Second Act Success Career Podcast
Season 1 - ​​Career Clarity Mini-Series - Your Job Skills (Part 3) | Ep #106
Episode - #106
Host: Shannon Russell
Transcription (*created by Descript and may not be perfectly accurate)

[00:00:00] Meggan Mula: My name is Meggan, I was an elementary school teacher for 15 years. I decided to leave teaching to focus on building my business. I had fears and doubts circling around my head and Shannon has helped me work through these fears and doubts and believe in myself more.

Shannon has helped me grow and explore this new business opportunity. I am so grateful for her guidance and support. I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a reliable, compassionate, kind, knowledgeable coach.

[00:00:27] Shannon Russell: Hey there. Welcome to day three of my career clarity. Mini-series. I hope you've been getting a lot out of this mini series so far as I bring you my four steps to getting clear on what it is that you want to be doing in your career and what you're meant to be doing in life. I made it in a way where it's bingeable to listen to, and also gives you actionable steps that you can use right now. So I hope you've been taking notes and kind of formulating your strategy so that when this series is done, you can take action and start moving along on your [00:01:00] career transition journey. If you miss the first few days of this mini series, don't worry. You can go back and check out episode 1 0 4 and 1 0 5 to catch up. In episode 1 0 5, we discussed the first step in achieving career clarity, and that is to follow what lights you up. It's really all about going back to your why. Now today it's on to step two.

[00:01:55] Shannon Russell: All right. Step number two towards career clarity is assess your [00:02:00] skills. Now let's size up your skills because we all are humble, humble people do not be humble. Because when you're assessing your skills, I need you to make a list of all of your skills.

And I'm talking everything from what you currently do to what you've done in the past, maybe things that you've done in college. Any skills at all, whether it's managing people, oh, I run the budget. I organize presentations. I order the catering for our events. I do the schedule for the employees at my nine to five, whatever it is, write those skills down.

Once you have those skills all written down, consider any strengths, communication, problem solving, leadership, any kind of, of accomplishments and accolades that you've had over the time as well, whether it's at this current position or in your past. So you're going to make this list of your skills. dig in deep to not only what it is you've done and you can do, but what is it that you like to do?

Then you're going to start thinking about what [00:03:00] skills would transfer. into the fields that you're considering. And if you don't know what you're considering yet, that is fine, but you can look at your list, figure out what you are good at, what you want to continue doing. Cause You might be really good at something that you no longer want to do when you're pivoting.

And that's completely okay. There's a lot of things that I've done in the past that I don't want to continue doing moving forward with my businesses. So you want to really get clear on what your skills Are that you want to take with you into this next act and really start thinking about how they can transfer over because trust me skills transfer so easily and that's something that a lot of us have trouble wrapping our head around, I think, is really how our career skills and accomplishments can transfer, especially from one industry to another.

Trust me, they can transfer really easily. So don't discount what you've done in the past when you're moving forward. [00:04:00] And next is assessments. Assessments really come into play. I guess if you're feeling a little bit more stuck and really unsure, and that's a lot of us, right? We might know we need to change, but we don't know exactly what that change should look like and how we can get our skills to work towards that.

You can consider using self assessment tools or career assessment tools that you can find online. It can really help you identify, you know, what's important to you, what you excel in. I am certified as a YouMap® coach. That is one type of assessment that really takes in the Clifton Strengths Finder of what your strengths are, your personality, your values, your skills, your most preferred skills, your least preferred skills.

YouMap® is my favorite in a sense for so many reasons, but really it's because it really takes every aspect of your personality, your values, your purpose, your skillset, and it aligns what you should be moving towards. It doesn't. Tell you oh just move over here because you'd be good at it. [00:05:00] No, do you want to be doing that work?

So it really aligns a map that is suited for you I've had clients who go Wow This is just assured me that I'm on the right path or they might get it and have clarity and say, Oh, you're right. I am really good with computers. Maybe I can use that in this new industry in this capacity.

So assessments can be a really valuable tool for you to kind of look in deep. realize what it is that you are more aligned to, and it can give you a better overall picture of where you should move. If you're interested in more on YouMap®, feel free to contact me if you're interested. I'll definitely give you more information on that assessment.

[00:05:40] 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. [00:06:00] 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.

[00:06:21] Shannon Russell: Overall assessment or not. This is a reminder to check in with yourself. Get clear on what it is that you want. What it is that you're good at and follow those things as you push your way forward down your path. I don't know about you, but oftentimes we downplay our achievements. We downplay the skills and our experience that we've had in the past, because we think. Or we feel it's just not important enough to others. So I want to stop you right there. If you are guilty of feeling this way.

Sometimes when I talk with clients, they will downplay their strengths or even say, oh, [00:07:00] I used to work in retail, but you know, I shouldn't put that on my resume. They'll take past experience and dismiss it because it's not important to where they are now, or they don't think it's important in the role that they're going to move towards. And I'm always quick to say no, because your experience is your experience and never underestimate it.

Working in retail to use that as an example is something that one of my clients brought up as not being important. And she wanted to take that off of her resume. She had it down at the bottom. It was something she did as one of her first jobs outside of college while she was looking for her corporate job.

She wanted to take it off of her resume because she felt like it didn't look professional and it didn't fit into the direction she was now moving into.

I had to explain that. Especially retail experience. Since we're talking about that now. It always looks good on a resume. It's always a plus because it shows that you can deal with customers. [00:08:00] You can react fast to questions or stresses that might arise because they often do in retail and that you can take responsibility for your work and the business storefront or restaurant that you're working at.

So no matter how insignificant. Any experience or past work jobs? Volunteering interning. Anything might look on your resume. If there is something that you learned from that experience, if there's something in that that shows a skill that you learned, a skill that you harness, something that you grew and. It became a talent of yours, maybe that you took with you moving down the road in other. Job adventures. I want you to leave it on there.

I want you to leave it on there as a talking point. And as a way of showing how well rounded you are. So, no matter how insignificant you think your skills are to someone else, they may be the thing that pushes you ahead of that other person vying for the very same [00:09:00] position as you. be confident in your skills, bring them to the table as you choose the best career option for you.

[00:09:07] Shannon Russell: This has been step number two in my four steps to achieving career clarity, but there are more episodes to come in this mini series and I don't want you to miss the last few steps so be sure that you're subscribed to the podcast. So you'll get these episodes right in your feed. Thank you for spending some time with me today. I will see you again tomorrow. My friend.

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