How to figure out what you want next in your career

Choosing your next career move is an empowering experience once you know exactly what you do and do not want out of your next role. Photo / 123RF

During the pandemic, many of us have found ourselves in a cycle of anxiety in both our personal and professional lives. When things feel outside of our control, we often try to retreat into a place of seeming safety within a small, controlled comfort zone.

While this is a common enough coping mechanism, it actually exacerbates the feelings that we're trying to avoid. When we attempt to reduce stress by stripping our to-do lists down to only the things we know we can do well, with minimal effort, we also remove worthwhile challenges — and lose the resulting triumphs that can fill our lives with meaning. To regain purpose and control, we need to make a 180-degree turn and seek out meaningful challenges that will pull us forward.

When I worked at Amazon and Google during the early 2000s, 80-plus-hour work weeks weren't uncommon. I saw some employees thrive and some crumble, even though the environment, pace, opportunities, pressure and expectations were applied consistently. I found that a major differentiator in both longevity and joy at work is value alignment.

Reminding ourselves of what we value most in our lives and careers can illuminate empowering opportunities that would otherwise go unnoticed. We can actually engineer our own luck simply by knowing what we're looking for and seeking it out. This doesn't need to take much time, but it does need to be purposeful. Value realignment rarely happens passively.

Whether you're making a complete career change or want to refocus your current role on what feels most meaningful to you, pivots can feel dizzying. However, drafting a simple score card addressing what you do and what you don't want can change the process into one that's energising and meaningful rather than daunting. To do that, focus on the three Ps: purpose, people and pace.

Purpose

Defining your life and work's purpose can sound overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. Purpose, at its core, comes down to two things: knowing whom you want to serve and empower and by what method.

A shortcut to uncovering your driving purpose can be recalling when you last ended a long day feeling energised and proud of what you had just done, even if you were still far away from the project's finish line. This happens when the cause itself propels you forward and gives you energy rather than draining it. These moments are when you are fully value- and mission-aligned. This is your flow state.

Ask yourself:

Which causes capture your attention and call you to action? How do you want to spend your time, money, and influence in service of your core values? What actions, expertise, and contributions make up your ideal legacy?

Notice that these questions aren't about your core skill set, experience or competencies. That's because value-aligned work naturally develops your required skill set and not the other way around. The happiest and most successful people I know are honest and aligned with what they feel called to do and at their ideal pace and scale.

People

Whom we work with is an often overlooked indicator of our individual development potential and career direction. The people on your immediate team inform the expertise you'll gain, the leadership attributes you'll inherit and the growth experiences you'll have. Look for teams of people whom you not only enjoy, but those you want to be like and who bring out the best in you. Ask yourself:

How can you spend more time with this group of peers who inspire, raise you up and open doors of opportunity for you? Consider if you're motivated by a team that's competitive or collaborative. If your current team doesn't match your ideal, seek out mentors and collaborations within the larger organization, in your community, or in an online community.

Pace

Your desired pace is determined by your goals and current life circumstances, so your ideal role might change over time. Frustrations come when professional and personal demands are mismatched. To try to find the right balance, ask yourself:

How frequently do you want to be expected to up-level your skills and expertise during this phase of your career? What is your ideal timeline for progression? Are you in a sprint or marathon stage of your career? What role do you want to play in making changes and contributions? Do you want to lead from the front or play a supportive role?

Remember that the difference between burnout and fulfillment usually isn't in the tasks, but in the meaning behind your efforts and an alignment of performance expectations.

How to assess value alignment with career opportunities

Choosing your next career move is an empowering experience once you know exactly what you do and do not want out of your next role. This allows you to align your work with your priorities and values and avoid being swayed by money, titles or other factors that don't bring satisfaction in and of themselves.

Whether you're in a formal interview process for a role at a new company or simply doing a value-alignment assessment of your current role, here are some questions to help you measure alignment on values, motivations and contributions when assessing future opportunities:

Purpose:

What passions and purpose aligns the team members outside of their work responsibilities? What goals drive top performers at this company? What legacy is this company/team aimed at creating?

People:

What employee attributes are most effective in this organization? In what ways does this team/company invest in the development and education of employees long term? What are the short- and long-term priorities for performance in this role?

Pace:

How and when are key results incentivised and measured on this team? How does management when teammates underperform? How are super performers guided toward advancement and away from burnout?

Empowered career moves

Those who don't take the time to evaluate their own values and find alignment with teams and employers who are on the same path are those who become stagnant, prime to be disrupted by industry evolution and end up burned out or passed over for promotion.

Finding an employer and role that are value-aligned can reveal opportunities that you might not have thought about or even noticed before. You might consider taking a job with a different title because of the contributions you would be making and the expertise you would gain, as well as the quality of teammates and opportunities for advancement toward where you truly want to be in life. This is how you seize opportunities that otherwise would have passed you by unnoticed.

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