Author: Stephen Paff

What are you looking for in a new job? Looking for jobs provides a unique opportunity to either refine what one has been doing or to explore something new. Many people I have talked with who are searching for a job struggle with determining what they want: ranging from new graduates just entering (or reentering) the job market to people discontented with their current work. In addition, I have seen even more people, even those completely confident in what they do but for whatever reason lost their current position, struggle to articulate what they are looking for to potential employers.

This is a self-reflection activity to address both of those: think through what you want to do and articulate it concisely and passionately to others. It helps form your vocation, not only guiding what kind of positions you look for but also illuminating your overarching story you will tell others during interviews.

Step 1	List out five activities that you have done in the last few years that inspire you.
Step 2	List out five activities that you have done in the last few years that have drained/frustrated you.
Step 3	For each activity on both lists, then write out what about it inspired you and what about it drained you.
Step 4	Look through both sets of lists for common features.
Step 5	Synthesize these common features into a one- to two-sentence story.
Step 6	Tell this story to others who are close to you and practice it when appropriate with others.

Here is how it works:

Step 1: List out five activities that you have done in the last few years that inspire you.

An activity can be just about anything you have done: a job, a course you have taken, a specific project you have worked on, a hobby or pastime, volunteer activity, something you have done with family or around your home, and so on.

By “inspire,” I mean that the activity gave you energy, galvanized you, motivated you, gave you passion or inspiration, or otherwise gave your life and fulfillment doing it. This likely meant that you enjoyed the activity, but it is something deeper: that the activity gave you positive meaning/purpose, energy, motivation, or fulfillment, more than simply being fun. You felt alive while doing it.

These activities may overlap: for example, you may mention both an overall job you held that inspired you and a specific project you worked on in that job that was especially fulfilling, or both an inspirational course you took and a particular project in that course that was particularly motivating. Just about anything you have done could be an activity.

Step 2: List out five activities that you have done in the last few years that have drained/frustrated you.

Like with the five energizing activities, these may be just about anything and may even overlap with the previous list (e.g. a job might energy you overall but a part or aspect of it might have drained you). By “drained/frustrated you,” I mean the exact opposite: instead of energizing or galvanizing you, it sucked the life out of you, maybe leaving you feeling depleted, frustrated, or empty.

Note, however: Draining and frustrating you is not the same as simply tiring you. We often feel tired after doing any intense activity, whether we enjoy that activity or hate it. For example, I love playing basketball, but after playing for several hours, I will feel tired, even though I still felt stimulated while playing. Often being tired is simply the result of a full day’s work, and often many activities that fulfill or motivate us make us especially tired as well because we do them enthusiastically. An activity that drains or frustrates you takes motivation or passion from you while doing it: maybe feeling like it is sucking something out of you to complete.

Step 3: For each activity on both lists, then write out what about it inspired you and what about it drained you.

Yes, I mean write out both what inspired and drained you for the items on both lists. For the inspired activities, likely listing what about it inspired you will be easier than listing what about it drained you. But, even the most amazing activities have something about them that drained you. Thinking about both the good and the bad of each activity is crucial to self-reflect on what you want to do. Since these activities have been inspired for you, the pros will likely outweigh the cons, yet some cons must almost certainly exist.

Likewise, for the activities that drained you, list out both what inspired and drained you even if the latter outweighs the former.

I typically treat this like a brainstorm session writing out whatever comes to mind. For each activity, I make a column for inspired and another for draining and list out as many aspects I can think of for each as they come to mind.

Step 4: Look through both sets of lists for common features.

Take some time away from the list, maybe a day or so if you can. When you are ready, reread it, analyzing for common themes. Are there any common patterns to what inspired you between the activities? Are there any patterns in what drained or frustrated you?

After initially looking through it yourself, feel free to show the list to someone or a couple people who know you well: like a spouse, other family member, or close friend. Ask him or her what patterns he or she notices and what he or she thinks of your patterns.

Before giving your thoughts, I would recommend first asking your confidant what patterns he or she notices, simply listening and taking notes, without commenting much. Then only after he or she is finished share the ones you found and ask his or her take on those. That way you can hear your confidant’s initial thoughts unhindered before you influence his or her perspective by telling your own.

