Hello everyone,
Welcome to 2023! This blog will be the first in a long-term series related to the content of my new book, The Purple Parachute: A Woman’s Guide to Navigating the Winds of Career Change. My book is designed to take the mystery out of career transition and help midlife women make informed decisions. I wrote this book with a focus on mid-career to executive women because it’s my passion to help women gain equal footing in the workplace. But the surprising truth is, anyone can benefit from the career development guidance in my book. This series will break the book down chapter by chapter so you can benefit from its subject matter.
Let’s start at the beginning. The book’s Introduction mentions the reality of today’s workplace for women and shares parts of my career journey along with a window into my mother’s career. She taught me that it’s never too late to start a professional career and was a pioneer of the “portfolio career” concept.
The first section also presents the A.S.T.E.R. Career Model, which I created to help others make smoother career transitions. The acronym stands for Assess, Seek, Test, Execute and Repeat. These are the steps that each woman must take while going through the career development process. The last step denotes that this is an ongoing process. Because women experience so many career transitions in their lifetime, you can repeatedly utilize this Model each time you experience career crossroads.
Chapter One, titled Assess, explains the importance of understanding yourself as the first step in the process. Appropriately, the “A” in the A.S.T.E.R. Career Model stands for Assess and involves discovering (or rediscovering) your Values, Interests, Natural disposition, Exceptional strengths, and Skills. If you continue to indulge me on the garden acronyms, we’ll call these your V.I.N.E.S., and each of these letters/topics is covered in depth in Chapters 2-6. Before jumping into each of these assessment subtopics in future blog posts, let’s finish this blog by emphasizing the various aspects of career assessments.
Some of you know yourself quite well. If that’s the case, you may not need to go through Chapters 2-6. However, if you can’t easily state your values, personality type, interests, or strongest skills and talents, you must start with assessment because understanding these pillars of career development as they relate to you is a foundational step that cannot be skipped. Though it takes intention and energy, it is not rocket science. You can utilize the book to guide you through this process.
Assessments can be formal or informal. An example of a formal assessment would be the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). An informal assessment might be a series of questions or a card sort. Both have a time and place depending on the stated career goal, client style, and time available. Most formal assessments cost money, and many have a required level of training or education to administer. Informal assessments can be found in books and online. Pay attention to the source of the assessment. Some are more legitimate than others, and there is no official “seal of approval” or governing body monitoring all assessments.
Sometimes “informal assessments” can be loosely defined as merely a survey or gathering of information from trusted supporters. In fact, a large source of informal data can be found in feedback you receive from others. Consider comments from past performance reviews or testimonials about your work. These already exist and can be a good way to gather information about your V.I.N.E.S. If you don’t have any data on hand, you can ask people you respect probing questions such as “What do you think are my best skills?”.
With assessments that result in a list of potential jobs, don’t get too hung up on the suggestions. Use them as a starting point of discovery and exploration. As an example, imagine an assessment suggests that you would be a good dentist, and your first reaction is that it is something you would never want to do. Instead of rejecting it outright, think more broadly about what that job represents. It is a job that has high contact with people to help them stay healthy by using tools and your hands. Consider if any of the aspects do appeal to you, such as being around people, valuing health, solving problems, or using fine motor skills. This can help you bridge the suggestion to other job titles that may be a better fit.
While gaining self-knowledge is never a waste of time, you want to make sure you are not taking so many assessments that you bog yourself down in the information-gathering process. If you are feeling overwhelmed by too many assessments, it may be time to stop taking them and move into an analysis phase to see what they are telling you. Experienced career professionals can be helpful with administering and interpreting results. They have a duty to “do no harm” to clients, to follow ethical guidelines, and be trained to administer the assessments they offer. Even though some assessments are marketed for self-administration, having the perspective of a professional can make interpretation easier and faster and decrease the chance of misinterpretation.
Two final points to keep in mind: 1) When possible, keep past assessment results as you go through your career. It can be interesting and useful to see what has changed. Sometimes the pattern that develops can be insightful. 2) Assessments are not tests! Tests have right and wrong answers, but with assessments, there is no “right” answer. It’s about gathering information, synthesizing it, and then making informed career decisions that align with your V.I.N.E.S.
In the next book blog, I’ll share more about Chapter Two, which focuses on values, the first piece of the assessment process. If you don’t want to wait for the whole series of blogs to be created to learn about the full book content, you can watch this 6-minute video that gives an overview.
Want to buy a copy of my new book? On www.purple-parachute.com, you can order a paperback, hardcopy, or eBook through Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Or if you would like a signed copy, please click on the Purchase Signed Copy button.
P.S. Earlier this month, I really enjoyed talking about mid-life transition with my sister, Lisa Battalia, and Hélène Tragos Stelian on Hélène’s YouTube channel, Empowering Women in Midlife. We discussed transitions in the boardroom and the bedroom related to our new books. I hope you’ll take a look at the video interview and subscribe to her channel. If you hit the bell after subscribing, you’ll be notified when new videos are ready for viewing. Feel free to check out the BCM YouTube channel too.
