30. The courageous job hunter: Braving the market in times of uncertainty (COVID SERIES)

In today's job market and work environment, everything is changing. Almost nothing feels the same for professionals in the corporate, nonprofit, and public sectors, and it is challenging to see where we are heading, let alone plan for our careers. To have the courage to face the unknown will be crucial to getting us, as individuals and as a community moving towards our preferred future. So, where can we get our courage from, and how do we apply that in our career?

In todays' episode, I interviewed Dina Pozzo. Dina is a highly skilled facilitator and coach with more than twenty years of experience in learning and organizational development both locally and internationally. Dina completed a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Melbourne and was trained by Brene Brown as a Certified Dare to Lead™ Facilitator.

We address the following questions in this interview: What does courage look like during a job search? And in the office? What does being vulnerable has to do with courage? Can you practice "courage" and get better at it? And how can you use your strengths to develop courage?

Key takeaways:

• Courage is an intentional constructive or moral action taken by an individual in the presence of perceived personal risk and uncertainty of outcome (personal or organizational) to resolve or avert a workplace issue.
• Sometimes it takes courage to do nothing.
• What I may need courage for, you may not. And vice versa.
• If we stop and think and unpack the past, we can say when we've been courageous in the past, we can say what we did, how we did it, how we felt, who enabled us, all those things.
• Be a courage spotter: Call it out when you spot courage in someone else because that helps build your self-awareness.
• Know that vulnerability is a strength.
• BRAVING stands for – Boundaries, Reliability, the Vote, Integrity, Non-judgement, and Generosity.
• If you come back to your values whenever you reach that fork in the road, we know whatever decision needs to be made will be an easier decision to make. I'm not saying it's going to be an easy decision, but it will be easier.

Three questions to reflect on to job hunt with courage:

1. How worthwhile is that action?
2. How risky is it to apply for that role?
3. What action will you take?

Four key skills of courage:

1. Rumbling with vulnerability.
2. Braving trust
3. Living your values
4. Learning to rise

Four Character Strengths that sit in the virtue of courage:

1. Authenticity and honesty
2. Perseverance
3. Zest or energy
4. Bravery

Audio Podcast:

Click here to open the transcript of this episode on our new blog.