Over the last two months, I have spoken to over 50 readers of my blog on career strategy sessions. During my strategy sessions, I always ask if they have heard of my 7-Step Get Your Career Unstuck system. Very few of you have heard of it so I thought it was time for a refresher!  I have coached all levels of professionals and students to find careers they love with my 7-Step Get Unstuck System.  I have coached recent graduates, college students, young professionals, mid-level professionals, executives and unemployed stay at home mothers.

Most people haven’t done the self-evaluation that is really required before jumping into their career after college.  Many job searchers are submitting resumes over and over again online without having a targeted direction of a career they know they would be truly happy in.  You must find that perfect career fit for you instead of the first job that just comes your way.  Understanding yourself better is the #1 way that you will be able to be more successful and confident during interviews and networking events.  Not only that, but you will actually perform better at your job if you are in a career that you love and are passionate about.  It’s like finding that career that you were born to do instead of what just came along after you graduated and you got stuck in.

Classy Career Girl’s 7-Step Get Your Career Unstuck System

You may know someone (or you might be that someone!) who just applies online to any old job and not jobs that they are passionate about. This is a great way to get stuck in another job that you hate. You will be unhappy if you just move into another job that is just like the one you hate now. It’s a repetitive cycle and you will always hate your job unless you do something about it.

Instead, you need to have a plan and a goal.

You need to find what that perfect job is for you BEFORE you start looking at future career opportunities. And that is what networking is all about. You can ask all the questions you want to someone already in that career field and determine if something is right for you BEFORE you start! You have to narrow it down from applying to any old job and instead have a very specific type of work that you would like to do in order to have any success trying to find the perfect career for you.

So how do you evaluate what type of job fits you best?  There are 7 Secrets that I am going to share with you.

Step 1: Understand You

There are two things you need to look at to understand yourself better. It is important to think about your current career situation and identify all of the things that you love and hate so you can make sure you figure out what you truly want in your next job. Also, you should identify your own unique personality because not all personalities fit every career path. I always recommend a personality assessment to all of my clients because it helps them map out their future career path to the type of career that fits them best.

Step 2: Nail Your Mission

Many people have a really tough time putting their finger on it. Some people think that their purpose in life is to get a good education so that they can get a nice house and great car. If this is what you think, you have a lot more thinking to do. Each of us has a unique purpose that cannot be replaced by another person. Unfortunately, the culture at many companies makes us believe that we can be replaced if we were ever to leave our work. Your purpose is why you get out of bed in the morning and it includes figuring out your values and mission statement as well.

Step 3: Self-Reflection

This step is all about identifying not only the skills that you are good at but also the skills that you enjoy.  It’s about looking at your motivations and interests.  It’s also about imaging your ideal workday and ideal work environment. This step also identifies if you have an entrepreneur personality and if starting a business could be in your future.

Step 4: Target Your Job Search

During this step, you brainstorm potential career targets and narrow down the best careers for you based on your prior experiences and your self-reflection from steps 1-3.

Step 5: Uncover Any Issues

In this step, you uncover issues that could potentially come up with your career targets. Are industries you want to go into doing well in our current economy? What is the forecast for your ideal career target for the future? Are they hiring?

Step 6: Create Your Ideal Career Outline and Brand

In this step, you create your ideal career outline which is a one-page document that consolidates all of your responses form steps 1-5.  This way you have it all on one page and can use it when you get a job offer to ensure you accept a job that is the right career fit for you. This step is also about creating your online personal branding strategy and getting your social media accounts all set-up for job search success.

Step 7:  Kick it Into High Gear With Networking

This step is all about establishing your goals and then creating a networking action plan that matches those goals.  I suggest strategic and efficient networking so you network with the “right” people who have the opportunities that you want.  This step is all about informational interviews and kicking it into high gear where great things start happening! But you can’t just start here, you have to start at step 1. Sorry!

And what does that spell? UNSTUCK!

My recommendation to most job searchers is always to start at the beginning and learn more about what the best path for you is before jumping into the job search. This will help you from repeating the batter and ending up in another job you hate.