Career Exploration: Identifying “My Signature Career Values”

Don’t laugh. I won a cha-cha contest with Cheryl Philips when I was 12 years old, and that was the extent of my dancing career. But throughout my one short season of dance lessons, I did learn that to be successful – like winning a cha-cha contest – one partner had  to lead  and the other one followed the lead. They complement each other with each partner knowing their respective roles. And when the wrong person attempts to lead the dance, the outcome can be comical. Or, if dancing on stage, devastating.

Comparable to dancing, career exploration requires two entities to work (dance) together: 1) The head (intellect), and 2) The heart (feelings). The problem with traditional career exploration methodologies, and why most people aren’t working at their ideal jobs and/or capacity, is that they are leading with the head instead of the heart. They got the dance backwards.   

Most career programs and processes include some form of ‘testing’ instruments that require the brain (head) to evaluate the questions, and then come up with answers. For instance, Career Fitter is a 60-question personality and career test that matches interests and preferences with potential careers. Career seekers ‘think’ their way through the 60 questions with the head busy at work, while the heart sits in the stands and just watches it all play out. To its dismay.

This is true of pretty much all leading career exploration programs and processes. ONET Interest Profiler is a self-directed tool from the USDOL that helps one identify their work-related interests and abilities. All head work. Same for the Keirsey Temperament Sorter Test, the Big Five Personality Assessment, and BigFuture. Then there is Career Explorer, a test that uses machine learning to match interests, goals, history, personality, and workplace preferences with potential careers. Finally, there is the Holland Code Quiz, which is an assessment tool that focuses on skills.  

For some reason, decade after decade, the process of career exploration comes down to taking tests, quizzes, and instruments. All head work – no heart work. Then, when the decision-by-head is made, where the head leads the dance, inevitably, the heart says, “I’m outta here”. And when the heart’s not in it any more, only turbulence lies ahead.

The Perfect Dance

It’s a partnership. The heart says, “Let’s go to Mars and fly a helicopter.” The head responds, “Impossible, but I’ll make it happen.” And it does. A perfect dance. Susan B. Anthony (and others) said, “We have the right to vote and we will overturn 144 years of history?” The head said, “No way Jose.” The heart responded, “Enjoy making it happen.” And the head figured out how.  

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

When the heart leads the dance, and when there is a purpose-driven will… the head will find a way

The 6-8 / 90 principle to identify “My Signature Career Values”

Without exception, everyone has them. We all have a set of about 6-8 core values that define 90% of our happiness or satisfaction with our lives and in a career/job. A ‘value’ is something that makes us happy, it comes from the heart, and is immutable at the moment. ‘I love my children,’ is a value, it makes us happy, and it’s impossible to change in the moment. If freedom is a core value, most of us will have trouble working for a micromanager. We need the freedom to succeed, not someone watching over us every minute.  

Our core values are so strong, they cannot be compromised without negative, or often, severe, consequences. The head cannot dictate how the heart feels, but in fact, that’s how most career evaluations work.  

If you’ve followed me at all, you know that I believe in the principle that about 6-8 things make 90% of the difference in most things in life. Sometimes it’s less, as in the title to my book, 5 Steps to Rapid Employment. And sometimes it’s more, like The Ten Commandments. But you get the idea. It’s just a few things that make the most difference. So the goal in career exploration is to help career explorers identify their 6-8 most important career values, and then prioritize them – ranking them in the order of importance.  Once identified, a job seeker will have identified “My Signature Career Values.”  

It’s been my experience that most people never ponder the question, what really makes me happy – specifically? Have you ever had a dream or desire (heart speaking), and then the head butts in and says that you can’t afford it, or you don’t deserve it, or your spouse will kill you, or any one of a million reasons why you can’t do it? And so you don’t.  In most cases, the head makes the decision which is in conflict with the heart. And we have an expression for this: ‘My heart’s not in it anymore.” (if it ever was in the first place).  

