Breathe

This was my first mistake; my impulse was to quickly find employment opportunities similar to what I had been doing over recent years. What I should have done is to assess what I needed in a job and what was important to me. What do I enjoy doing and level of proficiency that would be truly marketable within our new challenging job market?

My first concern was ensuring that I could find a position that would provide medical benefits for me and my family

• This narrowed my search to full time positions with benefits
• The need for medical benefits conflicted with my desire to not have to relocate or be away from home every week

Could I find a job that would allow me to work from home?

• Knowing that travel would be necessary to stay close to colleagues and customers

I then listed my talents and passions along with time spent on tasks and skills

Role (Time) - Experience / Skills

Strategic Management (<5>

• Business Strategy
• IT Strategy
• Portfolio and Budget Responsibilities

People Management (5+years)

• Goal Setting
• Performance Reviews
• Annual Ranking
• Coaching / Mentoring / Motivating

Customer Engagement Manager (10+years)

• Deep Domain Knowledge
• Business Process Modeling
• Data Analysis
• Charter/Idea
• Business Requirements
• Change Management
• Project Management
• Risk Mitigation

Technical Team Lead (10+ years)

• Deep Domain Knowledge
• Functional Requirements
• Design
• Task Delegation
• IT Process and Methodologies
• Configuration Management
• Bug Tracking and Mitigation
• Coaching / Mentoring / Motivating

Developer (15+ years)

• Deep Domain Knowledge
• Deep Data and Business Logic Knowledge
• Technical Competencies (Unix, Oracle, SAS)

Next Topic: Analysis: When was I the happiest at work?