Dr Sherrie Lee | Tag: careers

“*Rose blooming against the odds”, photograph by Sherrie Lee*

It is tough out there for job seekers.

Headlines shout bad news almost daily: “Young people struggle to find work” and “Unemployment rate soars”. It’s no wonder our minds get into a tailspin and our anxiety levels rise.

I experienced it during my job search following job redundancy, and I sense it now among graduating students, as well as their parents who have started posting on LinkedIn about their young people in need of a lucky job break.

As a career consultant, and a former international student graduate who struggled to find work in New Zealand, I share how you can become “career-hopeful” in very trying times.

First, it’s worth noting that bad news stays in our minds longer than good news. It also takes 3-5 positive events or interactions to counter a negative one. It’s not about denying the facts of the job market or the state of the economy, but it’s about focusing on things we can control and engaging in activities that help us improve our mood, practice skills or learn new ones, and ultimately provide hope that we can look forward to our future.

The STAR mnemonic is often used as an interview technique for demonstrating your competencies: Situation, Task, Action, Result: Describe the Situation and explain the Task with details about the Action you took, concluding with the Result of your action. We also use the STAR approach to develop our CV and cover letter. Because STAR is used to help articulate your abilities and values, it can also be used to help create positive events and interactions in your job search journey.

S for Situation and Success. Instead of describing a situation, you are creating one. Think about another S word – success. What is one thing you would like to be successful at? One common challenge for jobseekers is networking. Even for an extrovert like me, and particularly in a time when there are few relevant jobs to apply for, the last thing I wanted to do was to dress up, go someplace, and meet people in the hope of finding work. Yet, research tells us time and time again that our networks are an important factor in finding work opportunities and potential intel. The act of networking also provides an opportunity for us to let others know about who we are and contribute something valuable to a conversation. If you’re not naturally sociable or are feeling sceptical about networking, perhaps set yourself a challenge – attend one networking event with the goal of meeting and talking to at least two new people. If you make it to the networking event and chat with a few people, congrats! You’ve overcome fear or inertia and have learned to make new connections.

Find opportunities to take control of the situation and set yourself some achievable goals – the feeling of success should not be underestimated. For me, networking was a dopamine boost for my job search journey. It helped me get out of comfy clothes and remind myself that I was – and still am – a professional with something valuable to share and a curiosity to learn.

T for Task and Test. Set yourself some tasks to do towards a specific purpose. And here’s another T word to consider – test. Use these tasks to test your ideas and thinking and help you make decisions. For example, you might be thinking of switching industries or getting a new qualification. Talk to people in the industry or those who have made the switch or talk to the course provider about the entry requirements and career prospects. Make time to explore a question you have, a ‘what if’ scenario, and seek out others to help you find answers. Setting up smaller tasks and testing things helps to break down major decision-making into doable steps.

I often set up informational interviews with people when I want to find out more about moving to a different field or area of work. For example, I connected with people working in the training and coaching industry when I was considering becoming a career coach. These were a mix of coffee chats and short video calls that helped me understand what people did, and what they enjoyed about it, testing my own career ideas.

A for Action and Active. What actions could you take to engage in sharing or improving your skills and knowledge? You could volunteer your time and services in the local community or learn something new through a free online course on platforms like Coursera. Or give yourself permission to take a break from job searching and pick up a new hobby. Making a conscious decision to do something else that is meaningful will help you be refreshed and encouraged in your job search journey.

I enrolled in a micro-credential course in disruptive technologies which entailed weekly online guest lectures and working on assignments. This not only helped me gain new knowledge about an area I was interested in, but the structure also provided me with a routine and something to look forward to apart from just job hunting.

R for Result and Resilience. The result of all the above is Resilience. Identifying what you would like to be successful at, setting yourself doable tasks, testing ideas, and staying actively engaged in endeavours other than job hunting, will all help to improve your career resilience. We can’t deny the bumps we are experiencing, but we can learn to face up to them bravely and confidently.

It wasn’t always easy for me to wake up each day to bad news streaming on social media about not finding jobs. However, I found that by focusing my energy on things I could do, people I wanted to meet, and things I wanted to learn, I was in a much better frame of mind to look for work that resonated with my aspirations and values.

I hope the STAR approach provides a way for you to find career hope just as it has done for me.