A quick course of leading with the heart

In my book, 5 Steps to Rapid Employment, step two received national recognition as I outline how to lead with the heart and identify what makes us truly happy – in life and in the workplace (I will email the chapter to you – see end of article). Though we may have 15, 20, or more values, there are only about 6 to 8 core values that make up 90 percent of our happiness. This means that when we identify our top 6 to 8 career values, and place them in a hierarchy of importance, we will then know precisely what makes you happy in a career/job.  

With this heightened level of self-awareness, we can then begin the process of working towards building a career in harmony with our signature values. And when we have identified our 6-8 core values and then place them in a hierarchy, they become “My Signature Values.” In other words, you and I might have the exact same 8 values, but your list will, most likely, be in a different order than mine. This is why once we identify our values and prioritize them, they become ours alone, that I call, “My Signature Values.”   To identify our values, the question we ask the ‘heart’ is: 

“What’s most important to me in my career or job that will make me happy and that will significantly enrich the quality of my life?”

Let me share an example. Aileen, age 33, came to me having no idea what career path she wanted to take.  

Jay: “Aileen, I will ask you a question and I want you to not think about an answer, but feel what response would make you happy.  In other words, don’t think. Just allow your heart to have its say – even if the head says it’s ridiculous. Instead of brainstorming – let’s try heart-storming. Just write down whatever “feels good to you.”

Aileen: “This sounds weird but I’ll try.”

Jay: “What’s most important to you in a career or job that will make you happy and that will significantly enrich the quality of your life? You might want to consider a job where you were really happy. What was it about that job that made you really happy?  That’s a career value. Maybe you can also think of a job you really disliked. What specifically was it that made you dislike the job, and the opposite would be your value. If you weren’t respected and that caused significant angst, being respected would be a core career value. This process is all about trusting the heart, not the head.”

Aileen went to work on this.  She came up with the following:

• Fast-paced environment
• Training others
• Work in teams  
• Freedom
• Work with ideas
• Writing
• Change society for the better
• Flexible schedule
• No weekend work 
• Recognition and respect
• $75,000 minimum
• Minimal stress
• Precision work
• Advancement
• Leadership
• Variety and change
• Personal growth
• A good boss
• Reputable company
• Integrity
• Good benefits 

I then said, “Aileen, of the 21 values you noted, which 8 would be most important to you? In other words, if you worked at a job that aligned with all 8 values, you’d be the happiest lady alive.” She smiled, and then put her heart into the process and came up with:

1. A good boss
2. Writing
3. Recognition and respect 
4. $75,000 minimum 
5. Good benefits
6. Integrity 
7. Personal growth
8. Work with ideas
9. Change society for the better

I then asked her to list them in order of priority to her (Her “My Signature Values’).  And she came up with:

1. Writing – to change society (people) for the better (combination of two)
2. A good boss
3. $75,000 minimum and good benefits (combined two)
4. Integrity – recognition and respect (combining two)
5. Personal growth
6. Work with ideas

Jay: “Aileen, if you worked at a job where all your values above were met, how happy would you be?”

Aileen:  “Out of my mind happy,” she responded.

Jay: “You have identified your “My Signature Values.”  The goal now is to identify industries and job titles that align with your values. And when you do this, and when you interview, you can ask questions to assure the company meets your needs (My Signature Values), just as you can meet theirs.”  

With her values in hand and her heart fully on board, the head went to work. In less than a month, Aileen landed a 6-figure position as senior grant writer for a non-profit that helps single moms – many homeless.  

The challenge for coaches

The key to this process is to challenge career explorers to not think – and to allow their feelings and emotions to identify what’s most important to them in a career or job that will make them happy and that will significantly enrich their quality of life. It’s not a quiz, it’s not a test, and it’s not an instrument. It’s a one-on-one collaboration with your clients to challenge them to heart-storm, not brainstorm. Once the heart says, “Find an antibiotic to save and enhance lives,” the head says, “I have no idea how to do this at this moment, but I’ll get to work on it.” And soon after, Alexander Fleming developed penicillin. The same process works for career explorers as well.  

For the full chapter (Step 2) on defining your ideal career/job… please send me a request to: [email protected] and I’ll email you a copy.