Jim Woodbridge – Career Coach – Job Search by Heart

As a job seeker, it’s essential to understand yourself better to find the right fit for your career. Reflection on past experiences and moments can help you identify your strengths, weaknesses, values, and goals. Doing reflective writing can help you to focus on your memories and ideas. Here are ten prompts to guide you:

1. Difficult decision: Can you recall a moment when you had to make a tough decision? How did you approach it? Did you base your choice on logic or intuition? Did you take into account the possible long-term outcomes? An instance could be when you chose to leave your job to follow a personal passion, despite the financial instability it may bring.

2. Gratitude: Can you recall a time when you felt immense gratitude? What caused this feeling? Was it a simple act of kindness from a stranger or a significant accomplishment after putting in a lot of effort? Perhaps you felt grateful for the support of your family during a difficult period in your life.

3. Failure: Reflect on a time when you failed at something and what you learned from that experience. Did you take responsibility for your mistakes and try again? Did you seek feedback from others? For example, you might have failed an exam but learned that you needed to improve your study habits.

4. Significant influence: Write about someone who has significantly impacted your life and how they influenced you. Was it a mentor, a family member, or a friend? Did they inspire you to pursue a certain career or adopt a particular mindset? For instance, you might have been influenced by a teacher who encouraged your creativity and curiosity.

5. Comfort zone: Describe a situation where you had to step outside of your comfort zone and how it affected you. Did you feel anxious or excited? Did you learn new skills or perspectives? For example, you might have travelled alone to a foreign country and discovered a new passion for cultural exchange.

6. Overwhelm: Reflect on a time when you felt overwhelmed and how you managed to overcome that feeling. Did you prioritize your tasks or seek support from others? Did you practice self-care or mindfulness? For instance, you might have felt overwhelmed by a heavy workload but learned to delegate tasks and take breaks.

7. Goal achievement: Write about a goal you have achieved and what steps you took to reach it. Did you set specific and measurable objectives? Did you track your progress and adjust your strategy as needed? For example, you might have achieved a fitness goal by following a structured workout plan and a healthy diet.

8. Pride: Describe a moment when you felt proud of yourself and why it was meaningful to you. Was it recognition from others or personal satisfaction? Did it align with your values or goals? For instance, you might have felt proud of completing a challenging project that had a positive impact on your community.

9. Mistake: Reflect on a mistake you made and what you would do differently if faced with a similar situation in the future. Did you learn from the consequences of your actions? Did you apologize or make amends? For example, you might have made a mistake in communication with a colleague but learned to clarify expectations and listen actively.

10. Self-discovery: Write about a moment when you learned something new about yourself and how it changed your perspective. Was it a personality trait or a hidden talent? Did it challenge your assumptions or biases? For instance, you might have discovered that you enjoy public speaking despite initial fear and shyness.

By reflecting and writing on these prompts, you can gain self-awareness, confidence, and direction in your career search. You can identify your unique strengths, values, and goals that align with potential employers’ needs and culture. Moreover, you can effectively articulate your past experiences and moments in job applications, interviews, and networking conversations. Happy writing!

So, as you move forward on your job search journey, remember that you’re not just trying to find any job—you’re aiming to do what you love and find those who love what you do. Embrace positivity, expand your vision, and build resources that last.

If you’re ready to dive deeper into how you can practically apply these techniques to your own career journey, reach out. Let’s make your job search more than just a task—let’s make it a heart-filled journey of growth and discovery.

About Jim

Jim Woodbridge is the Coach and founder of Job Search by Heart. His passion project is helping you “Do what you love and find those who love what you do!”

At Job Search by Heart, we support you at every step of your career search journey. We use state-of-the-art AI tools and techniques to help you put your best and authentic self forward. With over two decades in the career coaching profession, wisdom and best practices are at the heart of our service. Stay tuned for more practical advice and strategies to help you navigate the professional world with confidence and purpose.

For your own personalized career coaching, click here to contact Job Search by Heart for a free 30-minute discovery session – email jimwoodbridge@jobsearchbyheart.com or call +1-647-931-9211

Stay up to date with our regular blog posts by subscribing.

Jim Woodbridge – Career Coach – Job Search by Heart

Have you ever stopped to think about everything you do well without even thinking about them? Those things that come so naturally to you that you don’t even realize they are skills? These are your unconscious competencies, and they are powerful tools that can help you unlock your true potential.

