Part 11 (1/2)

But now let us suppose you could instead find another kind of work that matches all seven sides of you. All seven petals. What would you call that job? You would call it your dream job.

So, your total flower is a picture of who You most fully are. But at the same time it's a picture of a job that would give voice to all that you are. Your dream job. Where you would s.h.i.+ne, because it uses the best of Who You Are.

So please fill in your Flower. And try to keep it a joy rather than a duty.

For the following exercises you will need several blank sheets of notebook paper (8 11 inches) as your worksheets.

I Am a Person Who ...

Knows These Particular Things

And loves using that knowledge. Or knowledges. Or ”know-hows.” (Call it what you will.) First Petal MY FAVORITE KNOWLEDGES OR FIELDS OF INTEREST.

My Favorite Knowledges Petal

Goal in Filling Out This Petal: To summarize all that you stored in your brain. Required: From your past, subjects you already know a lot about, and enjoy talking about. Optional: For your future, what you would like to learn.

What You Are Looking For: Some guidance as to what field you would most enjoy working in.

Form of the Entries on Your Petal: Basically, they will all turn out to be nouns, but see below.

Example of a Good Petal: ”Graphic design, data a.n.a.lysis, mathematics, how to repair a car, videogames, cooking, music, principles of mechanical engineering, how to run an organization, Chinese, CATIA (Computer Aided Three-dimensional Interactive Application),” etc.

Example of a Bad Petal: ”Prompt, thorough, a.n.a.lyzing, persistent, communicating.”

Why Bad: Knowledges are always nouns. The words in the bad example above are not. In case you're curious, they are, in order: a trait (adjective), a trait (adjective), a transferable skill (verb), a trait (adjective), and a transferable skill (verb). All in all, that is one mixed bag! All are important, but you want only knowledges on this particular petal.

There are three things traditionally called skills: knowledges, as here; functions, also known as transferable skills; and traits. As a general rule throughout this inventory, knowledges are nouns, transferable skills are verbs, and traits are adjectives or adverbs. If it helps knowing that, great; if not, forget it. Our overarching principle throughout this book is that if a generalization, or metaphor, or example, helps you, use it. But if it just confuses you, then ignore it!!! Please!

On this Knowledges ”petal” (actually the central part of the Flower) you will eventually write your final results-your Favorite Knowledges/Fields of Interest, prioritized in the order of importance to you.

Prior to that, you need here, as you will with each petal, a worksheet. Or two. Get blank pieces of notebook or paper to do this on.

To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit rhlink.com/para14008 A worksheet is like a fisherman's net, where you want to cast it into the sea in order to capture the largest haul possible, and then sort out the best of your catch, later.

This worksheet can look sloppy, unorganized, and messy. That's okay. Who cares? Only the final petal is supposed to look organized.

A worksheet is a gathering place, for the results of the exercises you do, but also for every bright idea, every hunch, every remembered dream, every intuition that occurs to you as you are working on that petal. Jot down everything.

This is an important petal-very important-so to unearth your favorite knowledges or fields of interest, four exercises are usually needed. We begin with: 1. WHAT YOU KNOW FROM YOUR PREVIOUS JOBS.

If you've been out there in the world of work for any time already, you've probably learned a lot of things that you now just take for granted. ”Of course I know that!” But such knowledges may be important, down the line. So, list them!

Things like: bookkeeping, handling applications, credit collection of overdue accounts, hiring, international business, management, marketing, sales, merchandizing, packaging, policy development, problem solving, troubleshooting, public speaking, recruiting, conference planning, systems a.n.a.lysis, the culture of other countries, other languages, government contract procedures, and so on.

To be thorough here, jot down on another piece of paper a list of all the jobs you have ever held, and then for each job jot down anything you learned there. For example: ”Worked in a warehouse: learned how to use a forklift and crane, inventory control, logistics automation software, warehouse management systems, JIT (just in time) techniques, teamwork principles, and how to supervise employees.”

Or, again, ”Worked at McDonald's: learned how to prepare and serve food, how to wait on customers, how to make change, how to deal with complaints, how to train new employees, etc.”

