Job Moves summary

Looking at your past career moves sets up the next two steps: understanding what gives you energy and what skills you bring to the table. Each part naturally builds on the last, creating a clear picture of your work life that helps you make smarter moves. This foundation becomes essential as you map out your future.

Think about what makes you excited to start your day. For example, Clara worked as a lab manager before becoming a physical therapy assistant. At first, she thought her next move should focus on bigger titles or better pay. But when she looked at her past jobs differently, checking what gave her energy and what drained it, she saw something new. She went beyond just listing what she did to find what made work exciting – and what made it tough.

The two key next steps are figuring out what you’re looking for right now and sketching out possible futures. Before diving into job listings, you need a clear map of where you want to go.

Look at how your energy drivers and skills work together in two ways: Do you want to build on what motivates you now, or change it completely? And do you want to use your current skills, or try something new? This creates four different paths. Some people need to start fresh with both – they’re trying to “Get Out.” Others want to keep using their skills but change how they spend their time – they’re working to “Regain Control.” Some want to keep what makes them tick but need their skills valued differently – they’re aiming to “Regain Alignment.” And some want to build on everything that’s working – they’re ready to “Take the Next Step.”

The next two steps take your possible futures from ideas to reality: first narrowing down your options, then testing them against the actual job market. This brings your dreams face-to-face with reality, but in a way that keeps your goals intact while working within practical limits.

Start by putting your options through a careful filter. Like water flowing through a funnel, each possibility needs to pass through your list of energy drivers and key skills. Clara tried this with her different futures and found something unexpected. Teaching rock climbing looked great at first glance – she’d be active and outdoors. But looking deeper, she saw it would miss the brain work she loved and limit her chances to make the kind of difference she wanted. Writing about science for a publication, though, kept scoring high marks. It would let her use her science background while keeping the schedule flexibility she’d grown to love.

With a clear understanding of which opportunities align with your priorities and what trade-offs you’re willing to make, the final phase of your search focuses on crafting your story and making your move. These last two steps transform your insights into action that resonates with potential employers.

Creating your story means finding the real thread that connects your past to where you want to go next. Think about it like the way Pixar builds a story: “Once upon a time …” followed by the key moments that brought you here, leading to why this next move fits perfectly. You can shape your career story the same way.