Many people are more impressive than they know, simply because they haven’t taken the time to recognize their masteries. If you take a moment to list the things you do well without thinking about them, you might be surprised at what you discover. These skills come so quickly to you that you might not even realize they are skills at all.

The power of unconscious competencies lies in their ability to help us tap into our hidden potential. When we recognize our masteries, we can begin to own them and present them to others in a way that showcases our true abilities. This can lead to tremendous success in both our personal and professional lives.

So how can you discover your unconscious competencies? Here are a few tips:

1. Pay attention to what comes naturally to you

Take note of the tasks that come quickly and don’t require much effort. These are likely areas where you have a natural talent or skill.

2. Ask for feedback from others

Sometimes it can be hard to recognize our strengths. Ask friends, family members, or colleagues for feedback on what they think you do well.

3. Reflect on past successes

Remember when you achieved something remarkable or accomplished a difficult task. What skills did you use to make that happen?

4. Try new things

Sometimes we discover our hidden talents when we step outside our comfort zone and try something new. So take on a new challenge or hobby and see what skills you develop.

Once you have identified your unconscious competencies, it’s important to own them and present them in a way that showcases your true abilities. This can be done by highlighting these skills on your resume, during job interviews, or simply sharing them with friends and family.

Remember, everyone has hidden talents and skills they may not even realize they possess. By taking the time to discover your unconscious competencies, you can unlock your full potential and achieve tremendous success in all areas of your life.

So, as you move forward on your job search journey, remember that you’re not just trying to find any job—you’re aiming to do what you love and find those who love what you do. Embrace positivity, expand your vision, and build resources that last.

If you’re ready to dive deeper into how you can practically apply these techniques to your own career journey, reach out. Let’s make your job search more than just a task—let’s make it a heart-filled journey of growth and discovery.

About Jim

Jim Woodbridge is the Coach and founder of Job Search by Heart. His passion project is helping you “Do what you love and find those who love what you do!”

At Job Search by Heart, we support you at every step of your career search journey. We use state-of-the-art AI tools and techniques to help you put your best and authentic self forward. With over two decades in the career coaching profession, wisdom and best practices are at the heart of our service. Stay tuned for more practical advice and strategies to help you navigate the professional world with confidence and purpose.

For your own personalized career coaching, click here to contact Job Search by Heart for a free 30-minute discovery session – email jimwoodbridge@jobsearchbyheart.com or call +1-647-931-9211

Stay up to date with our regular blog posts by subscribing.

Jim Woodbridge – Career Coach – Job Search by Heart

That is the most important and possibly the most elusive question to answer, but the journey is worth it.

The types of jobs that will be available beyond the next five years have not even been created yet. In Toronto, 50% of the 75,000 business establishments were not in business just ten years ago.  Fully 36% of business establishments are no more than five years old, so it can be said there are new opportunities to work emerging all the time in the city.  Finding a career that you can grow with is an important step. It is also important to recognize that your job search may happen on a regular basis as companies, positions, and professions come and go. Establishing a lifelong learning plan, with a main career goal and a backup career or hobby goal will be a very useful strategy. Often what we do as a hobby or secondary interest may become our main occupation or a strong influence to support our primary work. (My hobby of photography helped me in my work through documenting our major annual events and shooting a video for the fund raising department.)

As most work in Toronto is in the service sector – strong customer service skills and business social skills are key to long term success and common to most work. The specific technical skills of the job merely differentiate the specific jobs that you can perform. A great place to start is with the National Occupational Classification provided by the Federal Bureau of Statistics. This handy service provides full job descriptions for thousands of jobs. Using these job descriptions, you can list out the essential duties of any job you have done in the past and any job you interested in taking up. Explore these job descriptions and make sure that you use this information to describe the work and the accomplishments you have already done for your resume and your interviews.

Here is an example listing for Office Manager NOC 1221.   You will see an overall description of the job, the main duties and the education and experience typically required for the job. When you are determining which type of job to seek, this information is helpful to determine if you have the required experience, education, and interest. When you get the descriptions of all the kinds of work you have done and compare them with the requirements of work you are seeking, you can determine whether you have the existing direct or transferable skills to do the job. You may also find out that you need to take additional training to qualify for the new position. Knowing the scope of the work you are seeking will help you to have conversations with people who are already doing the same work and will enhance your impression through being able to ask relevant questions.