Write all these patterns out: both what you noticed and what anyone else you showed it to noticed. Then see whether there are any common features between you guys. Feel free to list those out as well.

Step 5: Synthesize these common features into a one- to two-sentence story.

Your next step is to organize these different features into a story: determining what the various items on both lists have in common and synthesizing these into a cohesive whole.

Here are a few potential questions to ask:

1. Are there any similarities between what energized you, like similar types of activities that gave you energy? For example, maybe many of the activities that inspired you involve working and communicating with others, or solving a complex problem, or developing or organizing something, or logical or analytical work, a technical skill, and so on.
2. Likewise, are there any similarities among the activities that drained you? Maybe one of the types of activities I gave in the first question frequently drained you?
3. Are there any connections between the activities that energized and drained you? This is often the case. For example, for me, coming up with innovative ways to solve complex problems energizes me, but following repetitive procedures often drain me (see my next article, where I will do this activity myself as an example, for more detail). These are flip sides of the same coin: Developing innovative and unique strategies energized me, and its opposite, following rote procedures, drain me. Likewise, see whether any of the inspiring and draining themes mirror each other. 

Now synthesize these themes into a cohesive one- or two-sentence story about who you are and what you like to do. Think of this as like a thesis statement for an essay, summarizing the main points of who you are in a way that you can go into more detail on if someone’s interested.  

My explanations might use the following types of sentence structures. Feel free to use these as inspirations to get a sense for how to structure your ideas succinctly, but if you have other ways of phrasing it, that is fine as well:

• “I have a passion for _, but I get frustrated when _.”
• “_ gives me energy.”
• “_ makes me feel stifled.”
• “I tend to appreciate roles that involve _, _, and_.”
• “I should avoid roles that involve _, _, and _.”

To do this, I typically employ the following strategy:

First, I talk it out with a friend or family member (likely the same person or people I shared my notes with for Step 4) or, if need be, by myself. I start by simply explaining all the items on the list one by one.

Second, without looking at my notes, I describe myself completely from memory to my friend/family member. I pretend that I am introducing myself in an interview, starting with something like, “Hello, my name is Stephen. I am passionate about…” Then I analyze what I changed when I spoke off script: What made the cut; how did I phrase things in the moment, what seemed the most important to talk about, and so on?

Typically, the first time I introduce myself, it never comes out right. Maybe I begin a certain sentence but realize mid-stream that I need to start over and phrase it differently. If that happens to you, that is fine. The first time you do this often feels awkward, but working through the kinks of your spiel out now in front of a trusted confidant or by yourself is much better than stumbling through your words in a job interview for a role you really want.

I then go through that self-summary a few more times until I have a better sense for what to say. If I began one way but had to correct myself, or if I stuttered through a part, I repeat it again and again until I phrase it the way I want, and I am confident in my delivery.

Once I have my spiel, I then cut it in half. When I have done this exercise with others, I often notice people’s spiels are around two-three minutes and about twelve or so sentences. Awesome, there is a time for such long descriptions – like that infamous first question in an interview, “Tell me about yourself.” But, for now cut it in half. If you used twelve sentences, now use six or if you took three minutes, now say it in a minute and a half. Practice that a few times until you feel confident.  

Then, once you get used to that shorter length, cut it in half again. Repeat this until your explanation is one- to two-sentences and/or no more than thirty-second long. That is your synthesis summary. Make sure you write it down and feel free to practice it until you can give it in your sleep. This will form the backbone of how you describe and sell yourself to employers.

Finally, think through what types of roles would match this: inspiring you while avoiding to the greatest extent possible what frustrates you. Some energizing passions lend themselves to certain positions and industries (or to avoiding others), but in my experience at least, many positions could match someone’s passions in multiple industries or fields.

Instead, it primarily tells you what you what to look for in the organizations and positions you consider. For example, if you are a data scientist, this tells you what type of data science job might work for you (or if you are considering leaving the field, what types of positions in any new field you might consider entering).

Your synthesis provides the criteria of what to look for in whatever industry or field you are considering. Thus, this will be what you communicate to others when talking with them about potential jobs.

Step 6: Tell this story to others who are close to you and practice it when appropriate with others.

