Approach

Once you have decided to make a positive impact on the world through the work you do, you have begun an Implicit Career Search. You have started the process of realizing and declaring your Work Purpose Statement. The Implicit Career Search simply asks you to explore these five areas before developing a Strategic Career Plan.

The first two explorations ask you to ‘clear your lens’ in order to become more aware of how you view yourself and your career ambitions. Without starting with these, you would simply write a plan that is a continuation of the one you are currently on. The Implicit Career Search suggests you base your career on the person you actually are and intend to be, not the person you have become due to previous conditioning and circumstances. The five explorations are designed in a ‘stackable’ method. The clearer you get on ‘Taking Charge’ the further you will get with ‘Getting Unstuck’. The more you become unstuck the clearer your Personal Mission Statement will be for you. And the clearer your Personal Mission Statement the clearer your Work Purpose becomes. This does not mean you stay on the first exploration until complete. It does mean you never stop exploring further in these five areas throughout your career.

1. Taking Charge – Taking a look at how much control you have over your current situation and where you could assume more. Recognizing and moving on from limiting beliefs. 

2. Getting Unstuck – Identifying and removing labels, defensive behaviours, personal rigidities, and ‘shoulds’ that stop you from seeing your actual self.
3. Writing a Personal Mission Statement – Defining the person you are and intend to be. How you will relate to friends, family, money, play, possessions, work and self.
4. Declaring a Work Purpose Statement – Describing the contribution you intend to eventually make through your work. In what area do you wish to make an impact? This will form the basis of your Strategic Career Plan.
5. Career Development – Developing the work purpose by:

•  Identifying and acquiring skills necessary to deliver it.
•  Learning how to sell your skills either to an employer or to the public.
• Developing leadership attributes in yourself and your career
• Achieving expertise in an area of your field
• Doing the work you do in your own unique fashion

Strategic Career Planning

All you need to begin planning your career is the sense of purpose developed through experiencing the above explorations. A clearer understanding of yourself and a glimmer of how you want to have your work impact on your world and you are ready to develop all that further with a carefully, and strategically, thought out career plan that will follow this format.

1. Vision Stages What’s the first step to take? If currently employed you will decide how long to stay with this job, or you may have found that you can deliver your work purpose, for now at least, within this job. If currently unemployed your first priority may be to find any kind of work that will pay the bills and get you back on your feet so you can think clearly about your next step. We refer to this kind of work as a ‘seed job’ as it initiates the future growth of your career. Or you may be able to take some training that will provide you with some of the skills you identified during exploration 5. Your first vision stage will be decided on through a combination of: your level of awareness (which will have been increased during the first two explorations); your current circumstances (employed, unemployed, parenting, rich, poor, etc. etc.); and your level of motivation (which will have greatly increased during your Work Purpose exploration).

2. Implementation Steps Once you have at least the first Vision Stage in place you can begin developing the more detailed steps required to accomplish that Vision. If the first stage in your plan is to go back to school, then you will identify all that is required to do that and how and when you will get those steps done. Funding, applying, accommodation, daycare, travel, etc. are all implementation steps to completing your attending school or training. If it is a ‘seed job’ you are looking for you will put steps in place to accomplish that – resume, interview techniques, understanding the current job market, social media marketing (LinkedIn page for example). The Implementation Steps are the details that will accomplish the bigger picture Vision Stages.

3. Contingency Plans Now that you have identified the steps necessary to accomplish the Vision Stage you are working on it is wise to consider where things may not go as well as you had hoped. What will your response be if you do not get accepted to the training course you planned to take? How will you react if no work is found after a month of searching? If funding falls through, if you get sick, etc. etc. Contingency planning is not ‘stinking thinking’ it is an expression of determination. It is you saying, I will not allow inevitable setbacks or changes in circumstance, stop me from achieving my Vision Stage or delivering the contribution I have to making this world a better place to be.

The Implicit Career Search Formats & Certification