Where Will Your Career Be 5 Years From Now?

There are three roadblocks that stop most people making the career change they want. 

I feel powerless. 

I’m not good enough. 

I don’t know where to begin. 

No, you’re not and yes you are. That’s the first two sorted. Let’s unpack number three.

Have you ever read a book, been on a holiday, seen a movie and it was so good that now you are compelled to tell others so off you go waxing lyrical at every opportunity? Every time in the recounting you remember a little more, discover a new angle. Some of your friends and family take up your recommendation, others glaze over with indifference. You aren’t offended by the latter. Just trying to share the joy after all. You move on with your day. 

You have just engaged in the purest form of selling; with conviction and in service of others.

You truly believed that their life would be better for following your recommendation. Imagine if you could sell yourself like that, that you could look another person in the eye and without missing a beat say I-am-the-right-person-for-this-job. 

Without total conviction, I am a hopeless salesperson, especially if I am trying to sell ME.  I shrink into my shell. With conviction, I can sell with an infectious enthusiasm.

Knowing this and knowing that I am a serial career re-inventor I start early in getting myself ready to be able to look people in the eye and say here I am. By early I mean five years. Career change usually takes me somewhere in the three to five years to effectively transition. Career leaps are not my style. I like to be ready, I like to have done my homework, I like to have my ducks in a row. Not perfectly, not procrastinating, not with any guarantees. I just need to be able to know that I have my stuff together.

Where does all this start? For me, it starts with a conviction letter. This is a cover letter that I imagine I would be attaching to a resume five years from now. My resume would list out what I’ve done, my conviction letter is all about the 'why' I’m the person.

What would it take for you to sell yourself with complete certainty that you are ‘the person?’

Imagine the person, the setting, sitting across a table or walking alongside as they are rushing to catch a plane, what would be words, the phrases, the deal breakers you would use. Write them down. List them functionally, sculpt your words if you like, ascend to poetry if that’s your thing. 

There you have it. That’s your working plan for the next few years. Mix in small dollops of courage, allow some time, pop it in the oven and be surprised with what you created.

Make sure you address: what you believe, what you think and what you are doing.

Use all those points as headings and break it all down into really small manageable chunks and start. There are no trumpets heralding your beginning. It’s quiet, uneventful. The outside world knows no different. To you though, it is a date that you will recount as a milestone of your journey.

This is what it could look like.

I had to contact you about the position of……..   I am the person you are looking for. 

This is the right time for our paths to cross. Why??

Because five years ago I would have tried to convince you I was the right person. Truth is, I wouldn’t have been ready. I would have been genuine in my belief but I simply wasn’t ready. Things have changed.

Five years ago I drew the line in the sand and said XXXX is what I want to be. So I looked at all my strengths and found my weaknesses and I got to work. 

My commitment is rock solid because I believe ….

My attitude is great because my thinking is really clear on……

I’ve got momentum because I’ve done …..

Give me the chance to prove myself in a face to face interview. I am sure working together will be good for both of us.