Career Design vs. Job Search: Why “Future You” Is Glad You Know the Difference
Our career fuels our life.
This is why designing your career is critical. You want your career to fund the life you envision and at the same time be a vehicle for personal fulfillment.
Career design is not about finding a job. It is about determining a road map for your life and then funding it with your work.
By definition, a career is 20-30 years or more. We start with the end in mind and work backward. This ensures your career aligns with your life goals, providing a fulfilling and sustainable professional journey.
What is Career Design?
Career design includes continuous learning, skill development, and leveraging networks to create opportunities. There is a 12-part strategy that, if worked, can increase the likelihood of you building the career and life you desire.
By integrating elements like…
✅ building strategic networks
✅ achieving important results
✅ continuous learning
✅ increasing autonomy
✅ acting with ethics and trustworthiness
✅ anticipating threats and opportunities
career design helps individuals navigate career transitions and advancements.
It is a proactive approach to career management, emphasizing adaptability and long-term planning. A successful career has multiple parts, and they build upon each other.
Ask yourself, “When do you want to retire?” Then start to design in 5-10 year blocks of time. There are natural blocks of time based on how "most" people live their lives.
For example, ages 25-35, 35-50, 50-65, 65+.
Most people do not know how to do this.
We are not taught this in school.
That is where I come in……
I’m Kelly. An executive job strategist and professional certified life and career coach.
Not only have I personally used career design, but I’ve also successfully coached hundreds of clients with the same approach. And if I hadn’t embraced this strategy years ago, I wouldn't be where I am today: founder of Kelly Rae White coaching and creator of The Career Formula Program.
Curious about how you can future-proof your career?
Book your FREE Career Strategy Call today!
I have been thinking about my career since I was in my late 20’s and studied under the Aji Network. I credit them with much of my success and how I think about career design.
Even today, I’m always thinking about career design.
And after reading this article, I bet you will be too.
I am on a quest to revolutionize the way we think about our careers.
Let’s start here, “How often do you think about what you are eating? How much you exercise? How much weight you need to lose?”
If I had to guess, your answer would be, “Daily.” Most people think about this DAILY. Multiple times a day.
So, I ask, why don’t we think about our careers in this way?
Your career is the #1 thing that can change your life trajectory – and oh, by the way, the trajectory of your entire family lineage.
Quick caveat: I’m not saying that putting a strategic lens on your career plan will magically solve all your problems, and you’ll never find yourself in a tough spot again.
No one could promise that. (gosh, I wish I could, though)
You can learn this, and it will make an impact that continues to gain momentum. It has a very high rate of return.
Other than learning how to budget and manage your money, I believe this is the #1 skill if learned can change your life and lifetimes in the future.
There are twelve key components to developing a long-term career strategy and design.
To start, we are going to focus on what career design is and then explore step one so you can get started.
Why You Should Design Your Career (instead of just job search)
We think long-term about our health, have bucket lists for experiences we want to have and places we want to vacation.
And it got me thinking, why don’t more people have the same mentality toward their careers?
Career design primes you to:
✔️Assess your long-term needs and wants
✔️Assess your current situation (personally, professionally, and financially)
✔️Identify the right opportunities for growth and exploration
✔️Develop a “roadmap” to achieve your long-term objectives by taking strategic steps along the way
That way, when curveballs are thrown your way—ie. Outgrowing your role, relocation, layoffs, company acquisitions, or culture shifts—you’ll not only recognize them, you’ll have a reroute strategy.
So, now you’re probably wondering, “How do I design my career anyway?”
I’m so glad you asked.
How to Design Your Career Path
Piece by piece.
Designing and creating your career path in stages is paramount to achieving your dreams and goals. It keeps away the overwhelm.
Step One: Define the Life You Want
Career design expands beyond what’s happening in your life and career today.
So it’s important to think ahead about the life you want to have and work your plan back from there.
Try this reflection exercise and ask yourself:
✅ What does it mean to live your best life?
✅ What does it look like?
✅ How does it feel?
✅ Where are you?
✅ How are you spending your time?
✅ Then, consider: How much does it cost to live YOUR best life today, as well as down the line?
Are you living your best life?
Many times, life assessments include hard questions that you might not normally take the time to ask or that you might avoid thinking about.
Life assessments typically fall into several different categories such as physical health, family, spiritual health, play-time (work/life balance), and education/personal development.
Here are some questions to consider when assessing your life:
How am I going to take care of my physical health? How will I exercise? How will I eat? What is my philosophy of personal health?
What is important to me and my family? How am I going to take care of my family’s needs?
What are my spiritual beliefs? How will I practice my spiritual beliefs?
What are my money beliefs? Do I know how much money is enough to fund my current lifestyle and my future retirement needs?
How often do I take a vacation? What are my hobbies? What do I like to do for fun? How do I relax and recover from stress?
Am I drifting aimlessly through life or do I know what I want and what it means to live a good life?
What knowledge/education/training do I need to expand as a person? What books do I need to read? Where do I need help?
