment. Hmm, now that you’re thinking about it, that flexible schedule sounds great, but the travel that comes with the star client assignment isn’t worth it. Everyone has different choices and options. This is where the kaleidoscope comes