BONUS: From Career Crossroads to Career Clarity - Your Step-By-Step Guide

Are you standing at a professional crossroads, contemplating where to pivot next in your mid-career journey? It's a common circumstance for mid-career professionals who want to level up their careers but aren't sure how to do that effectively.

Here's where I can help you.

In this bonus episode, you'll listen to my recent webinar, "A Painless 3-Step Plan to Figure Out What's Next for You and Your Career."

Plus, enrollment is open for my brand-new digital course, "From Career Crossroads to Career Clarity: A Step=By-Step Guide to Finding Your Sweet Spot at Mid-Career." You'll learn the benefits of how my digital course can help you figure out your next professional move while learning at your own pace, along with a ton of resources and information, just like you were working with me one-on-one.

Click here to learn more and save your seat in my digital course.

Enrollment closes on Thursday, November 30th at 3:00 p.m. Eastern and the course goes LIVE on December 1st. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Mid-Career Webinar and Digital Course
• 14:38 Assessing Your Value, Finding Fit
• 29:23 Digital Course

Transcript

John Neral: 0:00

Hi friends, last week I hosted a webinar tailored specifically for mid-career professionals like you, who find themselves at a crossroad, wondering what's next for their career. The webinar a painless three-step plan to figure out what's next for you and your career was nothing short of transformative. I delved into the challenges and opportunities that mid-career transitions bring and provided the attendees with three practical strategies to survive and thrive as they build their mid-career GPS. But the webinar was designed with you in mind, whether you're eyeing that well-deserved promotion or considering taking that leap into something else. I understand the complexities of mid-career shifts and my goal was to help you with actionable insights to navigate this period of change more confidently than ever. But that's not all. This episode is unique because it goes beyond the webinar experience, and I'm excited to share with you a game-changing resource that not only extends the impact of the webinar, but it is something that I've been working on a while for you. My brand new digital course is called From Career Crossroads to Career Clarity a step-by-step guide to finding your sweet spot at mid-career. It's a comprehensive toolkit designed to guide you through these critical steps along your career journey. So in the course, you will make five key decisions about your career. You'll assess your strengths more easily and effectively identify your professional brand, learn how to tell your story so more people are interested in who you are and what you do, along with proven tips to navigate LinkedIn, your next interview and how to leverage AI all to help you find your professional sweet spot for whatever is next. Now, enrollment is only open until 3 pm Eastern on Thursday, november 30th, and the course will be available to all registrants beginning on December 1st For less than the price of one session. With me, you will get my proven strategies that have helped hundreds and hundreds of people find that job they love, or love the job they have. For more information and to secure your seat in the course, visit my website at https://johnneral. com and click on the Digital Courses tab at the top. But if you're a mid-career professional wondering how you are going to navigate this part of your career journey and navigate that job transition while you see career clarity and direction, this podcast episode is a must listen for you. Enjoy the webinar replay and also I look forward to seeing you in my Digital course on December 1st.

John Neral: 3:08

lcome everyone the webinar. I am so excited to spend some time with you today. Thank you so much for joining. My name is John Neral. I am the host for your webinar today, and if someone could do me a favor in the chat and just kindly let me know that you can hear me loud and clear, that would be great. So, yeah, so you're here today for a reason, and that is because you are trying to figure out specifically what is going to be next for you and your career, whether you're taking time this year or you're planning more strategically for 2024. But today, in this webinar, I'm going to show you how to strategically build a system to whatever is next for you and your career without being overwhelmed or confused. How nice would that be right? And by the end of this hour, you're going to learn three proven strategies that you can implement right away. So thank you for registering and staying with me to the end today.

John Neral: 4:10

I've got a bonus for you that I will send with you when I share the replay of this event. It is called my mid-career job seekers checklist. So if you're looking for something that is simple and easy to get organized and help you be more organized for anything and everything in your job search, my job seekers checklist is absolutely going to help you and that is my gift to you that I will send when I send the replay out. So we had a lot of people register for the webinar. Understandably, the time may not be best for everyone, but you will have the replay available through the end of the month, so you have that as well.

