ALUMRISE

Tanya Mehta, CEO & President Tranverse Leadership LLC

Guest Blogger Tanya Mehta, CEO of Transverse Leadership LLC, shares the second part of her series on professionals navigating career change. In the first post, Tanya shared the questions: 1. Do I really know what makes me tick? and 2. Do I have a clear sense of bridge jobs and mid range career goals?

NAVIGATING TIMES OF TRANSITION, PART 2

3. Have I created a community of supporters?
 
It is not uncommon for me to have clients call totally demoralized having sent out 500 resumes wondering why their phone is not ringing.  In times of transition, you need to be exceptionally strategic about how to approach and target opportunity and the most effective place to start is with the people who are familiar with the caliber of your work and talent.  Make a list of everyone you have worked with that can speak with some depth about the quality of your work.  Develop an action plan to reach out to each of these individuals to discuss opportunities and how you might proceed.  Ask them for their support in mentioning you to their networks and thinking of you when opportunities arise.  Further, I always encourage early career professionals to reach out to their professors as they often are linked to loyal alumni who are willing to make time for talented students. 
 
It’s important to be gentle with yourself as building a community of supporters happens over the span of you career and is a reciprocal process.  Be willing to help others, make introductions and open doors for those in your network and you will benefit greatly when you need advice, short term freelancing gigs or someone to give you a much needed break.
 
4. Can I articulate my unique value proposition?
 
Imagine being lucky enough to have a chance encounter in an elevator or on the subway with a senior leader at a company you are targeting – how would you present yourself? Could you articulate your value proposition to their organization in a 20 second elevator pitch? This is a critical question to be able to answer well.  I can’t tell you how many of my clients slave over the perfect resume and cover letters but get totally tongue tied when having to articulate what they are currently doing, what they have worked on, where they are heading and strengths/weaknesses in their leadership style. 
 
The fact that you are in transition is nothing to be ashamed of yet many let that emotion get the better of them – millions of people are in your shoes and its important to remember that being prepared and learned optimism are your best allies.  Its not about being overly aggressive or sales-like when talking about your talents and capabilities — what I am suggesting is that you exude a sense of confidence that gives a vital message to the person meeting you – I am qualified, I am competent, I am excited about your company and I feel we are a great fit for the following reasons i.e. I am a person you should consider interviewing.  Think carefully about what you would say – practice in front of a mirror if you have to.  At the end of the day the impression you make is often as important as the credentials you have.  Embrace it and use it to your advantage.
 
 
5. How am I nurturing myself?
 
This is the most important question of all.  Very often talented and goal-oriented individuals going through major career transitions feel that they don’t deserve a break or a splurge unless they have the results to justify it.  It’s true that perseverance and focus are vital to emerge positively from times of transition but it’s essential to step away and refuel in order to have the energy and perspective to keep going.  This is where your self discipline and awareness are vital as rejuvenating means different things to every person – a walk in the park, road trip with your kids, dinner with an old friend or solitude with a good book – figure out what works for you.  Making sure that you are making time for activities that center you will make a world of difference in terms of the quality of your outcome. 
 
I end with GE CEO, Jeffrey Immelt’s words as they epitomize the attitude that resilient and highly successful leaders across the globe have in times of adversity — “I’m an optimist. I’ve always believed the future is going to be better than the past. And I also believe I have a role in that. The great thing about human beings, myself in particular, is that I can change. I can do better. If you can get up every day, stay optimistic, and believe the future is better than the past, those few things get you through a lot of tough times.”
 
So view this time of transition as a gift – a chapter in your life that was game-changing.  Keep dreaming big and make some time to think through your own responses to the above five questions – you might be amazed at what you uncover.
 

To view the first post, click here.

Career changers: Join ALUMRISE

Tanya Mehta, CEO and President Transverse Leadership LLC

ALUMRISE Guest blogger Tanya Mehta is President and CEO of Transverse Leadership LLC. A leadership coach and consultant specializing in executive development, Tanya has special passion for coaching early career professionals looking to accelerate their leadership trajectory as well as women returning to the workforce.  Her 10+ years of expertise span talent development, succession planning, corporate training and executive education at leading corporations including Sun Microsystems, Hilton Hotels (the Waldorf-Astoria), The Walt Disney Corporation and Starwood Hotels and Resorts. Prior to founding Transverse, Tanya held the role of Director, Business Development at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (Executive Education) where she consulted with senior Fortune 500/Nasdaq 1000 leaders on a broad range of executive education needs for their senior teams and high potential leaders.

In this, the first part of a two-part series, Tanya explains how navigating career transition can be eased by answering 5 critical questions. Today we feature the two most critical questions for a professional to ask themselves.

NAVIGATING TIMES OF TRANSITION EFFECTIVELY
Critical Questions To Answer

Are you going through a tricky patch on the career front?  Don’t despair – what follows are some key questions you need to look in the mirror and ask yourself. Answering them with brutal honesty can very well help you get back on track sooner than you expect and perhaps even take your career in a direction that is more personally fulfilling and to heights you never imagined.

 1. “Do I really know what makes me tick?”
 
Anyone laid-off, on boarding after maternity leave or trying to break into a new industry can identify with the rollercoaster of frustration, exhaustion and (hopefully) eventual euphoria that major career transitions often bring with them.  If you can look past the tumult of these phases, one gift that emerges is that of time. A departure from the daily grind enables you to reflect and focus and presents a valuable opportunity to uncover what really makes you tick!  Now I don’t mean to make this sound simplistic because no one I have ever coached or worked with loves every aspect of their job.  However, the role to which you devote the majority of your waking hours has to provide some innate happiness and deep sense of purpose – you will never be really great or motivate others to be really great at something you are miserable doing.
 
You might have been working in the same industry for the last decade but what aspects of your work did you really love? What kind of role would make you feel fulfilled? How do you visualize your professional life 10 years from now? Have the audacity to dream about how you could earn a paycheck doing what you love.  Don’t despair if you feel like a totally blank slate when asking yourself the question of what really makes you tick.  Leverage the knowledge that close friends and colleagues have of your talents and strengths and test the waters through a range of short term projects.   For additional perspective consider taking a leadership assessment or working with a career coach.  It does take effort to uncover the answer — the operative point is to have the courage to seek it.  
 
 
2. “Do I have a clear sense of bridge jobs and mid range career goals?”
 
Winston Churchill once said “success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”  Oftentimes people feel paralyzed by career transitions because their expectations are out of touch with the reality of their situation and the broader economic landscape.  Focusing on your vision is vital but you are not going to get your dream job as a fashion buyer right out of undergrad or your story on the front page of the New York Times because you are a stellar writer.
 
Every career path from medicine to management consulting has rites of passage – you have to have the patience and use critical experiences to learn and grow while keeping your eye on the ultimate goal.  Be proactive about figuring out what the key stepping stones to your dream or “destination” job are.  The best way to do this is to talk to as many people doing the kind of work you aspire to do and ask very specific questions.  How did they start out?  What did they wish they had known?  What were the most critical learning’s they had in their early roles?  Where do they think the industry is heading? Using this information, you need to develop a very clear set of actionable mid range goals and target bridge jobs. 

Look out for a follow up post next week, featuring three additional key questions on navigating change. You can check out a detailed spotlight on Tanya and her services at www.alumrise.com