Often people look to their past job descriptions to determine their career strengths.
But sometimes the answer is not in your actual job, but in the extra work you do that is beyond your current role. This is a fun one to reflect on and can feel like magic if you’ve never thought about it before.
Here’s how to do it:
Think about all the jobs you’ve had. Instead of listing the job description, list out all the extras you did. Things like:
– organize events
– write manuals
– sit on the fundraising committee
– talk to & help co-workers when they’re frustrated or sad
– set up the meeting room
– put together a meeting of industry leaders
– buy the coffee supplies
Often, regardless of our job title, there are things we always do. For me, in every job I was asked to be part of strategy meetings & fundraisers. This wasn’t part of my job, but I would either volunteer or ask to be part of something bigger.
Noting that I was always got involved in this way, I discovered I was:
– an ideas person
– someone who made things happen
– passionate about helping
– capable of self-directing my work
Some people take on extra roles like being the unofficial tech person, the person who can do presentations on the fly or morale booster.
If you enjoy the extra projects, I think it’s important to note where the joy is in the work & strategize to get some of these things into your daily work, as part of your real job. In some ways, my day jobs gave me skills to do my current job, but it was the extra projects that helped me to see I get joy from strategizing & building stuff.
Here’s how to do it:
1. List all the extra work you did in each role
2. See if there are similarities in the extra work
3. Can you use this info to explain your career strengths? Or, can it help you determine what work brings you joy?
4. How might you use this information to grow your career?
Looking for more career support than just reading random prompts?
I developed a 4-week program that walks you from “I have no idea what I’m good at or should do next in my career” to “hey, I know what I’m good at and what I should do next career-wise”. Check it out here:
