Every week, I speak to someone in our industry about career management who talks about their past in a negative context. I shut them up right away with the question “What did you learn?” The answer should be what they should have done. No excuses, no complaining and no placing of blame so should a part of the response. It’s not an error, a career negative “mark” or something holding you back from achieving your goals.
Don’t look back – you’re not going that way.
Survey what happened right after your internal voice let’s you know something wasn’t right and address it then an there. Listen to yourself. 2018 – stop the negative self talk. Determine what would have been the best thing to have done and tell yourself “now you know.” Learn everyday. Don’t internalize it. Don’t use negative speech internally. Your career is based on experience. Experience is both good and not so good. The goal is to make it more good everyday.
Some of the very best Investigators & Security Specialists I have even met freely admit that they made mistakes, screwed up, could have handled something better or wished they had made a better decision previously in their life / career. As I got to know them better… those were the EXACT times that their career started to launch into amazing heights!
What I look for – and what all the Hiring Managers | CEO’s | Board of Directors in my network look for – isn’t just the problems you had, but how you handled yourself, what you learned from the experience and how all the experiences have brought you to this exact point in your career. From there we look for cultural fit and your ability to achieve success within the position you are being considered for. Is looking back more than reflection?