John Neral: 4:47

All right, one of the things I want to ask you today is just to kindly turn off all distractions. You may be inclined to check your email or check your phone, but I really want to offer you that this is an hour to invest in your professional development. So turn off all those distractions, please, and also be prepared to take some notes or screenshots during the webinar. I will call out specifically when I think it's a really good time for you to take a screenshot of what's on the screen for you. But also, please go ahead and use the Q&A feature for your questions. I will take some time to answer those questions at the end of the webinar.

John Neral: 5:26

All right, how do you know? How do you know when you have found the right job and also how do you know when your career is headed in the right direction? It can feel as if you've got the world in the palm of your hands and every thing is going great, but the likelihood is that, more often, it may be easier to recognize when something is missing in your career or when something doesn't feel right, and when that happens, you are often confused and unhappy about where your career is at and where it's going. You see your colleagues and friends being really decisive in their actions, and you want some of that. You wonder how you can do that too. You know you are capable of more, but for whatever reason, you're having trouble getting some traction when it comes to your career, and this is important to call out right now because it's occupying a lot of your think time. You're wondering what if I just did this differently? What if I changed this thing, be it about how you're applying for jobs, networking or interviewing, and that's going to be the thing that makes all the difference.

John Neral: 6:45

Well, what happens then is that you feel stuck. You may be feeling undervalued and underutilized in your current role and, additionally, you feel as if you are lost on your career journey, while everyone else has it figured out. I want to share with you that there have been several times in my career when that has happened to me. It's not fun. In fact, I often took a step back, going what the heck's wrong with me? Why can't I figure this out? I've gone to college, I've got an advanced degree, I'm smart, I should be able to figure this all out. But something is missing. And when I was able to figure out what that was and navigate toward what was next and create my next advancement opportunity, things changed. So for me in my career walk.

John Neral: 7:34

I had a 25 year career in education. That started out as a middle school mathematics teacher, working at the district level for the District of Columbia Public Schools, where I managed an instructional coaching program for 21 instructional coaches across 13 middle schools. From there I went to go work for the state superintendent and then I navigated towards a job as a training and staffing director for an educational nonprofit. And almost seven years ago to the day, I walked into my vice president's office and I said to her I'm going to resign with a lot of gratitude, and I'm going to do that because I have an opportunity to help more people outside of this organization than I can inside of it. And that's when I launched my coaching practice full time, and today I help mid career professionals who feel stuck, undervalued and underutilized. Show up to find a job they love or love the job they have, and one of the ways I do that is I am the host of the mid career GPS podcast, and I'm going to celebrate something with you right now I dropped episode 200 today. So in three years and 200 episodes, this podcast continues to go stronger and stronger. We're currently ranked in the top two and a half percent of all podcasts that are out there, and I'm excited to bring the next 200 episodes to you.

John Neral: 8:55

But if there's one little fact I want you to know, I'm a huge game show enthusiast. I was on the game show chain reaction about 15 years ago on the game show network and I need to get my application into be a contestant on Wheel of Fortune. I love word games, and so that's. That's the game I'm pretty much focusing on right now. I wouldn't be opposed to playing the hundred thousand dollar pyramid either, so maybe you'll see me there sometime soon.

John Neral: 9:23

But when you think about your career and it's one of the things I am so grateful for and I love about the work I get to do is that I know where my value is. So can you imagine what it would be like to when you wake up every morning crystal clear on your career path and excited to get to go to work every day. See, having career clarity is the number one thing you need to inform and help you decide whatever is next for you in your career. So here's where we're going today. We're going to start off with this three step plan. I'm going to show you how to assess your current work situation. We'll then move on and talk about how to assess your value, and then I'll share with you how to assess fit and what that specifically looks like. Next, I'll share with you an opportunity to work with me, risk free, and then we'll wrap up the webinar with some time for Q&A.

John Neral: 10:21

So how can you assess your strategy? Well, to begin, I want to offer you that there is no wrong way to find a new job. In fact, you are probably doing a lot of the things right now when you're thinking about your next career move, and all of them are viable. In fact, you never know where your next job is going to lead you, who you'll meet or where it will take you, and so, when you think about finding that new job, you're probably leveraging job boards. You know you need to be networking and, more than likely, need to be networking a little bit more. Research has shown repeatedly that networking is a far more viable option, especially for mid career professionals, to find their next job, often ones that aren't even listed on job boards. You may be enlisting the help of a recruiter, or maybe even paying for a headhunter, going to job fairs and what I like to call being out and about. You never know who you're going to meet and who might be that next connection for you, and so, when it comes to job boards, if you're subscribing to too many of them and getting notifications in your inbox daily, several times a week, or even weekly or monthly, oftentimes, it can lead to you to a lot of confusion, frustration, frustration, resentment and even anger. And anger because your brain keeps seeing that job that you want to get and it's never closing and it's always open, and you're like why haven't they hired? Why haven't they called me for an interview? And your brain takes you to so many different places. Well, I want to offer you a bonus tip right now, and that is pick two, drop job boards and get rid of the rest. Typically, I recommend LinkedIn and then pick one other one. Maybe you have a job board that is specific to your industry or profession, or there's another job board that you really like and see value in. Pick two, get rid of the rest. Clean out your inbox and make it much easier for you to manage.

John Neral: 12:35

When it comes to networking, be a great network connection first. When you do that, you will let your network ultimately advocate for you and your career. Having a network doesn't mean you have to have hundreds and hundreds or thousands of people in it. You need a small circle of people who are going to champion your cause in helping you elevate and move your career to whatever is going to be next. You may have heard the phrase giveers get. When it comes to networking, what that means is be a really great, valuable resource and connection first, before asking for something. That can be hard, especially if you've recently been laid off or you've been without a job for a while, or maybe you work for a toxic boss or organization. You can't wait to get out. But here's the thing In those kinds of situations, what happens is that you might be getting a little bit ahead of yourself when you think about giving.

John Neral: 13:39

I want to introduce you to one of my long-term coaching clients, craig Schneider. Craig is currently the VP of sales for a healthcare company. In our time working together, he's navigated through multiple career advancements. What has helped Craig become a leader in his field and nationally recognized is that Craig knows his value and why he is valuable. As he has built his network through his career, he's been able to build those connections and serve those connections in ways that have actually accelerated his career more than he thought. In Craig's works currently, he will tell you that quote he helps insurance organizations exceed membership targets by creating strong sales teams around him and a positive sales culture. You will see that phrase on his LinkedIn profile. He stands so firmly in his value.

John Neral: 14:38

Well, how can you do that? And that leads us to step two assessing your value. How would you show up to work every single day if you knew your value was non-negotiable? You were so confident in what you were doing and contributing that you knew, without a doubt, you were irreplaceable. Well, there is a difference in today's conversation between me talking about your value and your values. Your values are those things that you admire and respect and want. It may be things like transparency or open communication. Your value, what I want to acknowledge here is it's that evidence-based value. You bring around the quality of your work every single day to your job or to your organization. Your value is infinite. What you contribute, see, the thing of it is is that your contributions are agreed upon between you and your employer, and that's what we call your salary, or your overall compensation. And while we believe that the more time and role will help you make more money, what if you knew your value so well that you can accelerate some of those promotional potentials and negotiations differently? Because you know why your work is needed and highly valued?

John Neral: 16:09

When you feel and aren't valued, see, what happens is that you're going to seek to change the situation, and this starts really slowly. It starts with you saying something to yourself like I'm not happy here. It starts with you saying something to your spouse, your partner, a loved one, a dear friend, going I think it might be time for me to find a new job. Or maybe, when you can't sleep at night, you pull up LinkedIn or another job board and you start just kind of shopping and looking to see if there's anything out there that piques your interest. Well, what I want to offer you right now is I want you to think of your next career step grounded in what I call your unique professional value, and I want you to think of this like a bank, where, every single day, you go to that bank because of your work and you are depositing more value into that bank because of what you do and the results you get. So where are you providing that value in your work that someone finds valuable and, admittedly, they can't live without?

