How to Build a Career You Love No Matter the Job Market

As mass layoffs continue to make headlines, many professionals are wondering, what's next for my career? 

A new LinkedIn survey found that most professionals (70%) are continuing to focus on building their careers even if they're not in their ideal role currently, and almost half (40%) fear being laid off. After weathering the chaos of the pandemic, folks are embracing resilience in the face of gloomy headlines and economic uncertainty. They're determined to get what they want from work in 2023 whether that's asking for a raise (55%), a promotion (57%), or pursuing their next play (48%). 

Let's go get it. In this post, we'll cover three strategies to help you get clear on what you want for 2023, so no matter what happens, you're ready. For more ways to build the career you want, check out my full course, Build a Career You Love No Matter the Market. 

Most of us were taught to think about our careers through the lens of the antiquated ladder model. We go to school, get a job in a related field, and continue getting promoted to more sophisticated versions of that initial job until retirement. This strategy is driven by the question, “What can I do with what I’ve already done and already know?” 

This is fine if you are one of those few fortunate people who knew their life destiny at four years old. However, if you are like most folks, your interests have evolved over time. As a result, moving forward on yesterday’s path simply directs you further and further away from fulfillment.

The Mosaic Career™️ strategy is a career design model built for our rapidly changing times. It puts the onus on your skills; it's rooted in the things you value most. This strategy is driven by the question, “Given that I’m here, what do I want to create?”

This allows you to focus on the future, free of the constraints of the past, and break free of industries and jobs that no longer make you happy or may even be handed over to robots or artificial intelligence.  

The next important piece to help you gain clarity is to design your next professional destination. If you know where you’re going, even in vague terms, you can begin moving in that direction. 

There are three questions you can use to begin to understand what’s next. Set aside some quiet time for reflection and ask yourself, free of the constraints of the past:

 a) What do I want to create?

b) What kind of impact do I want to have?

c) How do I want to use my life?

Your answers to these questions won’t necessarily lead to responses that look like “I want to do job X at company Y.” That’s okay! Even if these answers give you a general picture of how you want your working life to feel, the kinds of projects you’d like to work on, and the people you’d like to partner with, you are well on your way. You can look for opportunities that fit that description at your current company or in your next role.

Now that you have an idea of where you want to go, you can use those answers to define the things that you value most. Pick five. Do they include freedom, adventure, and impact? Financial security, intellectual challenge, community? There is a more comprehensive list in the course’s resource pack, which you can access by taking the course here.

Now that you’ve written down your list, use it to evaluate every new opportunity, conversation, and company to determine if it is aligned with what you value most. 

As a bonus tip, you can take your top values and ask yourself, on a scale of 1 – 10, how aligned are the things I find important with the job I have today? One would be not at all or in complete opposition, ten would be “nirvana-level” aligned. This may explain why you’ve been feeling burned out lately.

After reviewing these three tips, I invite you to try them out. There are no right or wrong answers to these exercises. No one is grading them. However, if you get moving on clarity, you’ll be several steps closer to a career you love.