What is a Career Map & Why is it So Important?

Your career is a central pillar of your life. When you take care of this ONE piece…

Your health, finances, lifestyle, and happiness ALL follow suit.

If you’re thinking about transitioning to a new career, make sure to create a Career Map first!

This Map will help you go BEYOND what you think is possible in your life based on past jobs, education, etc. After all, you don’t want to switch careers only to have a rerun of what you already have.

What is a Career Map?

Your Career Map is like a lighthouse – Illuminating the path to your dream career.

Once you have this map it will save you time and energy in your job search. You’ll know WHAT you want and HOW to get there.

Your Career Map ultimately points to a very specific field or job title. It includes things like:

• Your passions, strengths and skills you enjoy using
• Your Zone of Genius – the place where you’re in ‘flow’
• Your career goals and why these are important to you
• Your core career values and what you want to contribute
• Where you want to go, i.e., your career destination
• Super specific, practical steps to get you there!

How Do You Create a Career Map?

I encourage you to familiarize yourself with the technique of mind mapping. Visually, this looks like a circle with several arms branching out from the center – You’ve probably seen one before.

The idea of mind mapping is to write down a central theme and then ‘branch’ out to associated ideas. That way, you’ll have all your key ideas written out in front of you AND see how they connect.

Creating a Career Map follows a similar set of steps. Typically, you’ll go through several iterations until you refine your map.

The result? You’ll ultimately have a compass that reliably points you toward what you want, AND steers you away from jobs that aren’t right for you!

Did you have any questions about creating a Career Map? I’d love to help! Please leave them in the comments.