Do this with all the jobs you have ever held: where you worked, what you learned there. Then look over everything you've written in this exercise, and decide which are your favorite knowledges or interests, that you're glad you picked up. Jot them down on your worksheet, in the s.p.a.ce provided for this exercise.

2. WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT, OUTSIDE OF WORK.

Jot down knowledges you've picked up outside of work, such as: antiques, gardening, cooking, budgeting, decorating, photography, crafts, spirituality, sports, camping, travel, repairing things, flea markets, sc.r.a.pbooking, sewing, art appreciation at museums, how to run or work in a volunteer organization, and so on.

a. Also think of anything you learned in high school (or college) that you prize knowing today: keyboarding? Chinese? accounting? geography? What? Jot it all down.

b. Think of anything you learned at training seminars, workshops, conferences, and so on, possibly in connection with a job you had at the time. Jot it all down.

c. Think of anything you studied at home, via online courses, mobile apps, tape programs (likely played in your car while commuting), PBS television programs, etc. Jot it all down.

d. Think of anything you learned out there in the world, such as how to a.s.semble a flash mob, how to organize a protest, how to fund-raise for a particular cause, how to run a marathon, how to repair a toilet, etc. Jot it all down, in the s.p.a.ce provided for this exercise on your worksheet.

3. WHAT FIELDS, CAREERS, OR INDUSTRIES SOUND INTERESTING TO YOU.

If you want to pick some career or field from a list of them all, it helps if you start broadly, and then drill down.

Broadly speaking, then, the job-market consists of the following four arenas: agriculture, manufacturing, information, and services. Any ideas about which of these four is most attractive to you? If so, jot it down, in the s.p.a.ce provided for this exercise on your worksheet.

In order to drill down further than that, your best bet is the government's O*Net Online, a.s.suming you have a computer (.

To begin with, this site has various lists of career cl.u.s.ters or industries or job families. Below is a mashup of these. Please read this list over, and check off any of these that you want to explore further (multiple choice preferred, here, in order to have alternatives and therefore hope): Accommodation and Food Services Administrative and Support Services Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Arts, Audio/Video Technology, and Communications Business, Operations, Management, and Administration Community and Social Service Computer and Mathematical Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Distribution and Logistics Education, Training, and Library Entertainment and Recreation Farming, Forestry, Fis.h.i.+ng, and Hunting Finance and Insurance Food Preparation and Serving Government and Public Administration Green Industries or Jobs Health Care, Health Science, and Social a.s.sistance Hospitality and Tourism Human Services Information and Information Technology Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security Life, Physical, and Social Sciences Management of Companies and Enterprises Manufacturing Marketing, Sales, and Service Military Related Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction Personal Care and Service Production Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services Protective Services Real Estate, Rental, and Leasing Religion, Faith, and Related Retail Trade, Sales, and Related Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Self-Employment Transportation, Warehousing, and Material Moving Utilities Now, the nice thing about O*Net Online is that once you have chosen anything on the list above, the site has drop-down menus which allow you to go deeper into each career cl.u.s.ter, industry, or job family that you have checked off. It drills down to career pathways, and then drills down further to individual occupations, and then drills down still further to tasks, tools, technologies, knowledges, skills, abilities, work activities, education, interests, work styles, work values, related occupations, and salary.

The only limitation here, as you will see in chapter 10, ”Five Ways to Change Careers,” is that O*Net only does this for about 800 occupations. Its predecessor, the D.O.T., had 12,741 occupations.4 So, this does not offer a complete map of the job-market by any means.

And even for those occupations that are listed in O*Net, remember: jobs, industries, and careers are mortal; they are born, they grow, they flourish, they mature, then decline and ultimately die. Sometimes it takes centuries, sometimes merely decades, sometimes even sooner than that. But, eventually, most jobs, industries, and careers are mortal. So, always have a plan B.

Okay, now you're done with the worksheet for this petal. What next? Well, sort them. Copy the diagram below onto a piece of notebook paper, and then sort everything-everything-you have on that worksheet into one of these four bins (well, you can forget bin #4, if you'd rather): To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit rhlink.com/para14009 Copy the top four or five results from bin #1 and maybe, maybe, an item from bin #2, on to your Favorite Knowledges or Fields of Interest petal.