Hi there, I’m Emily! 👋 Welcome to Hired Humanities, a biweekly newsletter devoted to helping humanities students build careers on their own terms.
Happy New Year, readers! I hope you had a peaceful holiday season and were able to get some much-deserved rest.
Back in October, I spoke about how focusing on a target role sets you up for success during a job search. In that issue, I gave a few tips on holding off the temptation to blast out job applications at random, but I left a big question unanswered: how do you figure out what direction to take your career in?
I’m kicking off 2021 by attempting to answer this million-dollar question. I say “attempting” because figuring out your career path is an ongoing process. I’ve held four different roles since leaving academia, and on average, individuals hold 12 different jobs in their lifetime. Those numbers point to how difficult it can be to find fulfillment— financial, intellectual, or otherwise— with our work.
I don’t have all the answers, but I do know my strengths, interests, and values have been indispensable guides on my career journey.
Photo by Ugne Vasyliute on Unsplash
When I first left graduate school, taking the time to understand what I excelled at, what excited me, and what I truly needed out of work helped me identify roles that not only aligned with my values, but also leveraged what I had to offer. Though my interests and skills have evolved since then, they continue to be my North Star, guiding me to the right path at the right time.
That’s why I’m so excited to introduce you to the Strengths and Values Worksheet, a resource for finding your own North Star.
What is the Strengths and Values Worksheet?
The Strengths and Values Worksheet is a ranking exercise that helps you identify the strengths and values that can guide your job search.
It’s based in Google Sheets and is 100% free. Just make a copy and you’re good to go.
Why I created it
Understanding of your strengths— and knowing what you have to offer other than “critical thinking”— can help you identify careers that would be a good fit.
Yet as academics, we tend to focus on what’s lacking. We’re trained to see what’s missing from an argument and hone in on the absence. It’s no different when it comes to our personal lives, especially when it comes to job hunting. We fixate on the skills and experience we don’t have, the logical failures of our career. This kind of thinking blocks off future paths, reducing our job map to a small pinprick labeled academia. And it’s this kind of thinking that’s so often responsible for the paralysis that many of us feel at the outset of our non-academic job hunt.
The Strengths and Values Worksheet aims to flip this mindset around by helping you focus on and celebrate the skills you do have.
How does it work?
The Strengths and Values Worksheet is preloaded with a list of transferable skills, and I ask you to rank both your experience and interest in each one. I’ve also provided some lifestyle and working style considerations to evaluate because they are important parameters for your career, too.
The worksheet will automatically highlight the following areas:
Key Strengths, where experience and interest align. Look for roles/careers that leverage these strengths.
Area to Builds, where interest is high but experience isn't as strong. Look for ways to boost your experience in these areas.
Key Values, which are lifestyle and working style considerations where interest is high. Look for roles/careers that align to these values.
Dealbreakers, which are lifestyle and working style considerations where interest is low. Avoid roles/careers that require these conditions.
One more thing— the worksheet is not meant to be prescriptive. Your career journey is yours, so make this exercise your own by adding other skills and lifestyle considerations.
What to expect in the future — and how you can help
I plan to add skills and values to the Strengths and Values Worksheet to make it more comprehensive, so be on the lookout for updates in future issues.
Additionally, I want this resource to work for you. If you have suggestions for improving the worksheet, you can get in touch with me by leaving a comment or replying to this newsletter.
A parting note
Thanks for tuning in this week! Please don't hesitate to drop a line if you have questions or feedback. And, if you think someone else in your life would love to receive this newsletter in their inbox, feel free to spread the word.
Be well,
Emily
Reading List
A few of my favorite links
💻 For more on this issue’s topic, check out Indeed’s article on why people change jobs. Bonus: it includes a quick rundown of the Bureau of Labor Statistics report I linked above.
🕰️ The waiting game after a final-round interview is always tough. HBR has some good tips on how to handle it with grace.
✏️ Linking to a post of more links is a little meta, but there are some gems in this EdSurge 2020 roundup.