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The Focus Factor
How Torchiana Helps Career Transition Participants Streamline Their Search Efforts
When we work with people exiting their employers, we often hear the job search process overwhelms them. Read on to learn how our expert career consultants help people focus and mitigate this feeling.
Introducing the Focus Factor:
The Focus Factor helps us make decisions, from career choices to even purchases. One of the reasons people often feel overwhelmed is because there is simply too much information. A single search on the internet, for example, can result in 1,000,000+ results in fewer than two seconds.
The key is to reduce the information to a manageable level based on your professional goals and objectives. Additionally, a clear focus affects every aspect of your search from identifying jobs or vendors to researching industry news to networking.
However, before we can focus we must be clear on what we want to do next. Like they say, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there."
As you evaluate your career path, there are generally three options:
- Continue down the road from which you came (i.e. continue to do the same or similar work)
- Veer off into another sector within an industry (e.g. from a traditional banking into FinTech)
- Pivot on to a completely different career path (e.g. from the corporate world into an entrepreneurial direction)
Regardless of the option you choose, an effective approach requires focus and intentionality. One key component to being deliberate is creating a target list of companies. Narrowing your list of companies (based on what you want to do and where you want to go) will allow you to conduct the necessary research that will, ultimately, allow you to network your way into your target organization or direction.
As you create your target list of companies, consider the following criteria (a guideline) as to who goes on your L-I-S-T and why:
Location: Create geographic parameters based on preferred location, commutability or distance, and industry hot spots.
Industry: Select an industry (or two) that you can research to identify trends (think "growth" trends) and industry-leading companies.
Size: Select your target companies based on number of employees or annual revenue.
Type: What type of business do you want to work for? The types of organizations may be for-profit or non-profit, publicly held company or family owned, headquarters or branch office, start-up or established, etc.
Identifying specific organizations will help you in your networking efforts as well. For example, if you are focusing on the banking and finance industry you may want to attend networking events specific to the industry like FEI (Financial Executives International) or FWA (Financial Women's Association). Connecting with like-minded individuals will increase the likelihood of your crossing paths with professionals in the industry you are focusing and also with people within the companies you are targeting.
When it comes to focusing on key decisions in your job search, the phrase, "To be specific is terrific; to be vague is the plague," has never been more relevant. Do your part and avoid 'the plague' like...well, the plague!
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