Part One - Preparing to search

Hello work seekers and those considering a work transition,

If you missed last week’s blog — the overview and introduction to navigating a job search in 2025 — you can [find it here].

Before we dive in, a quick note: nothing I share over the next four weeks will be “groundbreaking” or new. My goal is to distill the advice and tools I most often share with career-transition clients, informed by my perspective as both a coach and a search consultant. I’ll also include resource links along the way.

When I say “preparing to search,” I’m not talking about updating your résumé — that’s next week’s topic. This week is about something deeper: grounding your search in the self-knowledge you need to write, talk, and show up confidently as a professional and as a human being. Richard Bolles said it beautifully in What Color Is Your Parachute? (2022): “No employer wants to know what you have in common with everyone else. He or she wants to know what makes you unique and individual.”

So let’s get intentional about what makes you unique. I recommend that clients start by building their own search rubric — a personalized tool that aligns opportunities with their values, needs, and strengths. There are three things you need to know first:

• What you want – What kind of work will bring you wellbeing, happiness, and satisfaction?

• Who you are – What are your skills, assets, and qualities, and how do you integrate them into your work?

• What you need – What conditions help you do your best work and live your best life?

1. Know What You Want
William Bridges once wrote, “If you don’t know what you want, it’s not surprising you’re not getting it.” It’s a huge question and not one this blog can or is intending to address. It can take many forms: A major career pivot (corporate lawyer to family therapist), a sector shift (for-profit to nonprofit), a functional change (sales to marketing, fundraising to communications). Before you begin a search, take time to reflect on where you are at this career intersection. Are you continuing along your current trajectory? Taking a sharp right turn? Revisiting a passion or past vocation? And how does your life outside of work influence your next step? This search represents a window of opportunity to choose something different.

Books like Creating You & Co. by William Bridges and Ground of Your Own Choosing - Winning Strategies for Finding and Creating work by Beverly Ryles can be great companions here. Whether you’ve chosen this transition or had it thrust upon you, give yourself permission to pause, reflect, and dream. Talk to friends and colleagues, journal, read, or even book a few sessions with a coach. The bigger the transition, the longer you’ll want to spend here. Your future self will thank you.

2. Know Who You Are
Even if it’s only been a couple of years since your last job search, you’re not the same person anymore. You’ve grown, gained perspective, and added new skills. Make sure your job search reflects who you are now — not who you were. Peter Drucker wrote in Management Challenges for the 21st Century: “Successful careers are not planned. They are the careers of people prepared for the opportunity because they know their strengths, the way they work, and their values.” I recommend clients assess three areas:

• Skills (verbs): What do you do well and often? Examples: managing, teaching, public speaking, writing.

• Assets (specialized expertise or experiences): Certifications, languages, lived experiences, mission alignment, etc.

• Qualities (adjectives): Flexible, organized, strategic, collaborative — the traits that describe your working style.

Here’s a simple process I walk clients through:

• Gather your current job description and two job postings you’re interested in.

• Paste them into ChatGPT with this prompt: “Using my current job description and these two postings, create a list of demonstrable skills (verbs) required for success in these roles.”

• Circle the skills that fit you best.

• Share the uncircled list with people who know your work well - a supervisor, peer, and direct report. Ask them to circle which skills they see in you.

• Narrow your list to your top 10 skills and rank them using one of my most used tools - Beverly Ryles’ prioritization grid. It forces you to pit your skills against each other and then provides you with a prioritized list with the click of a button. You’ll start using it to help all your future decision making - big and small!

Repeat this process for qualities.

Finally, make a list of assets. This is the category many people find trickiest — but don’t overthink it. Assets are aspects of your background, life situation, or experiences that are valuable in the context of a particular role. Some examples include:

• Specialized skills: Knowledge of certain databases or software, fluency in languages, certifications, degrees.

• Life experiences: Travel, volunteer work, board service, caregiving, overcoming challenges, or even renovating a home. These often add depth and perspective to your work.

One important note: the word assets deserves care. HR and employment law are designed to reduce bias — conscious or unconscious — when evaluating candidates. However, in certain contexts, your lived experience or identity can genuinely be considered an asset:

• Practical advantages: Multilingual skills, ability to relocate, flexibility around notice periods, or other logistical strengths.

• Representation and alignment: In nonprofits or social-sector organizations, employers often value candidates who share identities, experiences, or cultural understanding with the communities they serve.

Handled thoughtfully, your assets aren’t about “checking boxes.” They are about recognizing the full scope of what you bring to the table — your perspective, your insight, and your unique way of engaging with the world.

When you’re done, you’ll have three high-impact lists: skills, qualities, and assets. Moving on for now.

3. Know What You Need

Even if you won’t get everything you want, it’s important to define your baseline. Start listing your ideal world non-negotiables such as:

• Salary range

• Location

• Commute time

• Benefits (health, PTO, retirement)

• Remote/hybrid/in-person preference

• Company size and team size

• Supervisor type

• Organizational culture/values

• Office setup (open floor plan, private space, window!)

• Personal deal-breakers (distance to closet coffee shop?!)

Prioritize these using the same grid. The results can be surprising — one client joked about needing “an office with a window,” only to find it ranked higher than her commute time!

Bringing It All Together
Once you’ve gathered all this data:

• Write a short identity statement. Complete this sentence: “I am a… who is seeking…” Use this in your LinkedIn headline, résumé summary, and draw on the language for networking emails, cover letters, and to answer that dreaded opening interview question, “So tell me about yourself and why you applied for this position?”

• Create a personalized search rubric. Feed your skills, qualities, assets, and needs into an AI tool and ask it to generate a rubric.

• Use it to evaluate opportunities. When you find a job posting, run it through your rubric before applying.

The goal isn’t to let AI make your decisions, but to ground your search in clarity and intention. When your applications and materials align with who you are, what you want, and what you need, you’ll stand out — to both humans and algorithms.

Everyone’s circumstances are different, but I something here was helpful for your search. Next week, we’ll dive into application materials. (I know — you can’t wait!)

As always, reach out if you’d like personalized support. I’d love to help.