John Neral: 17:25

So this is one of those parts in the webinar where I'm going to ask you to take a screenshot or take some time to write down these questions. And, for those of you who are listening and not seeing the screen, here are those reflection questions who do you help at work? Who are the people that you help day in and day out, time and time again? They may be your internal customers or partners, maybe they're your external clients or customers, but who are you helping? And, secondly, what are you helping them do? What is the work that you're performing day in and day out that they see value in, and why is that work needed? Why is that work valuable? And, lastly, why are you irreplaceable? I don't want you to be so irreplaceable that nobody wants to promote you, but I definitely want you to adopt that mindset that you are irreplaceable, that there is nobody out there that can do the work you do, and do it in the quality that you do it. That is of such high value that anybody would be disappointed or upset if you left and went somewhere else.

John Neral: 18:44

Assessing your value is so important. So, with that, my value is that I help mid-career professionals who feel stuck, undervalued and underutilized. Show up to find a job they love, or love the job they have. It's how I introduce myself and it's how I introduce myself on my podcast every single week. I know my value. It is because I am so clear in how I can help people. For you, the goal in communicating your value is to do it so clearly and cleanly that somebody can make a decision about whether or not they want to know more about you. And that's key when you're networking or interviewing, because your goal in communicating your value is to generate interest, whether it's an exchange on LinkedIn, you're at a networking event, or even when you're in that final round for that job.

John Neral: 19:42

When we lack career clarity, it can feel as if we don't know how to communicate our value or even what it is. Think about that. You'll hear people say, well, I'm passionate. What does that mean? I'm a hard worker? I hope so. When people ask you why they should hire you or why you're best suited for the job, you've got to go deeper to know what that career clarity and the value you have is. And so when you don't, we may even come across as being desperate or convincing. Is that the kind of energy that you want to be putting out there? Because the reality is, when you show up as desperate or convincing, you're not going to get job offers and typically you do not move along in the interview process. You're so focused on the outcome. Saying I need a job, I need you to hire me, I need this opportunity Can be a huge turnoff, because you're not talking about your value. You're trying to convince somebody. Now, if you're feeling unsure about your value in the marketplace, the question here is what's holding you back from having clarity about the value you add to your industry, team or organization when you don't know that your piggy bank is empty? But when you do, you are confident in how you contribute and add value to your organization and to your team each and every day.

John Neral: 21:17

Meg Whitman, the former president of Hewlett Packard in eBay. I love this quote from her. She says do what you love and success will follow. Passion is the fuel behind a successful career. I want to offer you that that passion is deeply rooted in why your talents and expertise are needed out there. Our value is the key to unlocking that passion we hear so many people talk about. So step three is all about assessing what fit looks like in your career and this is a big one, and this is one that I spend a lot of time helping my coaching clients uncover.

John Neral: 21:59

Because, see, searching for a new job or leveling up your career does not have to be difficult, but more than likely there are people telling you that it is. You might have people saying to you never look for a job at the end of the year, the market's not good, wait till the new year. It's going to take a lot of effort. You don't have the time to do it. Just be happy where you are. It doesn't have to be difficult. But, see, it can feel sometimes like you're venturing into this unknown only to wonder where you're going to end up, and in doing so, you may consume yourself with what I call busy work to prove to yourself and others that you're doing the right thing, meaning you're sending out all these resumes and applying for all these jobs, but you're not getting any results. You can tell people you're doing these things, but you're doing the same thing, expecting a different result Clearly the definition of insanity. And while you're doing these things, the truth is you may have some success, you may get a call for an initial interview, you may even move on to the final round, but you're not getting the job offers.

John Neral: 23:12

And because you don't know what fit looks like, you can't clearly hone in on exactly what it is that unlocks your messaging and storytelling when you're interviewing and networking. So what does that fit look like? The fit is hitting the center of the bullseye. The fit is putting that puzzle piece in its perfect spot. So when you assess fit based on how closely you align with the mission or vision of the organization, what they do, why you want to work there and why you believe it's the best place for you at this stage in your career, your clarity is crystal clear. You know how to answer that interview question, how to handle that networking conversation and, more importantly, what jobs you target, because you know that is the best job for you and you are the best candidate for the job.

