How Job Hunting Can Fuel Your Personal Growth — Part II!

The much-awaited sequel that ties all the loose ends

Welcome back! Glad to see you for Part II. Let’s start off with another meme.

So in Part I, by taking yourself through these questions for every project and position you’ve been in, you’ll begin to notice a few things:

• First, because you’re writing all this down (you’re writing it down, right?), you’re starting the process of practicing the kind of language you use to talk about your work. Every opportunity to practice speaking about yourself positively is huge when it comes to job interviews and your own self-worth.
• Second, by answering the above questions, you’ll already be preparing for many of the more common behavioral interview questions out there.
• Third, and most importantly, you’ll hopefully start seeing which of the projects and roles you were more excited about — the ones that lit a fire within you. Make sure to name the parts of those jobs that were particularly invigorating — these are wonderful data points to add to your North Star and will continue to point you in the direction of jobs that are a better fit for your wants.

If you don’t feel like you have any prior work experience that excited you, then these steps are particularly important because I’m sure you can come up with a healthy number of reasons why you DIDN’T enjoy a particular job. Sometimes knowing what you don’t want is the first step in understanding what you do want.

Your Own Epic Novel

Now take a look at this incredible map that you’ve put together. Look at all the incredible things you’ve contributed towards. Your task now is to develop a narrative arc for this journey. What have been your motivations over the years? What were your goals and how did they contribute to each next project? What does this mean about where you want to go next?

Having this narrative clear in your mind will not only make you a more articulate and eloquent interviewee, but it also is an incredible opportunity to take a step back from the headlong rat race we’re all in. What is it that you’re looking for in this next position? What kinds of companies are already out there that get you excited whenever you hear their name? What resonates within you when hearing about them?

Take all of those answers and cross-reference them with the portfolio map you just created. What do you feel you are able to do right now in any job descriptions you’re looking at? What do you feel “unqualified” for at this point? What can you do to bridge those gaps?

I definitely recommend going through with a friend or trusted coworker with these gaps and strengths, because I have found they often can see connections I was unable to. It turned out I actually had more skills than I previously thought — I just wasn’t seeing the things I had done through a wide enough lens — and I’m sure the same goes for you too.

You’ve Got this!

Don’t get me wrong — the job-hunting process can often be a long, arduous roller coaster of emotion. Never knowing if your application got looked at, getting about 98% more rejections than first-round interviews, and even getting ghosted by companies during the late-stage interview process as well (someone get them on Tinder — they’ll be perfect there!). The beauty is that this can all be true AND you still can use it as a growth practice.

Pressure can be high to find a job, especially at a time when the pandemic has caused particular displacement. While this may not be the right strategy in finding your next job (just getting one in this environment can definitely be enough for now), keep these strategies for when you’re ready for the next one. You know what’s right for you at this time — but at the very least I hope you take away that you are vastly more important than being a productivity cog in the machine that is corporate work.

If you’re looking to make your own website and need further inspiration, feel free to check out my portfolio at christadeu.com. Go ahead and adapt, borrow, and steal whatever you please from it. I myself went through dozens of other peoples’ portfolios to gain inspiration and an understanding of how I wanted to structure my own. If you’re looking to do this in a more informal way, then use it as a way of greasing the wheels of your own synthesis.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions, comments, or simply want to network — I might be able to help out!