Transferable skills

I am midway in a pretty major career transition. After 20 years in software, I started on a master's in clinical mental health and am now in year three of the program and midway through my counseling internship. I get a lot of cross-eyed looks from folks on both sides of my life (tech and counseling), confused about what seems to them like a radical transition. 

I recently went through a bunch of exercises in What Color is Your Parachute (man, is it a good read) that helped me clarify how I see counseling and coaching as a natural extension of what I loved in the first half of my career. It was a bit of a time-consuming exercise, but it was super helpful and informative. I would recommend the exercise to everybody who just wants to understand themselves a little better. It is a powerful thing to understand your transferrable skills and imagine how you could apply them in a variety of roles. 

Here's the exercise - it's challenging and super rewarding:

1. Write 5-7 stories of your life when you felt like you were doing great work and you felt great doing it. These can be short, but choose a variety of environments and ages.
2. Read through your stories and identify the skills represented in those stories (examples are consistent, assertive, open-minded, tactful - and the full list from the book is here)
3. Now, rewrite those skills as sentences. For example, "I use my intuition and experience to make decisions quickly and solve problems iteratively" or "I speak, guide, and mentor from knowledge and experience to increase individual and team effectiveness."

This is a list of transferrable skills that you bring to any situation - and it's a powerful list! This is what makes you unique in your role, and it's the special stuff you bring.

What I loved about the first half of my career has led me into this dynamic second half. I excel at breaking down ambiguous needs, creating individual growth and clarity, and solving problems iteratively - all special skills that I now get to bring into counseling. 

What are your top transferable skills? Any surprises in your list?

Where I Work Best

In the first half of my career (i.e., up until now), I didn't put a lot of thought into my best physical work environment. Working in tech, I never felt much control over my space. I always had a small cubicle or the dreaded open office space and just made do with what I had. 

However, at this career pivot point, I took some time to complete the exercises in What Color is Your Parachute and realized it was healthy for me to identify where I work best. I may not totally control my physical work environment, but if I identify the environments in which I work best then I can nudge my workplace to feel more comfortable. 

In What Color is Your Parachute, the exercise is to list the attributes that you don't like in a work environment, prioritize those from most hated to least, and then write down the opposite of those traits as what you are seeking. It's simple, yet so powerful to recognize your favorite environment. 

Here are things I enjoy:

• Full control over my schedule
• A mix of independent, small-group, and group work
• Chances to move my body
• Healthy, good food
• Chances to be outside with a view
• Bonus points for a soft, beautiful space with a variety of work areas

It was illuminating to see the things on this list that I didn't get in my average days in tech, and also the things that I sought in my next chapter. 

For example, as a tech executive, I didn't get a lot of time working in small groups - I was either in/leading meetings or 1:1 meetings. I didn't mind these activities, but they left little time for partner or small group work. As a result, in my final months in tech, I started reaching out to peers and specifically scheduling small group working sessions, which I find invigorating and connecting. Now that I am counseling two days per week, I get plenty of 1:1 working time, but I miss larger group times and decided to seek out more group experiences. 

In another example, schedule control was a major catalyst for my career change. In tech, I had a bunch of schedule flexibility, but I lacked the ability to create the weekly rhythms I yearned for. 

What have you learned about where you work best? How have you used that understanding to sculpt your work over time?

Who do I like to work with?

I'm at a career inflection point, which brings me ample opportunity to use the advice that, at other times, I would be dishing out to others. It's lovely to have the opportunity to step back and define what I want rather than simply coping with what I find before me.

I recently completed several exercises from What Color is Your Parachute (a classic for good reason!) and found the "people" exercise particularly interesting. In the past, I did not invest energy into defining the kind of people I love to be around and seeking them out. I think I had an implicit understanding of people I enjoyed working with, but completing an exercise specifically designed to help me identify "my people" was helpful and interesting. 

Here's the exercise:

1. Write down the kind of people who drive you nuts to work with. Identify the behaviors or traits you find particularly challenging or frustrating.
2. Stack rank the behaviors you don't like (the book has a nice tool for ranking here)
3. Now, use this list to write traits that are the opposite of your highest ranked frustrating behaviors. This is a list of the kind of people you love to work with.

I like this exercise because it's often easier to identify specific crazy-making behaviors in others than it is to write a profile of the ideal coworker. And it's an easy way to transform a list of "nos" into a list of "yesses" that you can seek out. I also like this exercise because you're describing the behaviors of folks you enjoy, and this leaves tons of room for diversity of perspective, background, and viewpoint in the teams you surround yourself with. 

Here's what I learned in this exercise: I like people who

• Prioritize the common good over personal agendas
• Do what they say they will, without being chased down
• Are introspective and interested in growth
• Are sharp

Will I have to work with folks who do not bear one or all of these behaviors? Yes, of course! Yet, I also have a lot of influence over the teams I work in and the work groups I create. And knowing the kinds of folks I thrive with helps me be happier and higher performing in the team. There's power in knowing what I like - I've spent a lot of time working with what I'm given (good skills) and it feels empowering to also identify how I work best.