John Neral: 24:18

When you think about fit, I want you to think about what's going to get you lit up or excited to go to work every day, and also the people you get to work with and help. My specific niche is that I help mid-career professionals. It's not that I've never helped somebody right out of college or whatever, but it's not where I know I add the greatest value to them. What does your fit look like? So here's another opportunity to pause and take a screenshot and think about these reflection questions for what fit may look like in your career as you build these three steps to what's next. So the questions are what kind of work do you want to do? Where do you want to do that work? What's your working arrangement like? Do you want to be 100% remote, 100% at the work site? Is a hybrid arrangement okay? And if so, what does that look like? Who do you want to work for? Not, I want to work for the vice president of a company, but what is it about them that you want to work for? What is it about their leadership qualities, their expertise, their background that makes you want to go work for them? What gets you excited to go to work every day. When you can answer those questions about fit, you are getting closer to that target and that bullseye about where you get to do your best work and why that's going to be exceptionally valuable to somebody.

John Neral: 26:05

Now, when you assess fit directly, it will impact your professional brand. Jeff Bezos says your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room and that impacts how you tell your career story whenever you're networking or interviewing. So right now, in your notes, I want you to write down what's one word you would use to describe yourself as a professional. What's that one word that encapsulates how you would tell or describe yourself to someone that was really vested and interested in knowing more about you, what you do and how, ultimately, you're going to be able to help them. When you've got that one word, that will drive your decisions to whatever's next, when you know what your fit looks like, it's because you will have gone deep enough when it comes to describing your talents and expertise and why you are needed and valued in an organization and, most importantly, you will tell your story from a place of value and service that gets more people, such as hiring managers and recruiters, interested in learning more about you, what you do and how you are going to help them. Telling your story is key, and without being able to do it, you will lack the career clarity that is needed to help you make those inroads and connections that will ultimately help you create your next advancement opportunity.

John Neral: 27:49

Failure to accurately assess fit means that you're not fully believing in yourself, your talents or your value, and when that happens, this often results you in failing to make a great impression and being the valuable candidate that people want to talk to. So how would your life and career be different if you had more clarity about where your career was going? We've talked today about these three steps about assessing your current situation, assessing your value and assessing your fit. Failure that you only need one job offer that you'll accept to change the course of your career for the better. Just need one. That's it. That one job that is the perfect fit that, when you work everything out, you will gladly and happily and joyfully say yes to.

John Neral: 28:40

So I have a question Would you like me to virtually hold your hand as you navigate towards having greater career clarity that'll build your mid-career GPS to finding a job you love, or love the job you have? If so do me a favor, put yes in the chat. All right, richard? Thank you so very much. All right, and everybody else so, thank you. So here's how this would work. Right, you have two options here. One is you can stay confused and frustrated, keep doing what you're doing and hopefully get some results, or you can follow a proven roadmap that has helped hundreds of people navigate towards what is next for them and their career.

John Neral: 29:23

So I want to invite you to join my brand new digital course called From Career Crossroads to Career Clarity a step-by-step guide to finding your sweet spot at mid-career. In this course, you'll create your professional roadmap, or GPS, that will give you the clarity about what you want to do, where you are most valuable and identify the types of jobs and positions you're best suited for, all while creating a plan to get you there. Now, in this digital course, here's what you'll do you will make five key decisions about where your career is headed. You will assess your skills in a much easier and more effective way and learn how to market them differently. You will create a unique professional value statement, much like the one I shared, that Craig has and I have, that will help you stop pitching yourself and get recruiters and hiring managers more interested in who you are and what you do. You'll learn how to be a better storyteller. You will learn the four Fs to help you evaluate your next job, and leverage LinkedIn to audit and build a network filled with people who will advocate and support you and your career. You will learn how to get more people interested in who you are and what you do, rather than finding you interesting.

