Three Questions to Frame Your Purpose-Driven Job Search
One of my clients, Kelly, is on the hunt for her next position. She’s looking to pivot into something new—diving into policy in the public sector—after several years in corporate finance and operations.
Here’s the challenge: looking through job postings is like trying to drink water out of a firehose.
Culling through Indeed, sorting out job alerts, and finding the right opportunities has left Kelly feeling drained, especially on top of the full-time job that she is so ready to move on from. She’s having trouble staying motivated and positive as she looks to the future.
When embarking on a job search, we usually start with two obvious questions:
What is the title of the role I want to step into?
What industry do I want to work in?
We use the answers to these questions to create the framework of the search. For Kelly, that’s becoming a Policy Analyst in state government.
But here’s a different approach to a job search—one that goes far deeper than the job title and industry to bring a more purposeful lens to your search.
Through the coaching process, we uncovered Kelly's mission: to support informed decision-making that strengthens diverse communities. There are many organizations that take on that type of work, such as a for-profit tech company that creates platforms for gathering actionable data, a public policy think tank that conducts research, a government agency that implements policy, or a nonprofit that advocates for the needs of the affected community. Your purpose is not limited to any one sector or industry; focusing on impact allows you to think creatively and recognize unexpected opportunities.
Kelly was searching for postings with the label "Policy Analyst," and she was underwhelmed with the results. She's a total nerd for research and data analysis, and has superpowers in creating policies and procedures, streamlining systems, and technical writing. We used these skills as keywords in what's called a Boolean search—a way of connecting words and phrases to find targeted search results. Learn how to conduct a Boolean search here. Once you have your results, be sure to click through and read the posting rather than assuming that you understand the role based on the title. A "Financial Analyst" may actually be a policy-related role, and may not necessarily require that you're good with numbers!
Kelly wants to work in a place that shares her values of integrity, compassion, and learning. But how do you find a company based on touchy-feely words? I love the "Explore Companies" feature on The Muse, which gives you an inside look at a company's culture. You can get a feel for what it's like to work there through photos, employee interviews, and insights into their employee benefits and initiatives. I also tune in to companies I connect with while listening to podcasts—I heard an interview with Kate Burke, the Chief People Officer at HubSpot over a year ago, and have had a company crush on them ever since. Every so often, I go to the careers page on their website to see what's open, or I search for HubSpot recruiters on LinkedIn. I can't wait for one of my clients to get a job there so I can live vicariously through them!
These three questions helped Kelly to dig deeper. And while she's still searching for the right position, she's keyed into a gig that will ignite her purpose, utilize her superpowers, and align with her values—and that's taken her to much more interesting possibilities than "Policy Analyst" at handful of state government agencies.
If the these purpose-driven questions leave you stumped, help is here! Learn more about working with me here.