This summary forms the backbone of the story you tell others. When you network or go into a job interview, you will use this to describe yourself to others, so make sure you practice it until you can give reflexively. You can practice it by yourself, but I at least generally prefer practicing in front of others: friends, family, or the first people you network with so that I can see how other people respond and adjust what I say accordingly.

Feel free to develop a few different degrees of explanation in case you need them: a 10-second description, 30-second description, 1- to 2-minute description, and even a 3- to 5-minute much more detailed monologue. You will use different ones depending on the social situation and their degree of interest. In a future article, I will discuss how to describe yourself compellingly in more detail.

For now, pat yourself on the back: You did a lot. This self-reflection is crucial for determining what kind of role you want going forward and providing the narrative skeleton of how you present yourself to others. Such intense self-reflection can be taxing work, but it is ultimately worthwhile.

Photo Credit #1: Pexels at https://pixabay.com/photos/fountain-pen-note-notebook-page-1851096/

Photo Credit #2: StockSnap at https://pixabay.com/photos/people-girls-women-students-2557396/

Photo Credit #3: Allan Rotgers at https://www.flickr.com/photos/122662432@N04/13740073235/in/photostream/

Photo Credit #4: kaboompics at https://pixabay.com/photos/young-woman-girl-lady-female-work-791849/

Photo Credit #5: Kelly Sikkema at https://unsplash.com/photos/-1_RZL8BGBM

Photo Credit #6: 742680 at https://pixabay.com/photos/chalkboard-story-blogging-believe-620316/

Photo Credit #7: Christina at https://unsplash.com/photos/LQ1t-8Ms5PY

Photo Credit #8: Verteller at https://pixabay.com/photos/people-adult-woman-male-coaching-3275289/

In this article, I complete the occupational self-reflection I described in Part 4 as an example of what such a reflection might look like. Your story won’t be mine, so feel free to craft the reflection to fit your needs. This is just one sample of what it could look like.

Activity Overview:

Step 1	List out five activities that you have done in the last few years that inspire you.
Step 2	List out five activities that you have done in the last few years that have drained/frustrated you.
Step 3	For each activity on both lists, then write out what about it inspired you and what about it drained you.
Step 4	Look through both sets of lists for common features.
Step 5	Synthesize these common features into a one- to two-sentence story.
Step 6	Tell this story to others who are close to you and practice it when appropriate with others.

Step 1: List out five activities that inspire you.

1. Show Rate Predictor at BronxCare
2. Master’s Practicum
3. Ethno-Data Blog
4. Writing a Sitcom
5. Networking

Descriptions:

(Note: You wouldn’t likely need to explain what each activity is to yourself, since, well, you are the person who did them. Just listing them is fine. But I am describing my activities to help give you, reader, context since otherwise, you won’t likely know what I did.)

1. Show Rate Predictor at BronxCare: This was a major project I worked on at BronxCare. I worked with a clinic to build a machine learning show rate predictor that both calculated the probability an upcoming appointment would occur and estimated the number of appointments to expect for every doctors’ shifts. I started by conducting ethnographic user research into the problem to figure out exactly what they need, built two machine learning algorithms to provide the most useful information, and worked with a team to develop the app to communicate that findings to schedulers in real-time as they schedule.
2. Master’s Practicum: The University of Memphis’s Anthropology Department required a practicum project, a 300-hour or more project with an organization for the master’s degree and documenting a detailed research report on the work. I did my practicum with Indicia Consulting in the summer of 2018. Here is my full report for your reference.
3. Ethno-Data Blog: I am referring to this blog you are reading. So, if you are reading this, you have found it and know what it is.
4. Writing a Sitcom: I have been writing an animated sitcom, which a few of my artistic friends and I are planning on developing.
5. Networking: By this, I am thinking of the general activity of networking with other people to learn about their work and find connections with them. I do this particularly vigorously whenever I am looking for a job.

Now, yes, these are a range of projects: including a work project, a personal project, a school project, and finally a nebulous, informal activity like networking. This is by design, since encompassing a wide variety of different types of activities allows me to think about different facets of my life. Feel free to choose among any type of activities that would be most helpful for you.  

Step 2: List out five activities that you have done in the last few years that have drained/frustrated you.

