The Matrix: Choose Your Career Wisely
Make Conscious Career Choices Using a Decision Framework
Thankfully, there’s a lot more career options to choose from than just a red or blue pill! In fact, the sheer number of potential career paths can be baffling and overwhelming. Trusting your intuition can help you decide, but doing that within a structured framework is even better; it allows you carefully to consider your needs, wants and preferences, as well as listening to your gut feel about what sparks your interest.
(Re-)Build Your Career Foundation First
In recents posts, I shared four fundamental career development exercises. I strongly recommend you have a go at these exercises before considering specific job options.
Establish your core values and what they mean to you and your career.
Imagine your career vision and dream role, based on your purpose.
Let go of your perceived career failures and shortcomings.
Reframe your career story with you as the hero.
Once you’ve completed these exercises, your next task is to decide which jobs you want to pursue; or at least what kinds of roles or occupations you want to explore. Career choices can be overwhelming, so it helps to take a systematic approach.
How To (Re-)Think About Career Options
If you’re still completely unsure what you want to do, and therefore where to start, I recommend you watch this TED Talk by Larry Smith, an extremely experienced careers advisor who’s tracked the career paths of thousands of students for decades; his delivery is (deliberately) jarring, but his wisdom is evidence-based and practical.
Notably, he encourages you initially to cast the net wide. A lot of people narrow down their options without really understanding the full range available, ruling out perfectly viable options for arbitrary reasons; or bowing to pressure from parents or teachers.
If you want to follow his advice and reassess your career options, you may want to read Smith’s practical guide book on this topic – No Fears, No Excuses. That book, in part, led to me pursuing an independent freelance career and relocating to Antigua.
This also applies to career transitions, and he gives some eye-opening examples e.g. someone re-training as a medical doctor in their 60s, and enjoying their practice.
If you’re struggling to find your purpose, check out my reading list for inspiration!
Using The Career Decision Matrix
The original version of the career decision matrix was created by one of my mentees, who kindly gave me permission to use and adapt it; it’s now a core part of my career mentoring approach, and often helps people get unstuck and make tough decisions.
The principle of the model is understanding and quantifying the factors you weigh, consciously and sometimes unconsciously, when you consider potential career paths and specific job opportunities. Doing so will help you validate and trust your gut feel, instead of being impulsive and possibly second-guessing your choices as a result.
This is what the matrix looks like; it’s not pretty, but it’s actually simpler than it looks.
Here’s how to use the career decision matrix, step by step, based on this template:
Allow yourself 30 minutes in a comfortable environment with no distractions.
Consult your Career Vision and Career Hero Story to ground yourself.
Edit and add to (or delete) the decision factors in each of the three categories:
Role & Responsibilities – based on the job description and other knowledge.
Your Core Values – does the company embody them, and how much?
Working Model & Compensation – based on your needs and preferences.
Weight the decision factors in column B – this isn’t a ranking, all can be 5/5.
Enter the first role and score it against each factor, in column C.
Repeat the process for additional roles, actual and hypothetical.
Evaluate the total and constituent scores. Add anything you may have missed.
Do the scores reflect your gut feel? Adjust the decision factors if necessary.
To get full the full benefit of the career decision matrix, I advise adding your current or most recent role and at least three potential future roles; ideally a mix of actual and hypothetical, based on your best assumptions of what the job description would be.
Download The Career Decision Matrix
Members get access to the spreadsheet model, just drop me a message to request it. If you need support, you’re also welcome to reach out and ask me for pointers.
Sharing is Caring
I recommend you discuss your career insights with your peers in the chat. You may be surprised by how many people are in the same boat, weighing up their options.
Join The Community for More Support
If you want to join a community of like-minded peers, and perhaps get some 1:1 support with your career vision, strategy or execution, you can learn more here. Membership includes monthly drop-in sessions to share and solve your problems. Sign up now and I’ll send you an invite to the next session, midday UK time on Thursday 14th November, where you can meet your fellow members.