Pop Quiz: What's the best first step to landing a new job?

Test your knowledge. What do you think is the best first step to landing a new job?

Should you:

A. Update your résumé

B. Scan job listings

C. Think about your talents

You are a unique, multifaceted, multi-talented individual, as we all are.

The best first step in job hunting is not looking at job listings. Nor is it updating your résumé.

The answer is C: thinking about and reflecting on your many talents, achievements, and value.

Get out a notebook and start thinking and writing. Here are some writing prompts with a few examples.

• What are you really good at? What value do you bring to the job you do?

  • Example: "I'm really good at time management. The value I bring to the workplace is punctuality, dependability, and stability. People can count on me."

• What is something only you do? If you're away for a few days, what does NOT get done because no one else does does it? And why do you do it?

  • Example: "I always make sure to clean not my tools and straighten up the workspace before I go home for the day, and I also lightly clean the bathroom. It's because I care to that others coming in have a neat and orderly work area."

• What are you most proud of in your work and why?

  • Example: "I'm most proud of the positive supportive environment I've established that's naturally functional. Staff are focused, get the work done without friction, fear, or resistance because I take care to train people well and don't micromanage. I make sure they understand why and how processes are interconnected. Then I trust them to do the work at their own pace. This creates a high level of engagement and loyalty.

• What was the most challenging situation(s) or achievement(s) in your most recent role. How did you meet the challenge? What were the results? What did you learn? Would you do anything differently?

• Of the talents you've reflected on, which one(s) are a priority that you'd like to engage with daily and get better at using? What do you want to have accomplished five years from now?

This best first step is akin to charging your battery to achieve a high level of personal energy. Within minutes of focusing attention on your natural talents and achievements, you ramp up appreciation for what you’re really good at.

Appreciation is a high-energy attractive mindset tuned to clarity, confidence, knowledge, and positive expectation. Your authentic self is shining. Now you can easily see and communicate the value you bring. And so can others.

It's important to realize this first step has nothing to do with trying to match your values to a job description. Doing this first reverses that. You're trying to find the job that best matches your light, not the other way around. This is about synchronicity. Being at the right place at the right time, meeting the right person, with the right opportunity.

Start each day of your job search activities on the best foot: energized with enthusiasm and positive expectation. Watch what happens.