1. Comprehensive Exams
2. UX Research Consulting Project for Thriving Cities Group
3. Data Pulling at BronxCare
4. Retention Research Project with ServiceMaster
5. Secondary Math Teaching

More detailed explanations for your reference:

1. Comprehensive Exams: The University of Anthropology required a written comprehensive exam to graduate with a master’s degree. One must write a four in-class essays over the series of two days and then defend your answers to your committee.
2. UX Research Consulting Project for Thriving Cities Group: Thriving Cities Group was seeking to build an app to help non-profits coordinate with potential funders and chose Memphis, Tennessee as the starting place to launch their beta-version. They hired me as a UX researcher in preparation for this launch. I really enjoyed the UX research I did, but I also learned a lot about what I need when conducting research as a consultant with organizations.
3. Data Pulling at BronxCare: As a data scientist who specialized in developing machine learning and statistical models for data, my role as a data scientist at BronxCare typically did not require simple data queries to pull data for a project. But, occasionally it would. These would generally be one-time SQL queries into the database system (since another team would generally conduct repeating queries). This was my least favorite aspect of my job there.
4. Retention Research Project with ServiceMaster: As a data scientist, I worked on a year-long project building a model to predict and understand retention. I appreciated the idea of the project and the nature of the work, but its implementations had some issues: the abrupt departure of my manager who had commissioned the project, the lack of managerial buy-in for the project above him, issues collecting the necessary data, and departmental politics. These led to the project being overall frustrating, although also a learning experience on aspects of organizational research projects frustrate me.
5. Secondary Math Teaching: I taught secondary math in both Gary, IN and Chicago, IL for a few years before deciding to move into data science. Through this, I learned middle school and high school teaching is not a good fit for me.

Notice again that this list covers a variety of different types of projects from different contexts and times in my life. Feel free to do the same.

Step 3: For each activity on both lists, then write out what about it inspired you and what about it drained you.

Here are what aspects of each list energized me and frustrated me.

Note: Yes, I wrote both what energized me and what frustrated me for both lists. Even the most life-giving activities have aspects about them that frustrates you and the most frustrating activities have positive aspects. You learn a lot about thinking about the ugly in the good and the good in the ugly.

Energizing Activities

Energizing Activities	What Energized Me	What Frustrated
Show Rate Predictor at BronxCare	Trying to break down and solve a complex problem Figuring out the optimal machine learning models to useDesigning the software’s architecture and design Presenting/selling it to those in the clinic and receiving their buy-in/support	Bureaucratic red tape to get the proper software access to build the app Internal politics within the organization in getting the project off the ground
Master’s Practicum	The work itself: solving the problem and completing the task with Indicia Researching and seeking to rethink the historic relationship between anthropology and data science (my key intervention in my report) Presenting my work at conferences and the recognition through the various awards I received for innovative research	Committee members seemingly unwilling to entertain the thought of rethinking the discipline and its relationship to data science Committee members trying to cast my work as not anthropology because it did not fit their pre-assigned mold of what anthropology is
Ethno-Data Blog	Researching and developing interesting ideas, analysis, content, and explanations Writing blog postsEspecially writing this Job Hunt mini-series People coming to me saying they appreciated my blog and/or to ask questions about it	Using the WordPress software interface, particularly difficult is  transferring articles from Word Documents in which I originally write to WordPress Rushing to meet posting deadlines
Writing a Sitcom	Developing the characters and their back stories Developing the overarching story structure for the show, outlining plots of specific episodes, and developing specific scenes Meeting with other artists to build a teamFeeling accomplished after finishing a draftSeeing other people excited about the idea	Editing: constantly polishing over the dialogue to make it shine (necessary but can be agonizing) Trelby’s interface (the screenwriting software I use)
Networking	Reaching out to and connecting with people Learning about other people and their work/experiences Thinking through ways to work together to solve problems	Its cyclic nature: constantly repeating the same cycle of reaching out to new people after concluding with current connection Monotony of reaching out: generally having the repeat the same set of tasks with minor yet hard to automate tweaks