This article was written for the Careers Newsletter produced by the Careers and Employment Team at Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

Careers

Planned Happenstance – How to Make your Own Career Luck

6 June 202410 March 2025adminLeave a comment

We’re constantly bombarded by ‘get-rich-quick’ schemes – 5-day weight loss program, 3 days to a better you, be an overnight millionaire in a never-to-be-repeated 1-day course. I’ll admit I’ve been seduced by these promises of a sure-fire way to get what you want, only to find shortcuts end up as short circuits. There’s a power surge and the lights go off – and my enthusiasm goes *poof*

To be clear, if you’re attracted to a piece of advice and a pathway to success, by all means check it out and see if it makes sense and works for you. My own experience is that any change I want to see in myself or my circumstances depends on three things: motivation, habits, and accountability. For example, I had a repeated sprain in my arm for the past 6 months and this was related to a mixture of stress, body posture and working from home too much. I was motivated to fix this problem, so I signed up for a weekly Qigong class, and I had a physiotherapist friend check in to see if I was putting stretching and breathing lessons into practice. 4 weeks into the classes, I’m no Zen master but I certainly feel lighter and my arm looks to be sprain free – touch wood!

My experience with fixing my sprained arm parallels another real life issue – finding out about job opportunities. In this very tough employment environment, networking and uncovering the hidden job market becomes so important that I find myself prioritising this over refreshing the Seek job listings. Motivation – big fat check. As for habits – I needed to get myself out of this abyss of gloom and out into the real world of people and conversations.

Networking and Weak Ties

Networking is not just a buzzword for me. Networking is a concept built on the idea that networks are many connections (of people) linked on the basis of family, friendship, personal interests, employment, industry, business, and so on and so forth. My own PhD research utilised the principles of social networks and relationships to understand how first year international students sought out help for their assignments.

One of the most important ideas about networking pioneered by Stanford professor Mark G. Granovetter is that weak ties (eg, acquaintances, former colleagues) give you relatively more useful information than strong ties (eg, family, friends). Family and friends in your existing social circle hold information that you are already privy to, while acquaintances, former schoolmates and colleagues whom you don’t interact with on a regular basis are more likely to have information about jobs or leads that are unknown to you. (I highly recommend reading Granovetter’s seminal article “The Strength of Weak Ties”.)

Planned Happenstance

While the idea and evidence of the strength of weak ties is compelling, the actual reaching out to weak ties is another thing altogether. Here is where Planned Happenstance, a theory developed by another Stanford luminary the late John D. Krumboltz, comes into play (Mitchell, Levin, & Krumboltz, 1999; Krumboltz, 2009). Planned happenstance is about creating and transforming unplanned events into opportunities for learning and action. Yes, the term ‘planned happenstance’ is a deliberate oxymoron: ‘planned’ suggests being deliberate, while ‘happenstance’ appears to be fate or pure luck. Planned happenstance is not about relying on a lucky break or a knock on the door (and then never have it happen). Rather, it is about taking action to generate and find opportunities.

To illustrate, imagine that all day long you keep thinking you’re going to strike it rich by winning the lottery. You pray to the gods that you’ll be given lucky numbers. But nothing happens – because you haven’t even bought a ticket. So imagine you’re hoping that someone will shoulder tap you for your dream job. You pray to the gods you’ll be given the job you’ve been waiting for all your life. But nothing happens – because you haven’t left the house in the past 2 weeks.

In their book “Luck is No Accident”, Krumboltz and Levin sum it up like this:

“You have control over your own actions and how you think about the events that impact on your life. None of us can control the outcomes, but your actions can increase the probability that desired outcomes will occur. There are no guarantees in life. The only guarantee in life is that doing nothing will get you nowhere.” (Krumboltz & Levin, 2010, p. 9)

So what next? What are the habits we can cultivate to get us into action?

Image by Rama Krishna Karumanchi from Pixabay

Make Your Own Luck

Prepare for action – Take small steps, do something different, say”yes,” and then work out how you’re going to do it. Your mind can limit what you believe you can do. So train your mind to say yes, rather than no, and develop a bias for action. One way that works for me is to consciously sign up for a networking event or say yes to a social function. It puts something in my calendar and gives me a runway of a few weeks to think through how I might prepare myself. One recent example is how I said yes to be a discussant for an international education research forum. There was one empty slot taking place in about a month, and when I was asked if I wanted to lead the session I said yes – not having a clearly defined topic in mind, or worrying too much about what others might think of me. I work best with deadlines, and as the date in June drew closer, I got my mind attuned to my research and developing key messages for the audience.