This leads to what I like to call your Best Life Number (BLN).
A concept I created based on the Average Minimum Profitability Requirements (AMPR), developed by “Father of Management”, Peter Drucker.
Money is an essential, foundational factor for creating the life you have in mind for yourself.
So, it’s important to know how much money you need to earn at each career stage so you can begin building the life you want.
Contrary to popular culture or what we see on TV, living your best life does not necessarily mean owning a yacht, a second home in Vail, Colorado, or a personal jet.
“Sacrifices can be as simple as not looking at the price tag when we shop at Target. ”
Popular culture has us believing that we can have it all and that owning a yacht or a private jet is within our grasp.
For some of us, that might be true but for most of us, we are more concerned with making sure our children get the best education and that we are free from financial worry or stress.
When you begin to look at the numbers, even a life without sacrifices can cost much more than what most households make in the United States.
DETERMINING YOUR BEST LIFE NUMBER
The great thing about your Best Life Number — the minimum amount of money it takes to cover your personal expenses (planned, unplanned, and retirement)— is that they’re unique to you.
Defining them creates the foundation for designing the career and life you’re shooting for.
According to Peter Drucker, “There is a difference between the minimum amount of revenue a company (or individual) needs to produce to stay in business for the short-term on a month-to-month basis and the amount of revenue actually needed to stay in business over the long-term from year to year.”
“AMPR is an assessment about the minimum amount of income necessary to meet your minimum financial obligation on a monthly basis. It is what is necessary to be financially viable in your business or your personal financial situation.”
Your best life includes the minimum amount of money it takes to cover all of your personal expenses.
Determining your best life number (BLN) can be as easy as starting with your current expenses as the foundation for your requirements.
Personal expenses tend to fall into two different categories, those that are planned and those that are unplanned.
Planned personal expenses are those you know and can predict on an annual, monthly, or daily basis.
Planned expenses can be both fixed and variable. For example, your mortgage payment is fixed and your gas bill is fixed and variable. And they are planned expenses as they occur each month on a fixed basis.
Unplanned personal expenses are those you haven’t planned for and might not have expected to occur. These expenses are unplanned and variable because you can’t plan for exactly when (or if) they will occur and you don’t usually know how much these expenses will cost.
“Unplanned expenses “impact the future viability of a business or the solvency of an individual.”
Retirement needs to be considered when completing a life or business plan because social security and pensions which historically were the two common paths to build retirement accounts will not be able to support the retirement of an aging population that has not saved for retirement.
Because of the effect of compound interest, it is important to invest funds for retirement to maximize the long-term effects of compound interest. Other considerations in determining the funds required at retirement are inflation and appreciation.
First, accept your current expenses as the foundation. Then, dig a bit deeper. Consider questions like:
What do I want to accomplish in my personal life?
What funds will be required for me to meet my personal goals?
What career steps will lead me closer to the financial goals I have?
How much do I need to save to feel financially stable along the way?
How will my wants and needs change as my life progresses (college, health issues, economic cycles, etc)
Quantifying your expenses while deepening and expanding your definition of your best life enables you to quantify your Best Life Number (BLN) so you can set clear and achievable goals.
Paving the way for you to design a career path to achieve your best life.
Once you know your BLN, the next step is to set personal and professional goals to produce the income needed to hit your number.
Again, this involves looking at different blocks of time.
Define your own blocks of time or use these age groups as a guide:
25-35
35-50
50-65
65+
Actions to Take for Each Period of Time:
Outline Your Life Plan: Plot your long-term vision and what you want to achieve in your life. Don’t be too rigid or hard on yourself here. Remember, life has twists and turns, and sometimes you need to flex and adapt.
Establish a Budget: Develop a budget necessary to achieve your life plan, considering both current and future expenses. Feel free to use your Best Life Number (BLN) to get you started!
Create a BLN for Each Age Group: Define your Best Life Number for each significant age group to guide your financial planning and career decisions.
Moving Forward
Once you have envisioned the life you want and created your BLN, the next step is to determine the knowledge and skills you need to bridge any skills gaps.
We will discuss this in the next blog.
Starting with the end in mind ensures that you outline your best life and then build the knowledge, networks, skills, accomplishments, and identity to develop a comprehensive career roadmap.
This approach helps you achieve your professional goals and ensures that your career aligns with your personal aspirations, leading to a fulfilling and sustainable journey.
Career design takes a holistic approach to career management that goes way beyond a job search process.
It aligns your professional path with your life goals.
And it’s powerful. Once you reflect, plan your goals and strategy, and put the plan in motion, you’ll be well on your way to achieving the life you envision.
If it sounds like a lot of time, effort, and energy, that’s okay. Like all good things in life, it is.
And so worth it.
If it sounds overwhelming, intimidating, or all-consuming.
That’s where I come in.
As a professional career strategist and certified life coach, I help professionals like you design thriving careers and lives through my signature Career Formula Program.
Designed just for you.
Curious about how you can design your career?
Book your FREE Career Strategy Call today!