Frustrating Activities

Frustrating Activities	What Energized Me	What Frustrated
Comprehensive Exams	Researching and developing the ideas to write about Writing out my prepared essays Wanting to talk about my intellectual journey and what anthropologists should learn from other disciplines and ways of thinking in order to think through how to engage with others in the world	Some of my committee members tried to force how I would think about things in the prompt by including what seemed like false premises into the questions themselves Some of committee members seemed to want me to parrot why anthropology is great and superior to all other disciplines Already dealing with burnout at the start of the assignment
UX Research Consulting Project for Thriving Cities Group	Hearing about people’s work at various non-profits around Memphis and their stories Analyzing issues with the app Working with engineers to come up with innovative solutions to the problems users brought up	The team seemed to be trying to find a problem that matched their “solution” they have already built instead of seeking to understand what issues/needs people have and then crafting a solution to those needs Top-down and forward-moving marching orders, which, in this instance, ignored the app’s severe issues with users on the ground
Data Pulling at BronxCare	Figuring out how to make Python scripts to automate these processes Building and analyzing models on the data after getting it together	Tedious Unnecessarily time-consuming yet trivial and unstimulating intellectually Data was stored in inconsistent and frustrating ways to access later
Retention Research Project with ServiceMaster	Planning and scoping out how to do the project The ethnographic portion of the project where interviewed and observed customer service representatives to learn about their experiences/expertise in communicating with customers Networking and collaborating with people from other teams to obtain data needed for the project and to learn about their own related projects Felt like the work connected well with the goals and bottom-line of both organization as a whole and my team specifically	When developing the research questions for the project, I felt like my supervisor could only think of limited, close-ended questions, instead of thinking open-endedly about the project. This seemed necessary given the complexity of the issue at hand. The research questions I was given for the project overly reductionist and simplisticThe data was half-hazard and messy, which made analysis with it difficult. Frustrating inter-departmental politics to access and use of the data I got
Secondary Math Teaching	Public speaking One-on-one teaching and mentoring Helping students develop the critical thinking skills to solve complex problems themselves	Managing childish/immature student behavior The tedium of grading Teachers did not have enough time to collaborate in the school.

Step 4: Look through both sets of lists for common features.

Looking through them, I found the following common features within both columns:

What Energized Me

What Frustrated

Talking with people and learning about what they are doing, whether through interviews, ethnographic research, or another means. Networking and collaborating with others on a project Analyzing and developing strategies to solve complex problems (e.g. whether the problem is data science-problem, mathematical/statistical, social or “people” problem, and so on.) Communicating solutions to others (both conversationally and through public speaking) Writing creatively

Monotony, tedium, and rote work Having to follow a seemingly unproductive and non-innovative procedure Not having an innovative strategy I have been developing be understood or appreciated by those I am working with, especially my supervisor Feeling my innovative ideas were shut down or attempted be shut down due to close-mindedness and the inability to think outside of the “conventional” ways of doing things

Step 5: Synthesize these common features into a one- to two-sentence story.

I did this synthesis twice, first writing a very large and cumbersome one-sentence version and then shortening it to make it more manageable.

Synthesis #1 – Large Cumbersome One-Sentence Version:

I am passionate about developing innovative ways to solve complex problems with others in situations for which the conventional approaches do not work, but I become frustrated when those with whom I am working (especially supervisors) do not understand or appreciate that innovation and try to enforce conventional ways of thinking that they have always employed.

Synthesis #2 – Final, Shortened Version:

My passion in a job is to develop innovative ways to solve complex problems, but I become frustrated when those with do not understand/appreciate that innovation and try to enforce conventional approaches.

Step 6: Tell this story to others who are close to you and practice it when appropriate with others.

I cannot easily show this stage in a written article like this, but suffice to say that it is extremely important to show and practice this in front of trusted family and friends. You learn a lot from their feedback.

Photo Credit #1: Pexels at https://pixabay.com/photos/fountain-pen-note-notebook-page-1851096/

Photo Credit #2: StockSnap at https://pixabay.com/photos/people-girls-women-students-2557396/

Photo Credit #3: Allan Rotgers at https://www.flickr.com/photos/122662432@N04/13740073235/in/photostream/

Photo Credit #4: kaboompics at https://pixabay.com/photos/young-woman-girl-lady-female-work-791849/

Photo Credit #5: Kelly Sikkema at https://unsplash.com/photos/-1_RZL8BGBM

Photo Credit #6: 742680 at https://pixabay.com/photos/chalkboard-story-blogging-believe-620316/

Photo Credit #7: Christina at https://unsplash.com/photos/LQ1t-8Ms5PY