How to leverage skills after quitting your job according to an expert
Eight months into 2022, the Great Retirement, also known as the Big Quit, remains a trend for professionals looking for new job opportunities or exiting the workforce altogether. Despite recession concerns, a whopping 4.2 million people quit their jobs last month, and it’s not expected to stop anytime soon.
Whether you’re changing career paths, pursuing entrepreneurship, or even trying your hand at freelance work, there are some things you can do to put your skills to good use after leaving your job.
According to Joyce West, career coach and founder of career services company Coaching with Empathy, thorough preparation before termination can have a huge impact on your success.
“Offboarding is just as important to devoting time, attention, care and intent to him as it is to starting a new role,” West told CNBC Make It.
Set goals and plan ahead
West encourages people to thoroughly analyze their current situation and “get clear” about their goals for the future.
“[Ask yourself] Do I want to quit my job and then immediately find something new? Or do I have the financial means to take a break? Because you don’t want to mindlessly quit and then realize I have less money than I thought. Or realizing it might take longer to generate income than I thought because I didn’t do the research to find the next thing.”
West says setting plans and goals can relieve stress and even create scope to do things that help with burnout, like “go on vacation or visit family.”
Assess yourself
During her time as a career coach, West has helped several young entrepreneurs and freelancers find their way into self-employment. One of her most popular workshops takes her clients through seven personality tests that reveal their ideal working conditions, learning styles, and character traits.
West recommends Ray Dalio’s PrinciplesYou, Enneagram and Ikigai, a Japanese framework to help you understand your purpose, but her favorite is the Clifton Strengths Finder, which led her to pursue coaching as a career.
“Clifton says four strings, and everyone has the strings in a specific order in a unique way. So the rating tells you what order your strings are in, and then also breaks them down into four main categories: Strategy, Execution, Relationships, and Impact. “
“When I took it, I looked at my top 10 strengths and saw that only one of my top 10 strengths is execution. And I have five top strengths in strategy… That’s when I realized that maybe that’s why I’m staying because of missed deadlines. And it was the assessment that made me realize that I love strategy and that I should try coaching.