In this episode, Jeff Perry, MBA talks about how you can find career fulfillment. He shares a framework that will help you on your journey and some actions that you can start taking right away to get on the path to engineering career fulfillment.
Here Are Some of the Key Points Discussed About Finding Career Fulfillment:
- Career growth is a process, but you can accelerate this process by taking the correct steps.
- Building your career can be compared to a series of design experiments or prototypes. It is an iterative process. Each step in your career is like experimenting. Collect data on if you are enjoying this step in your career and if you are utilizing your skills. Look at how you can continue to improve the balance of the different areas of your life and how it fits in with your larger goals. Learn from your experiences, collect the correct data, and then use that data to make the best decisions as you move forward.
- The three main phases of the Next Level Engineering Career Formula are the foundation, strategy, and execution. Building your career must be like building a building. The first phase of the Next Level Engineering Career Formula is to set up a strong and stable foundation that will last for a very long time.
The 3 Factors of Building a Strong Foundation for Career Fulfillment:
1. Mindset
Your mindset is like the lens through which you see the world. It is how you view yourself, the people around you, and the situations that come your way. When making a change in your life, you sometimes prescribe behaviors that you must change. You prescribe the actions and the activities you need to take, but you neglect what you believe about yourself through that process. It causes you to quickly revert to your old ways. If you have not changed your mindset, your behavioral change will not last.
First, gain awareness of your thinking patterns and beliefs about yourself to be successful at making changes in your life and career. Try a mindset shift where you think of ways you can serve other people instead of only thinking about what you should do. It will make you more successful, get better results, people will recognize the results, and you will enjoy yourself because you are doing it out of service to other people.
2. Career Clarity
Career clarity is not like a treasure map that you can follow and know what you will do every step of the way. Trying to plot a career treasure map can cause engineers to suffer from analysis paralysis and get stuck where they are. Career clarity is to know who the person is that you want to become and use your goals, values, interests, and passions to chart the direction there. The path might be a winding one because of new opportunities that arise. If your path is still heading in the right direction, then you are still on the right track. Consider the schools of experience and what you need to learn to become the person you want to become.
3. Personal Branding
Personal branding is about connecting and communicating who you are, what you bring to the table, and what makes you different. People closest to you know a lot about you because they spend time with you. Personal branding is about communicating with people who do not know you and helping them learn who you are and what you have to offer. To build a personal brand that stands out, you must use something called the genius zone. A genius zone is an area that is unique to you. The combination of the skills you have can become your genius zone.
To identify your genius zone, make a list of all your skills and interests that you bring to the table. It is a combination of the technical skills, soft skills, and even hobbies that you have. Look at your list and find where you get the most interested and excited. See where your passion starts to bubble up. See if there are combinations in your list that can provide a unique value. Utilize your understanding of a genius zone and communicate how it makes you different. If you can recognize, understand, identify, and communicate your genius zone that you can deliver on, then you will stand out from the rest. A great way for you to communicate your genius zone is through LinkedIn.
More in This Episode…
In the Take Action Today segment of the show, Jeff talks about a simple action you can take to move toward more career fulfillment.
About the Host, Jeff Perry, MBA
Jeff Perry is a leadership/career coach for engineers, building mindsets, leadership, and career intentions to unlock hidden potential and remove self-imposed roadblocks for career and life. For years, he has had the pleasure of supporting engineers and software pros, from new grads to director level. Having been on the front lines in the technical world, he has been able to map out the necessary skills for becoming a quality leader in the field.
You can connect with Jeff on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffcperry/ or visit his website, https://morethan-engineering.com. Jeff also has a new, FREE, on-demand training course for engineers who are job searching or in job transitions. You can see it at https://engineeringcareeraccelerator.com.
Books Mentioned in This Episode:
Designing Your New Work Life
Success Mindsets
How Will You Measure Your Life?
Resources and Links Mentioned in This Session Include:
Career Clarity Checklist
LinkedIn Profile Guide
TECC 231: Mindsets Fuel Behavior, and Behavior Fuels Results
This Episode Is Brought to You by the Following Sponsors:
Washington State University
Washington State University’s Engineering and Technology Management master’s degree program is a perfect balance of technical and managerial education that helps prepare practicing engineers for managing projects, people, and organizational systems. As one former student noted, “The knowledge that I gained from the ETM Program helped me become a more competent, confident engineer and manager. The program greatly impacted my career and has been a key element in my continued success.” Learn more about the Engineering Management profession at etm.wsu.edu or [email protected]. Take charge of your career and reach out today.
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers – ASME
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers serves a wide-ranging engineering community through quality learning, the development of codes and standards, certifications, research, conferences, publications, government relations, and other forms of outreach. Becoming a member and joining the ASME community is the most important connection a current or future mechanical engineer can make. Don’t miss your chance to advance your career, enhance your professional network, and find your next ME opportunity. Check out ASME on www.asme.org.
We would love to hear any questions you might have or stories you might share on the things you do to find career fulfillment in your engineering career.
Please leave your comments, feedback, or questions in the section below.
