Recently, RCjobs.com has been fielding a number of questions about breaking into the Hill, and public service, professionally. Usually the questions come from folks with advanced degrees and/or some pretty prestigious experience looking to explore the possibility of working on the Hill.
One writer with a recent poli-sci degree was planning a move to Washington and asked if "anyone … can set up ‘informational meetings’ with Congressional members or organizations." One woman wrote in for her husband who would like to work for as a lobbyist, documenting his advanced degrees in Middle Eastern studies and military service, wondering "the best way to get [him] exposed to the right people." Another writer had a background in program development, works at a labor union, and yet is "at a loss for places to look" for policy, research, and program development positions on the Hill.
There are two areas you need to focus on when you are considering any type of a career change, whether it’s moving from a private employer to public service, transitioning from one career track to another, or even considering a promotion. These two areas are:
1. Internal Factors: discovering your own motivation for the change and creating a positive mental attitude about it; and
2. External Factors: technically accomplishing the change.
In this article, I’m going to address the most important of the internal factors—having a positive attitude. This is going to happen through positive self-talk; I’ll tell you why and give a few exercises that can get you started on creating a positive image of yourself. In a follow-up article, I’ll talk about the steps you can take if you do decide that transitioning into public service, or making other types of career changes, is a path for you.
"Positive Mental Attitude"
Even when you have passion about something – and many people who come to the Hill come because they’re passionate about politics or their party or public service – just getting going can be a major sticking point. So, where do you begin? Literally, inside yourself. Develop a positive inner vision about yourself as a whole, and then apply it to your career aspirations.
Our research and discussions with clients over the years indicates three key internal qualities for being successful in a job search or career transition: focus, organization, and positive mental attitude. Of these, positive mental attitude is probably the single most important and it is the one I want to address with you now.
For years, coaches and trainers of professional and Olympic athletes have worked to determine what makes the difference between a gold medal winner and a bronze medal winner, the difference between the Superbowl champions and a team that doesn’t make it to the playoffs. At that level, it is not speed or strength or fitness that makes the difference; at the professional and Olympic level, virtually all the athletes are fast, fit, and strong. No, what makes the difference is a positive mental attitude. So coaches and trainers have spent a lot of time with sports psychologists to determine how to bring about a positive mental attitude.
"We know," they have said, "how to train the body. But how do we train the mind to have a positive mental attitude?"
The chart below shows the key elements. It starts with "positive self-talk." This builds "positive self image" which in turn controls behavior or performance. Positive behavior/performance further reinforces the positive self-talk. But it is the self-talk where the process starts.
The first questions most job-seekers are asked are "What do you want to do?" "What are you good at?" "Tell me about yourself(?)"
We use a variety of career assessment tools and exercises to help people get the answers they need to those questions. Here are two of our most popular and productive, which you can do on your own.
Creating the Framework for Positive Self-Talk: Two Exercises
The first exercise is "Factoring Accomplishments." To factor accomplishments, list 12 to 15 events in your life, which may have been difficult or uncomfortable at the time, that you enjoyed doing, that you did well, and that you were pleased with or took pride in.
Reflect on successes and achievements in both your life and work. Half of the list should include events from your personal life, and the other half should include events from your career. Rank them in order of importance. Note your reactions. If other events now come to mind, add those to the list and rank their order.
Select the top 12 to 15 events. Reflect on each event and write down the steps you took, the skills you used, and the personal traits you displayed. Say you volunteered in a political campaign. You would write down the actions you made to get involved with the event (for example, reflected on values, researched candidate, talked with campaign manager, made time in your life to spend x number of hours a week volunteering). You then write the skills you used (thinking, analyzing, researching, organizational, interpersonal communications, time management). Finally, you list the traits you used (loyalty, dedication, initiative, intelligence, concern for others).
By repeating this process for all your accomplishments or events, you will have factored all of your accomplishments. At this point you will begin to see patterns and directions to take.
I was introduced to the second exercise, "Clones of Yourself," in a career assessment workshop I conducted for EXCEL! Networking Group Inc., a self-help group of professionals with disabilities. This exercise removed all participant limitations and allowed them to have their "clones" do or be whatever they wished. The results, which were liberating, took our discussion into a new dimension as participants expressed who they would be if they were free of limitations.
Here’s how to do this exercise. Setting aside practical considerations such as financial constraints and physical capabilities, list the careers, jobs or activities you would pursue if you could clone yourself into five different people and have them do or be anything.
Let yourself go. Resist censorship and that little voice that says, "This is not possible!" Then, for each clone, explain in writing why you chose that activity and what skills you have that would help you do the activity.
Putting it Together
There are several things I like about these two exercises. First they help us look at our lives from two different views; one looks backward and inward, the other tends to look forward and outward.
Second, both exercises ask us to reflect on positives: successes, skills achieved; incidents of pride and satisfaction; goals, ideals, and motivation. Successful people have positive mental attitudes. Research and experience show that a positive attitude starts with self-talk and inner visions of success. ("Stinkin’ thinking’" as Stephen Covey calls it, can be a career and satisfaction killer.)
Finally, I like both exercises because they result in lists of skills you can cross-check and rank. That kind of information, coupled with the thought, reflection, and focus that both exercises call for, will prepare you to make career-life decisions and to decide whether or not a career on the Hill is right for you.
The beauty of both of these exercises is that they quickly and effectively can help you to identify and rank your best and most favorite skills, abilities, personal characteristics and knowledge. What this means in a job search or career transition is can you quickly and succinctly answer the most frequently asked question when one is looking for a job, namely, "What do you want to do?" You are much more prepared to proceed with the external aspects of accomplishing career change, which will be the subject of next month’s second RCJobs.com article.
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