Career Corner: Exploring Jobs Using an Action Grid

Years ago I checked out of the library Born for This: How to Find the Work You Were Meant to Do by Chris Guillebeau. Riffing on his advice I developed the idea of creating an Action Grid to try out different jobs or careers. Then you can settle on the one that’s right for you right now.

Here’s the plan: Individuals who collect SSI or SSDI are in the perfect position to do an unpaid internship or volunteer work in the field you want to get a job in. See www.internships.com. Use www.idealist.org or www.volunteermatch.org to find volunteer work.

A Deloitte study corroborated that listing on a resume skills-based volunteering in the field you want to work in impressed 85 percent of hiring managers.

The Action Grid goes like this: get a paid or unpaid job in one field that interests you. Work there for five months while you’re going to school or collecting a disability check. After that get a five-month job in the second field that intrigues you.

“Try on” different jobs in two or three careers to rule out or verify where you want to hang your hat. Then make a permanent move to the field that is ideal for your purposes at this time.

Instead of job-hopping Chris Guillebeau called this “career shopping.” It puts you in control of the direction you’re going in. Ideally, it would help you figure out the right move before you make a long-term mistake. Like I did hopping from one corporate insurance office to another for seven years.

A friend of mine Robin was open and honest about having had an array of positions in disparate fields. He obtained an MBA and started to look for work in business. Interviewers questioned his zig-zag approach going from one job to another.

In the interviews, Robin linked the skills he gained in each field to the job he was applying for. He stressed his commitment to becoming a manager.

After getting his first job in the corporate world he rose up to become the CEO of a corporation. Did I mention Robin was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was 13 years old?

In my own life I was questioned as to why I was interviewing to work at a public library when the salary was higher at a law firm library like where I had worked while in school. At the time the public library was seeing librarians flee the system because of the low pay.

Who would want to get paid only $31,200 when they had obtained a Masters’ degree? My response was that I had worked at the public library part-time while at Pratt. I preferred working with the public to working with attorneys. Telling the interviewer that I would like to host workshops for teens. That this is where my true talent was.

It helps to research, research, research the need your prospective employer has that they expect you to fill by working in the position. Show them you can hit the ground running from your first day on the job.

Robin could’ve been snarky by saying: “If I didn’t want to work in business why would I have gotten an MBA?” That would’ve gotten him booted out the door faster than an M& A or Merger and Acquisition.

Savvy hiring managers want to know the specific reason when they ask you: “Why do you want to work here?” It can’t be simply because you want a job or want that job. Why do you want to work for that particular employer as opposed to the company with a marquee down the street?

This is where having worked in multiple job settings can tip the scales in your favor. You can try responding along the lines of:

“I see you’re getting ready to launch a new breakfast cereal. On my internship at XYZ I assisted the product manager. My help in analyzing the focus group feedback allowed them to formulate a marketing plan. Sales increased by twenty percent.”

Selling yourself might not come easy to you. Try role-playing going on an interview with a friend, your therapist, or better yet a professional. In a future column, I will talk about the number-one secret to succeeding in life and in your livelihood.