Second Act Success Career Podcast
Season 1 - Career Clarity Mini-Series - Learn About A Job Before You Leap (Part 5) | Ep #108
Episode - #108
Host: Shannon Russell
Transcription (*created by Descript and may not be perfectly accurate)
[00:00:00] Shannon Russell: Hey, my friend it's Shannon. If you have been enjoying this Career Clarity Mini-Series, then I invite you to join me inside my brand new program. The Second Act Accelerator. It's a six month program where you and I work together to start taking steps to get you to the career that you're truly meant for. You will get one-on-one coaching with me. Group coaching, my course, resources. a YouMap® assessment. And access to a community of like-minded people. Head over to secondactsuccess.co/course. and schedule a discovery call with me. I can't wait to support you even more inside the accelerator.
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[00:01:13] Shannon Russell: We are back. And it's the final day of the career clarity mini series. Thanks for being here all week to take in these different ways that you can begin to get clear on your career goals. I hope that you've been learning some strategies that you can put into use right away. Oh, and if you found this series helpful, please take a screenshot right there on your phone or your computer and share it with a friend. It would mean a lot to me as my goal is to help as many people as I can get unstuck from their current careers. Okay, now it's onto step four of my four steps to achieving career clarity. Let's get into it.
[00:01:52] Shannon Russell: There's a lot of research we can do before we decide, okay, this is the path I'm going to take. This is the career I am choosing [00:02:00] for my second act. You can do a lot now while you are working. I tell a lot of my clients that if you have a job, you're actually in a really great position to do step number four, to learn before you leap, do your research now. what I mean by that is conduct your research on any potential career path. you're pondering right now. you want to make sure that this career that you're considering aligns with your values, aligns with your passions, aligns with the strengths that you are good at, that you want to continue with, and that it really aligns with your overall goal of why Going back to the why, why you are changing careers in the first place.
Why you are looking for this second act? Explore job descriptions, in different careers that you're looking at. Look at industry trends. If you're interested in a particular industry, what are the trends right now? Are corporations hiring? Are they doing layoffs? Are more people getting into this field or this [00:03:00] particular role?
Or are they leaving it? check out growth prospects. So if you do get into this role, what are the long term opportunities that this role might afford you? you can gather that information from resources online, of course, other industry professionals, and of course, Online platforms, I bring this up a lot and people go, Oh, I don't want to network online, but networking online really helps you get the answers you need before you make a dive into something that you're not sure about.
So if you have a career path you're interested in, if you have an industry, if you have a company that you're really curious about, go to LinkedIn. , go back to your college friends, people you've kept in touch with, former coworkers, and ask around, Hey, does anyone know someone working at XYZ company?
Could you put me in touch? I would love to just pick their brain for a few minutes via email, zoom meeting, whatever you can and have that informational interview to just get that [00:04:00] information Again, it comes back to making just more of an educated decision when you finally do take that leap.
do your research and really use your network. also if you don't want to reach out to your personal or professional network, there are industry events and you can go into different groups again on Facebook and different groups to kind of meet people in that industry. Just learn see what people are talking about.
Are they really complaining about, the tech industry right now? Are there a lot of complaints? Are there issues? If you want to become an architect, you could join some architecture groups and kind of see what people are talking about. Maybe there are certain companies or certain roles in that industry.
that are really needed right now. by doing your research, you're really just getting yourself ahead of the game. So research and networking. If you have the capability while you're working or if you're not currently working, you can go and do internships. People do internships at all ages.
So [00:05:00] offering to come in once a week, for X number of weeks and learning a little bit about the company or shadowing someone. If you have a friend who works in a position, maybe you can shadow them. even volunteering. There are different options. You just have to find out by asking. You have to put yourself out there, but those are all ways for you to learn, before you leap.
And if any of you, did internships back in college, maybe you can attest to this as well. I remember doing an internship. at CBS News in New York City. I was so excited for it. Get there and I realized after a month, I don't like news. I like watching the news, I like learning from the news, but I do not want to produce the news.
There was something about the feel of that that just didn't sit right with me. That was such a great experience because I used that as a one month internship while I was in college to learn that. Then I pivoted into a different aspect of television to pursue my [00:06:00] career. So just going back to internships, volunteering, reaching out, having these discussions and doing this research can really help you learn more about that next step.
So you're more educated and informed before you move.
don't be shy, it's great to reach out to people. You can even just look up a company online. Look for a certain position. Maybe it's the HR executive, but you can call someone and just ask them questions about their role Maybe you see a job posting you can ask them more about what that job entails It's a lot harder nowadays to get people on the phone, but you can try.
you can also submit queries through emails or through different forms online to really inquire about a position.
If you can find groups within even your community that you can meet in person and kind of find that mentor, that career counselor, to really help you in those next steps, that'll be super, super valuable. And of course, coaches, right? I am a [00:07:00] career coach.
I have a coach myself. So I go to my coach for accountability and I coach other people. to be their accountability partner and give them the stepping stones. I help them writing the resume, doing the LinkedIn profile updates, looking for the work, networking, all of that are things that I can provide. So you can find a career coach, a business coach, a career mentor in your community or online to help you as well.
[00:07:29] Shannon Russell: again, the four steps to career clarity. Follow what lights you up, assess your skills, keep your eyes on the goals, and learn before you leap. It's important to remember that achieving a career that you really want is more of a journey and you need that self reflection before you can take that next step,
use the tools that you have, which is really your internal compass, your why,
We're going to assess our own values, purpose, passions, research. what we [00:08:00] can right now in the moment and start looking forward and setting that schedule and the goals for ourselves. So it's knowing that it's a journey and you want to be confident in the direction you're going in and really just be patient with yourself and know yourself and be dedicated to making this happen for yourself.
Anything really truly is possible When you focus and turn inwards ask yourself what you need and start moving towards it
Of course, if you need any individual support, if you have questions about anything that we discussed, discuss today in this masterclass. You can reach me also at secondactsuccess.co/coaching And On Instagram. I hang out there all the time. I'm @secondactsuccess. My inbox is always open. DM me just to say, hi, let me know how your career transition journey is going. And I wish you all the best as you head out on your path.
And I'll be here rooting for you all the way. Good luck, my friend.
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