Why Your Next Career Move May Start With What You Already Know |
In early 2024, I knew that my work life and career were changing, and I was evaluating whether or not to step into entrepreneurship. For years, I have been building skills and expertise in human resources, leadership development and coaching. For years, it felt like I was so close to meeting my true calling and potential. I was on the right train, but not exactly on the right track. Each role brought new relationships, new experiences and deepened my expertise. But in the HR roles, I always felt that I was not able to maximize my own potential; that the HR hat prohibited me from bringing my whole self to my life’s work – that of helping facilitate personal growth.
So while I was in this transition, sussing out my next step, I found a great book called When to Jump – If the Job You Have Isn’t the Life You Want by Mike Lewis. (Highly recommend!) In it, he shares over 40 case studies of people who made the leap (or considered but didn’t take the leap), with a framework of “four steps to wholeheartedly pursuing the career of your dreams.”
Damn. Okay, I’m interested.
So I read the book, and while there are so many directions this newsletter can go, today, I want to focus on the idea of a skills inventory.
In my own story, it was the skills inventory that provided me courage to take the leap into entrepreneurship. Rather than live (only) in emotion (which is also data, by the way), I took stock and assessed my career vision, skills, professional network, and financial landscape to outline a path forward. Taking inventory provided real data on my readiness which fed my courage. I didn’t need another certification, I needed to do the damn thing and hang my shingle.
A Strategic Exercise
In your story, taking a skills inventory is helpful if you are feeling stuck, want to explore your creativity, or start a new chapter in your life, whether it’s a new career, a new role, retirement, mid-life reinvention, or something else entirely.
Taking a skills inventory is a strategic exercise. It is more than jotting down what you’ve done in your life and work. It is raw data for designing your next chapter.
Defining Tasks, Skills, Capabilities
When we think about skills, we can sometimes confuse them with tasks. Most professionals underestimate their skills as a result. To evolve the concept, let’s consider how tasks represent our skills and capabilities.
- Ran payroll
- Facilitated meetings
- Managed projects
- Oversaw on boarding
Those are tasks (aka responsibilities). They don’t capture the deeper value.
When we ask: What capability does this task demonstrate? We get different data:
- Ran payroll > process management, compliance oversight
- Facilitated meetings > group facilitation, alignment building
- Managed projects > cross-functional coordination, execution discipline
- Oversaw on boarding > systems design, talent integration, culture building
When we go one level higher and look at what capabilities sit beneath those skills, we find:
- Scalable systems
- Aligning people around change
- Translating complexity into clarity
- Designing sustainable processes
This is where the gold is found. By uncovering what your skills represent, you can then group your skills into themes, and see the patterns that begin to emerge. They reveal what you consistently bring to the table, regardless of title or industry, and can help you to retool your own internal understanding of your career identity.
Exercise: Developing Your Skills Inventory
There are many ways to develop your inventory of skills and capabilities.
If you are seeking a similar role in a new company, you can use your job description to highlight your capabilities. List out each of your skills, and rank order them according to preference, and pull out the capabilities within.
For a bigger leap, begin with the end in mind.
Define your vision: What are some pathways and strong options?
Capture: List all of your skills, and focus on the ones that give energy and are aligned with your vision.
Analyze: Conduct a gap analysis. What do you already have, and what do you need to build? The vision helps you choose.
Align: Update your resume and LinkedIn profile to attract the right eyes.
Refine: This is not a one time task; our career vision changes so refining is part of the evolution.
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”
The Long View
A job search, career transition, or season of life change is not a one-time event. I reflect on this often as I continue defining and designing what I want to bring forward in my business. As an entrepreneur now in my second year of business, I can see how the dots connect and am confident I’m on the right track. And the skills inventory – I revisit this often. It shores me up when the dreaded and unwelcome imposter syndrome strikes, and reminds me of the foundation I’ve built throughout my entire career.
We spend so much time looking ahead for the next thing that we can forget to look back at what we’ve already built. Your skills are evidence. They are clues. They are raw material. There is something powerful about taking inventory. Not just of what you’ve accomplished, but of what you’ve learned, what comes naturally to you, what gives you energy, and what you want more of. Pay attention to this, and you’ll find your next right track.
I love working with people on that edge of change. If you’re exploring what’s next, reach out. I’d love to help you navigate the uncertainty with courage, grit, grace, and vision.
Additional Resources
Book: When to Jump – If the Job You Have Isn’t the Life You Want by Mike Lewis
Photo by Andrew Karn on Unsplash
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