Reach Telecall: "Test-Drive Your Dream Job"

I'm always glad when I take an hour to participate in the Reach Branding Club's Interview Series. William Arruda and Susan Guarneri consistently line up some of the best and brightest minds in the world to share their thoughts about career topics. And, best of all, it's free! Be sure to get on their e-mail list.

Today's call was with Brian Kurth, author of "Test-Drive Your Dream Job -- A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding and Creating the Work You Love." He's also the founder of Vocation Vacations, which allows job seekers to pay to "job shadow" folks in the career field of their choice for a few days, and see whether they'd like it.



The interview was fabulous. Kurth outlined an eight-step process for facilitating a successful career transition -- built heavily on the use of mentors and participatory research to find the right next job. It reminded me of a program in high school that I participated in -- "job shadowing" -- where the high school students would be paired with a businessperson in their desired career field that they could follow around for a day or two.

Kurth has extended this idea to make it part of your "vacation" -- you follow someone in another city or state and they allow you to see what that career path is all about.

A couple of key points:
* Discover/rediscover your strengths
* Create a vision board (a collage of your interests -- buy magazines, newspapers, and print stuff out online -- quotes, pictures -- "Who you are and who you want to become.")
* Confront your fears ("Fear never goes away -- it's how you handle it.")
* Create an action plan (and constantly tweak it)
* Find your mentor(s) -- 1-5 folks -- they should be in the field you want to go into.
* Branding is about EMOTIONS and creating emotional connections
* Establish your thresholds (boundaries or your comfort zone areas you won't cross)

All in all, well worth the hour! I'll let you know when I find out when the next Reach Branding Club Interview Series is.