The chapters in this book are based on these five drivers, which I call: the Crisis of Identity, the Drifted Apart, the Stretched Too Thin, the Runner-Up, and the Underappreciated Star. Each chapter includes a unique set of data I collected on that type of career goer. To help you better understand your own situation, I probed into their psychological experiences, their behaviors at work, and who or what they thought was to blame for their current situation. And because this is a book about finding work that you love again or for the first time, I also collected data from people who hire, promote, and fire people. I interviewed career recruiters and hiring managers from a range of industries; I met with hiring experts who've mastered tools like LinkedIn Recruiter; and I spoke with seasoned leaders who've developed intricate interview practices designed to test the skills people use on the job. These people gave me insights into what questions people should be asking (but rarely do) in interviews, how to make a résumé more appealing, and with whom to network to learn insider secrets so that you may secure the job you desire most. Every type of career goer will face different hurdles during the application and interview process, from convincing a hiring manager that they can make a major career pivot, to detecting communication gaps between the person who's interviewing them for a job and the person who will eventually oversee them. To this end, each chapter contains bespoke advice designed to address the hurdles that are the most common among each type of career goer.
HOW YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK
One of the first questions people ask me when I tell them about the five types of career goer is "Which one am I?" The short answer is "Take my test and you'll find out." But the long answer is "You might find that you aren't just one. Most people are two or three."
Because this book is organized around psychological profiles, not career types, the chapters are not mutually exclusive. You can certainly question how much you identify with your career and feel underappreciated at the same time. For this reason, I would think about them as most relevant to least relevant. I resonate most strongly with the Crisis of Identity career goer, but I also feel Stretched Too Thin sometimes, for example.
Before we dive into the quiz to help you figure out which types resonate the most with you, let's start with an overview of what each type is and what you'll find in each chapter.
THE CRISIS OF IDENTITY
The journey of the Crisis of Identity career goer can feel the most daunting of all those in this book. This person has spent months, often years, honing their skills and has a lot to show for it. They have well-developed professional networks and knowledge of the hidden curriculum. Their job is a core part of who they are, and their personal life and workplace life are often sewn together in an intricate web. Yet they question whether this career is right for them and fantasize about the chance to do something new and different. The Crisis of Identity career goer's journey begins with a little soul searching: Do you still feel like your old career is an important part of who you are, and how bad would you feel if you could never do it again? Only after processing the loss of their old identity can this career goer start building a new one. Because this career goer is wading into uncharted waters, this chapter covers a lot of ground. You will learn how to form connections with people outside your existing career network to learn things about your potential next career that aren't advertised on company websites—for example, hidden norms about the workplace, including what it takes to make a successful transition as an outsider, or the meaning of jargon and acronyms you're not familiar with but that are commonly used on résumés and in everyday workplace conversations. Think of this chapter as a starting place to build career-discovery skills.
THE DRIFTED APART
Many of us might have had the experience of looking at a longtime partner or close friend and thinking, "You've changed so much recently, I don't think I recognize the person you've become." Now imagine you have this sentiment about your job. The Drifted Apart know what it feels like to be happy at work—they know how to find purpose in their job, with whom to network for help, and what they need to do to perform well. But changes big and small have eaten away at the certainty they once felt. Their enjoyment in the job has been sapped; they don't feel confident in their ability to do their job well; and many have lost their drive to try. Their journey begins by understanding how widespread the changes they've experienced are: Is it the whole industry, their organization, or something more local—like their team or even their boss—changing that's at the heart of why things feel different? And like all people in relationships who drift apart, they need to ask themselves, "How much of my unhappiness is because I'm the one who's changed?" The Drifted Apart experience changes in their daily lives—for example, a shift in how much time their boss gives them or a sudden increase in the number of new people put on their team—that are the result of bigger changes made behind closed doors. To see how these big changes impact the daily ones they feel, they need insights from a specific group of people: those who helped plan big changes and understand how these changes affect people's everyday work lives. The insights from the "planners" I surveyed are critical to building a list of job must-haves that are related to the realities of a changing workplace. For the interview process, I will teach you how to probe into the relationships between decision-makers and the people who oversee you. In constantly changing workplaces, these relationships are often obscured from view, and small things, like knowing whether your future boss was involved in the creation of the job advertisement you responded to (or has even seen it), can provide illuminating answers.
