“I want to help people, but I don’t know where to start.”
“I don’t know what I’m good at or what I’m passionate about.”
“How do I really know what the right job is for me?”

While the mantra of our generation might be “do what you love” we often struggle with a. figuring out what we love (passion) and b. gaining the skills necessary to be excellent in what we love (practice).

So when I get emails asking for clarity, I often recommend the Career Tracks Activity (PDF) by The Office of Career Services of New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.  I did this activity a few years ago while a fellow in the NYU Wagner Fellowship for Emerging Leaders in Public Service and found it incredibly helpful. In this activity, you gather at least 50 job opportunities that appeal to you on at least one of two levels: you like the organization or you like the job itself. Don’t pay attention to location or education, just focus on those two categories.

Next sort through the job opportunities, looking for patterns. Is there an issue or cause that resonates with you? Maybe you like the size/type of organization–small and entrepreneurial or larger and more established? Is there a department you like? Fundraising? Communications? Outreach? Or maybe there is a location you find most appealing, say in an urban or rural area?

After sorting, you create at least one but no more than five career tracks around attributes that have the most meaning to you–for example: cause, department, location, etc. Chapter 3 in Idealist.org’s Career Guide for First Time Job Seekers provides a great breakdown of building career tracks, as well as other questions to ask yourself when searching for your first job.

Why I love this activity:

1. It starts from a place of what’s available: Sometimes, our passions can be disconnected from what it takes to land a job and thrive in the workplace.  This activity helps ground us in our job search beyond what we simply enjoy.

2. It exposes you to different opportunities: Often times our understanding of jobs is very narrow. There is more to work than being a teacher, doctor, lawyer, or writer.  In fact, there are jobs today that didn’t exist just a few years ago. 

3.  It helps you plan your next steps:  Is there certain education or training you need?  Do you have a particular skill set that seems to be in demand?  Are most of the jobs you want focused in certain areas? By honing on patterns that are rooted in what’s happening in the workforce, you can better plan your moves.

Have you done this activity before? What are your thoughts?

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On Wednesday, Rosetta Thurman and I hosted our first #ynpchat of the year on creating a 2012 nonprofit career plan.  The questions, adapted from Rosetta’s powerful piece on the 15 questions you should ask about your nonprofit career, strengthened our sense of pride in our work and allowed us to walk away with a better vision and strategy on how to rock our careers in 2012.

1.  What do you most want to get out of your involvement with the nonprofit sector?  In other words, why are you here? What are you hoping to learn and do that will help you grow professionally and personally?

2.  What accomplishments in your nonprofit career were you most proud of in 2011?  I must say that the responses to this questions blew me away.  From raising money, to implementing new programs, to finding our voice in the sector,  we clearly have done a lot of good for ourselves and others.  Yet so often, we are quiet about the work we do, thinking that to focus on accomplishments is taking attention away from the problems we may be addressing.  Yet the reality is, if we dont celebrate what we do, nobody else will and our accomplishments often lead to more interest in our work.   So let your light shine, people!  My challenge to participants: do you have a portfolio of your accomplishments?

3.  What opportunities do you want to take advantage of in 2012 to grow your leadership and further your nonprofit career? This question essentially has two parts 1. Understanding how you would like to grow and 2. identifying those opportunities that would aid in your growth. In reflecting on your accomplishments and your reasons for choosing your work, it’s easier to think about how you’d like to grow and seek programs, events, or other opportunities that would help you.

4.  What’s ONE step you can take in the next 30 days to make progress on your 2012 career goals?  I don’t know about you, but it’s so easy for me to make a list of my goals then walk away hoping they get done.  30 days to take one step makes progress actionable and manageable.

5.  Given your 2012 career goals, what’s your ONE-WORD theme to guide your work for the year?  VISION.   FOCUS. CREATIVITY.  DISCIPLINE.  My personal favorite: STRENGTHEN.  Thinking of the previous questions, what  word embodies your success, your ambitions, and your plans?

This was one of the most exciting chats we’ve hosted and proved to be a great way to kick of the new year.  Didn’t participate in the chat?  Check out the responses on twitter.  You can also share your thoughts below, on facebook, or tweet your responses using the#ynpchat hashtag so we can keep the conversation going.  And be sure to join us Wednesday, February 1, 12PM-1PM EST for the next chat!

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This is my favorite time of year. People are reflecting and sharing excitement about possibilities and growth. There is simply a lot of positivity and promise in the air.

2011 seemed to be a year of transitions and lessons for me and those I love: my five year college reunion is coming up (five years? already?); my mailbox was full of wedding invitations; my calendar was overflowing with good bye parties as friends went off to grad school; I celebrated big professional wins and took the plunge into GRE prep; and I have a neat stack of failed projects and squandered opportunities that I look at occasionally as a reminder that while mistakes are inevitable, the world wont come crashing down. I’m also celebrating my fourth year of blogging and my birthday–milestones that make it easy for me to track my growth and encourage me to plan for my future.

While the changes seemed to come fast and suddenly, they also signal a general movement towards a better understanding of who I am and what I value. I realize that I have everything I need to create the professional and personal experiences I desire. My focus now is on  nurturing and leveraging–people, ideas, skills, work–instead of just adding, in order to move forward.

Here’s to being more deliberate and more focused; to saying no in order to get to yes; to prioritizing; to being grateful; and to making mistakes.

What did 2011 teach you?

I’ve become increasingly focused on having the right mindset when working.  I worry that sometimes we work without focus and deliberation.  Aside from leading us to feel unfulfilled, we also lose confidence in our skills.   We can’t pinpoint our strengths and weaknesses, as our work just seems to be a series of endless tasks.  We don’t reflect on our accomplishments and where/how we thrive and instead focus on just getting things done.  In doing so, we don’t sharpen our skills and instead allow them to become dull.

Fortunately, there are some simple ways to work more deliberately:

Solve a problem outside of work:  Seek opportunities to leverage your skills in new contexts that present new challenges.  This can be as simple as helping a friend or colleague solve a problem that is related to your work, volunteering at an organization, or starting a blog where you provide advice regularly on your area of expertise.  In each situation, the focus is on solving problems which requires you to think beyond your day to day while harnessing your talents and experiences.

Reflect regularly:  Whether it’s daily, weekly, or monthly, in a journal or online, asking yourself meaningful questions about your work can go a long way in helping you become better at what you do.  The right questions can help you zero in on what you’re good at, what challenges you face while helping you develop strategies for building up your expertise.  Michelle Martin over at Bamboo Project Blog often asks great questions and shares tips for reflection.

Join an association:  Associations provide a variety of opportunities to their members including workshops, jobs, social events, and chances to get involved in the planning and leading of the organization.  All of these activities allow you to meet people, learn, and work.  A great place to start is the local Young Nonprofit Professionals Network chapter near you.  You can also seek associations related to your field.

In and out of the office we can adopt strategies that allow us to put our professional growth at the center of our work. What other strategies would you add?

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