John Neral: 30:47

I'll show you how to address imposter syndrome head-on, how to leverage AI or chat GPT in your job search to your advantage rather than your overwhelm, and create a job search and networking plan that is manageable for you and free of a lot of overwhelm and confusion. All of these things that I'm sharing with you are things that I typically do with my one-on-one coaching clients when I work with them for three months, from start to finish, and that's a total value of $3,600. But in this digital course, you're going to get a path and direction to your next position with greater confidence and clarity, those specific steps and strategies to market yourself more effectively, along with interview tips and strategies, including the one thing the one thing that I coach all of my clients to do that 90% of job seekers don't. Plus, you'll get lifetime access to the digital course, which means as long as it's live, you can access it for whenever, how much and how often, whenever you need. Look, I'm not special. I have a proven process that has helped hundreds of people increase their confidence, have more career happiness, find more fulfilling jobs and make a bigger difference and, yes, they make more money too.

John Neral: 32:13

So in this course for signing up during this launch, I'm offering you two special bonuses. The first is an e-guide that I have called 10 Things you Must have to Find your Dream Job at Mid-Career. It is a far more comprehensive checklist than the one that I'm giving you for attending the webinar, but this will definitely help you accelerate your career clarity. The second bonus is a guide that I have called 26 Sentence Starters that will help you answer any interview question. Imagine being in the interview and knowing your story so well that you confidently and confidently enter any interview question without filler words or hesitations about what you're going to say.

John Neral: 32:59

Now I mentioned at the top that you can work with me risk-free, and here's how that happens. This digital course will go live on Friday, december 1st, and you will have seven days to try the course risk-free. I am holding nothing back. That means you get all six modules in the course right when it launches. You can watch the videos, read the resource guides, do the worksheets. If, for any reason, you don't like it or don't think it can help you, all you have to do is email me at johnnerrellcom and I'll refund your money during that risk-free period. No questions asked, no hard feelings. But if this is of interest to you, remember you're going to get the course plus the two bonuses. That's a total value of over $3,700. For signing up and enrolling in this course, your cost is $247. You can enroll in that course for two payments of $129 or a one-time payment of $247. My friend Susan is kind enough to put the link to the chat so you can go visit the website right now, but it's johnnerrellcom forward slash digital hyphen courses.

John Neral: 34:18

While the self-study may be great and appeal to you, you might be thinking I'd like to know a little bit more. I'd like a little more time with you, john, and a little more interaction, and if so, you've got a VIP option. Now the VIP option gets everything I've shared with the self-study course and the bonuses. Plus, you're going to get a private podcast, and in that podcast of five episodes you will get more in-depth information and knowledge about the content that is there in the course, along with two group Q&A calls you can submit your questions ahead of time. One call will be in December, the other one will be in January. You can come to the calls live or you can just submit your questions ahead of time and catch the replay. But those group Q&A calls can be extremely valuable, not only just to get your questions answered, but to learn and hear what other people are struggling as well in their career clarity and learn from them also. Now the cost of the VIP option is just under $5,000, but the cost to you is $497,000 or two payments of $259,000. So again, you can visit the website that's there in the chat to sign up.

John Neral: 35:36

I want to thank you for spending some time with me. I hope you found today valuable and enjoyable. Please make sure to go and check out the digital course. You can find it at johnnarrellcom forward slash digital hyphen courses or you can just go to johnnarrellcom. You'll see a link to the digital courses up there at the top. Be thrilled and honored to have you in the course.

John Neral: 35:58

This is the first time I am doing something like this and launching it, which is why it's coming out on December 1st, but in the meantime, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at johnnarrellcom. I wish you a great day, happy Thanksgiving and, most importantly, travel safe, make memories and enjoy the time with your loved ones. Thank you again. I'll see you real soon. Bye for now. Thank you for listening to the Mid Career GPS podcast. Make sure to follow on your favorite listening platform and, if you have a moment, I'd love to hear your comments on Apple podcasts. Visit johnnarrellcom for more information about how I can help you build your mid career GPS or how I can help you and your organization with your next workshop or public speaking event, and don't forget to connect with me on LinkedIn and follow me on social at johnnarrellcoaching. I look forward to being back with you next week. Until then, take care and remember how we show up matters.