Overcome barriers to action – Realise that if your action fails, you are no worse off than if
you did nothing. Don’t forget to celebrate your small successes. Participate in confidence-building exercises, such as accepting compliments gracefully. I’ve sat in front of the laptop for many days on end, doom-scrolling through the jobs that either didn’t interest me or were jobs that I could certainly do – and so could hundreds more. I did have a job interview a few weeks ago which I thought went very well, but in the end they found someone else – and there were many great candidates to choose from. I was disappointed but nonetheless encouraged by the hiring manager’s feedback that they enjoyed interviewing me (which tells me it wasn’t just me thinking I had a great interview). I accepted that feedback and considered it a successful outcome – that I prepared well and the interview panel were impressed with my answers. This helps me be confident for the next interview opportunity.

Take action! Network, socialise and build relationships. At the next networking event or social function, aim to speak to three new people. Share your interests and experiences with people that you meet. You may find leads in the least expected spaces. I recently attended a networking session in Wellington organised by Yes for Success (formerly known as Dress for Success). I spoke to a few people and found out about contract marking which I’ve never considered. I also found out that Yes for Success had just launched a mentoring programme. I subsequently emailed them about it and spoke with the coordinator. I’m now looking forward to a possible mentor match who could also be an accountability partner in my foray into a new career reality.

Choose Your Own Adventure

When I was growing up in the 80s, I read Choose Your Own Adventure books. I was hooked from the beginning with some trouble brewing head, a catastrophe to prevent, or a monster to fight. I loved it because I could play the hero and explore the different decision options, and hoped my choices didn’t lead to an ending that got me trapped under the quicksand forever.

Career transitions are becoming my new Choose Your Own Adventure books. With nothing much to lose, I’m been experimenting with different ideas and career options. Unlike the books I read, I can’t go back to page 75 and try a different course of action, but I can create many more pages of possibilities and endings. Plus I know I won’t get trapped under the quicksand forever. But not doing anything will.

References

Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The Strength of Weak Ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360–1380. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2776392

Krumboltz, J. D. (2009). The Happenstance Learning Theory. Journal of Career Assessment, 17(2), 135-154. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069072708328861

Krumboltz, J. D., & Levin, A. S. (2010). Luck is no accident: Making the most of happenstance in your life and career (2nd ed.). Atascadero, CA: Impact Publishers.

Mitchell, K. E., Levin, A. S., & Krumboltz, J. D. (1999). Planned happenstance: Constructing unexpected career opportunities. Journal of Counseling & Development, 77(2), 115–124. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.1999.tb02431.x

Careers / Phd / Professional Identity

Using your PhD in a non-academic job

3 May 202010 March 2025adminLeave a comment

… and staying true to your world-changing aspirations

It has been one year since attending my graduation ceremony at the marae grounds of the University of Waikato. It was a momentous occasion to mark the achievement of attaining a Doctor of Philosophy in Education. The preceding months of successfully defending my thesis and having my thesis bound and deposited into the library felt like a holding statement, and the graduation day was the public announcement that I had become a ‘doctor’!

Yet, I have to admit, it felt anti-climatic. The long hours of research, reading and painstaking writing did not bring me to the promised land of academic milk and honey. In fact, I had fallen out of love with the university and academia, almost like a jilted lover after years of unrequited love and adoration.

Recently, I shared my story of how failure to secure an academic job led me to the public sector, seemingly by accident, but in hindsight, it was the right match for my interests and passion for social justice.

While I have indeed taken my PhD elsewhere, the PhD in me hasn’t disappeared completely. My academic reading habits have helped me scan wordy or lengthy documents for key ideas, and be sensitive to underlying epistemologies and critical of seemingly easy solutions. So while the PhD is not usually a pre-requisite for government jobs, or the vast majority of jobs for that matter, having the frameworks and skills of rigorous thinking has given me great tools for navigating rapidly changing landscapes. The challenge, however, is being able to do this as fast as possible to keep up with the changes!

My interest in good ideas and arguments hasn’t disappeared either. I’ve taken an interest in policy research and have been following the updates of policy think tanks such as The New Zealand Initiative and the professional organisation for public servants IPANZ to keep pace with the latest thinking in the public sector.

At some point, I would like to return to research and writing, but this time for a professional audience, and with the purpose of addressing the elephants in the room. I already have one topic in mind: The Case for Slow Thinking in Fast Places. And another: Is Multiculturalism All Things to All People? And to make a neat three: The Freedom to Act Justly and Love Mercy.

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8