The Process- Why it Always Matters

The Process- Why It Always Matters

Here we are. 2017. The world seems crazy, hiring seems to be up, economy seems to be strong, but so many people, including veterans, are still citing a lot of difficulties making that jump to their next career. So, what gives?

Well, let’s look at something completely unrelated to you finding your next career and parallel that to what might be tripping you up in your career search. What should be talk about? Let’s do politics since that seems to be a massive attention grabber these days.

Today, our politics in this country seem to be everywhere. A coherent stance on issues seems too often be lacking. A sound strategy to move forward on healthcare, military-conflicts, tax reform, etc. seem to be half developed or not existent and finally, we can all agree that bi-partisanship is living somewhere out in limbo with no real hope of coming back around in any meaningful way. So, what am I trying to do here? No, I am not bashing any political party, or any individual, or really any given policy that has been put into play here. I am bashing the lack of a process. Senator McCain along with multiple other Senators have brought it up that, Congress needs to get back to its normal processes. Get back to committee discussion, problem solving, and bringing smart/educated solutions to the vote. And within those statements lies the answer to really everything in our world, including your career search and career development, solutions to problems require a process.

To add another parallel, every engineer knows there is a process to engineering. You first have to spend ample hours developing the problem statement. Then you develop solutions, narrow them down, test and score them, and the implement the best scoring solution. Without it you are doing solution-based thinking which likely will lead to you forgetting about the problem you are even trying to solve. So, like in congress it takes a coherent process to solve the issues. Boom. Two examples in one crazy little article about how important the process is. Sweet.

So what kind of process does it take to get you to your next career? It’s quite simple really. First establish your frame work. Then, follow that framework. See simple! Obviously not as easy when put in to practice, but really it comes down to that simple statement. Plan, and execute.

So, no clue where to start with a framework? Everyone’s is a little different, but in general we have found the following to be a solid procedural process to get you where you want to go.

1. Establish your needs, wants, and desires (in that order). These are life goals, can even be unrelated to your career. Just know where and how you want your life to progress.

2. Understand your previous experiences, training, and current knowledge. You need to self-assess to truly know where you sit today.

3. Establish your career ambitions. Identify sectors and industries and job titles you want to hold. Identify specific companies, locations, etc.

4. Self-assess again, are you ready to apply? If not, align your training. Build your skills and experiences to get you there.

5. Conduct information gathering. Schedule informational interviews, find mentors in the sector, surround yourself by the community you are trying to break into.

6. Self-assess again. Need more training? Stay on it. Think you are ready? (you probably are). Go for it! Apply to that dream job. Be confident. Know it’s the one for you and attack the opportunity until you seize it.

7. Accept success. Pivot to avoid failure, and stay persistent. The fact is that you can do all of this and the door might slam shut right at the last second. That’s ok! You can open other doors, so pivot quick and rapidly move to the next opportunity with the same confidence that you will seize it.

Here at OweYaa, we put this process into practice all the time. We encourage our candidates to continue to progress in their career searches and development because it is and always will be a process. We must all accept that in life there are no quick fix solutions. It takes a coherent procedure to reach attainable goals and as soon as we establish those processes that faster we will reach that next career, set that legislation, or engineer that solution.

So, remember, stick to the process.