In preparation for resume writing, use the National Occupational Classification 2016 to get the listings of all the kinds of work you have done and use this as a starting point. As you review these listings, make sure that you identify whether you have performed the duties listed. Are there any duties not listed? You will want to be sure that the information about your previous work included on your resume reflects your actual duties and accomplishments. (Resumes are checked.)

Take a moment to consider the kind of job you want next and get the job description as well.

Is the next job a natural continuation of the past jobs, a career change, a long term goal, or something that you can do immediately? All this comes clear when you compare your work experience and education with the duties and requirements of the next job.

Have some fun with this. If you have most of the requirements of the career, you may be able to demonstrate your strong ability to learn on the job and be the successful candidate.

So, as you move forward on your job search journey, remember that you’re not just trying to find any job—you’re aiming to do what you love and find those who love what you do. Embrace positivity, expand your vision, and build resources that last.

If you’re ready to dive deeper into how you can practically apply these techniques to your own career journey, reach out. Let’s make your job search more than just a task—let’s make it a heart-filled journey of growth and discovery.

About Jim

Jim Woodbridge is the Coach and founder of Job Search by Heart. His passion project is helping you “Do what you love and find those who love what you do!”

At Job Search by Heart, we support you at every step of your career search journey. We use state-of-the-art AI tools and techniques to help you put your best and authentic self forward. With over two decades in the career coaching profession, wisdom and best practices are at the heart of our service. Stay tuned for more practical advice and strategies to help you navigate the professional world with confidence and purpose.

For your own personalized career coaching, click here to contact Job Search by Heart for a free 30-minute discovery session – email jimwoodbridge@jobsearchbyheart.com or call +1-647-931-9211

Stay up to date with our regular blog posts by subscribing.

Jim Woodbridge – Career Coach – Job Search by Heart

When people insist that no one is hiring – I am not exactly sure where they get their information. Perhaps they have approached their job search in a way that is ineffective, perhaps they have had heard this from others.

Every employer is hiring this year

In fact, in Toronto alone, 75,000 employers are hiring 11% of the workforce every year. This 11% represents people leaving their job for another job or other activity. With over 1.4 million jobs in Toronto – this represents over 160,000 jobs available every year. Finding a single job in this scenario becomes a relatively straight forward task.

The Conference Board of Canada came up with the 11% job turnover statistic, but this is the overall average number. Depending on the sector, you will find certain industries have a turnover that is much higher or a bit less than the 11% number. You can look at the overall survey that shows the turnover rates by major industry type by clicking on the following link: Industry Turnover Rates – Conference Board of Canada

So where are the jobs?

The City of Toronto surveys employers every year and the research comes out annually. The reports are available through the city of Toronto website: City of Toronto Employment Survey. You can look at the full report of the 2016 survey here: 2016 Toronto Employment Survey. Take your time reading the Toronto Employment Survey – it has a lot of very useful information, especially the location of the major employment districts.  With this helpful information, you can explore these regions across the city with the intention to find employment close to home or within an easy commute.

Mapping your Job Search

Google Maps can help you determine the commute times. Ideal commute times are less than one hour by whatever means that you choose. Need to find specific business addresses? You can use CanPages to locate businesses by category that are close to your place of residence. Using Google Maps to do a virtual tour of the streets surrounding the addresses of the business you identify in CanPages. Using these two tools can be truly helpful to organize your job search trips to visit companies.

So, as you move forward on your job search journey, remember that you’re not just trying to find any job—you’re aiming to do what you love and find those who love what you do. Embrace positivity, expand your vision, and build resources that last.

If you’re ready to dive deeper into how you can practically apply these techniques to your own career journey, reach out. Let’s make your job search more than just a task—let’s make it a heart-filled journey of growth and discovery.

About Jim

Jim Woodbridge is the Coach and founder of Job Search by Heart. His passion project is helping you “Do what you love and find those who love what you do!”

At Job Search by Heart, we support you at every step of your career search journey. We use state-of-the-art AI tools and techniques to help you put your best and authentic self forward. With over two decades in the career coaching profession, wisdom and best practices are at the heart of our service. Stay tuned for more practical advice and strategies to help you navigate the professional world with confidence and purpose.

For your own personalized career coaching, click here to contact Job Search by Heart for a free 30-minute discovery session – email jimwoodbridge@jobsearchbyheart.com or call +1-647-931-9211

Stay up to date with our regular blog posts by subscribing.