Are you struggling to figure out what is next in your career?
You are far from alone. 85% of employees say they are not engaged at work. Half of employees right now are passively or actively looking for a new job.
When I didn’t know what I wanted at work, I just felt like I was just going through the motions. One time, a really cool project came into the office that I wanted to work on. I was so disappointed when it went to someone else.
I was working hard but not in a way that focused on what was important to me in my career, and as a result, things like that continued to happen. It left me feeling frustrated and lacking motivation at work, until I figured out what I wanted.
I thought a new job might be the solution, so I sent in my resume to various alternatives and had a few interviews.
But something still didn’t feel right, even when the interviews went really well and I received offers. On paper, several of those jobs seemed the logical next step. But in my heart, the prospect of a new job and new growth opportunities for the types of jobs I was interviewing for didn’t excite me.
If you can relate, it turns out that this is a really common problem.
Many engineers struggle to figure out what’s next in their careers, but few make the time to strip away all the B.S. the world tells us about what we *should* be, and actually look at what we REALLY want….and then go make a career out of it.
I had it backwards then too. I kept on looking for available options and the “logical next step” instead of deciding what I wanted and creating a path to get there.
Once I figured it out for myself, I got a promotion, I wrote She Engineers, and I eventually started my own business.
I certainly didn’t know my own business was where I was headed, and found figuring this out and taking the first tiny steps towards that goal resulted in immediate changes in the mental state at work.
Knowing where you are going is incredibly empowering.
I stopped feeling frustrated and unmotivated. While I was still working hard, I was working hard on things that matter to me and finding immense joy and satisfaction in that work.
Through my own experiences and coaching other women in STEM, I have since systemized the process that took me years to figure it out for myself. You can do a deep dive if you have a few hours by signing up for our free career visioning guide.
The 6 questions to ask yourself if you’re stuck
If you’d prefer to just get to the process of setting career goals for the year, that’s where today’s blog will be helpful as I share 6 questions to ask yourself if you’re not sure where you want to go next in your career.
Here are the 6 questions to ask yourself if you’re not sure where to go next in your career.
1. What has been going well in my career in the last year?
If you’re like most engineers, you’re really good at sharing all the things that can be improved and made better.
One example is your last performance review. Which do you remember more, the positive things or the negative things? Most of us remember the things we need to improve, and quickly forget about and take for granted the things we do well.
We don’t take the time to celebrate our wins and instead quickly move on to the next task on our to-do list. Over time, this creates the feeling that we’re on a work hamster wheel and contributes to the feeling of being unappreciated and undervalued.
This is a big question to reflect on before you make any dramatic career changes. Often, when we are dealing with a lot of stress in our personal lives – for example COVID-19, working from home with kids doing virtual school from home, political upheaval, and protests – it translates to mental exhaustion at times and makes any type of work feel completely meaningless.
Because of those stress levels, I’ve talked to numerous engineers who have told me they are struggling to find ANY good things at work right now, especially if they are in the position of being the only one, or only one of color. If that’s you, consider what drew you to the job in the first place. Why did you take this job to begin with and how has that panned out for you? If you’ve got a job, you’ve been doing something good to keep it. What are those things?
If you still can’t think of anything good, it’s likely time for a job or role change. But more often than not, there have been some bright spots that have been left unrecognized because of stress, and it’s that stress you should consider addressing first to the extent you are able before making any other career-related decision. Check out our blog on reducing stress when working from home HERE for more info.
2. What have I enjoyed doing at work that I’d like to do more of?
Work isn’t going to be fun all the time. That’s true even if you run your own business like I do.
However, work should be at least enjoyable some of the time. Often, the things you enjoy are those tasks that can get lost in for hours and lose track of time.
If you’ve ever started something 9am, and then stopped only when your stomach started growling at 1pm and thought to yourself “Wow, the morning went by really quickly,” that is likely one such task for you.
3. What do I want to be known for at work?
In every workplace and industry, there are people known for different skills. Maybe you want to be the technical expert in a particular area. Maybe you want to be the person others call on when there’s a conflict at work to mediate. Maybe you want to be the person whose an expert strategist. Only you can answer that question for yourself.
For me, when I was working as a design engineer, I wanted to be known for expertise in structural renovation projects, the more unique the better. Once I made that decision and told my boss about it, that resulted in getting more and more of those types of projects, which meant I had more fun (and challenge) at work. It’s easy to be motivated when you’re doing work you enjoy.
4. What skills do I need to acquire to be good at that?
Once you decide what you want to be known for, ask yourself what skills you need to get there and make a plan to acquire them. It’s going to take a bit of time to do so and is likely going to require some level of experimentation.
5. What can I do to best position myself to acquire those skills?
To get to a place where you are known for something, you’ve got to prove yourself. Most of the time that means you need to expand your network. Sometimes, it means you need to earn a particular credential or get a specific type of experience. Here are a few questions to think about as you are determining how to position yourself:
How can you make the connections I need to start acquiring those skills?
What resources does your company offer for ongoing education?
Is there a credential or certification that would give me expertise in this skill?
Who can you invite out for coffee or a 15-minute minute virtual coffee chat, who could possibly mentor me in this area?
6. What role do I think work should play in life and what can I do to get my current role to better align with that philosophy?
Many engineers will tell me they want to work less, when what they really want is to be more appreciated for the work they do. If your career doesn’t allow you to do what is important to you, the first step is to decide what IS important (if you don’t know, again, the career visioning guide will walk you step-by-step through figuring that out). Next, consider if there are small changes you can make in your current role for better alignment.
Speaking from experience with those I coach, sometimes the answer IS finding a new job, but more often it’s a conversation with a manager or boss about what you want (we’ve got a framework for that if you need help there; that’s the subject of a future blog).
ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS, AND YOU’RE READY TO SET SOME CAREER GOALS
Once you know what you want, it’s time to set some immediate goals to get there so that you can be on your way to a fulfilling career you love. I’ll share how to set those goals in next week’s blog, so stay tuned!
I’d also love to know in the comments which questions brought the most clarity to where you should go next, or if there are any you need some help with!
