Find Your Career Belonging Instead of Career Fit
We can spend a lifetime searching for or defining our dream job or dream career. We frequently use the expression, “I’m looking for my career fit,” and we reference career fit all the time in career conversations. It’s a major idea that preoccupies our lives.
Yet, career fit is not what we're actually searching for. The common denominator is career belonging.
This quote by Brené Brown summarizes the overarching idea:
“Fitting in is about assessing a situation and becoming who you need to be to be accepted. Belonging, on the other hand, doesn’t require us to change who we are.”
The Connection Between Professional Identity and Career Belonging
Professional identity and career belonging are deeply intertwined. After coaching people on how to develop their professional identity and clarify their hybridity, the next question they ask me is, "Where do I fit in the workforce now that I know my true professional identity?"
For instance, I’ve helped people realize that instead of being an entrepreneur, they are a Binding Agent, or instead of being a graphic designer, they are a Quintessence Instigator. Professional identities are the authentic name you call yourself in your work. These titles often defy categorization, are specific to describing exactly who you are in your work, and require some explanation because they don’t sound as familiar as generic job titles. (Hint: That’s because your professional identity is not your job title).
Again, trying to “find your fit” is the wrong idea because you’re trying to match your skills with the skills of a job or client need. If you take your authentic professional identity, which is your uniqueness and unique value, and squeeze it into a box to be who others want you to be, you’re limiting yourself. You’ll never feel free or accepted if you’re trying to be who others want you to be.
That’s why career belonging is a place of power and freedom. Career belonging encompasses this definition:
Career belonging is where you are accepted for you, wherever you are employed or whatever you call your work.
Career belonging is about finding a place (in your heart or in a company) where you can be you and be accepted fully for that. No exceptions, no apologies, no fitting boxes.
There are jobs, roles, and careers out there that allow career belonging. They may be a little harder to find, but they exist in companies that are forward thinking, flexible and adaptable to new ideas. Also, you can find roles where you belong if you position yourself as your professional identity from the start, meaning in your resume, cover letter, and interviews you need to reveal how you see yourself and talk openly about the unique value of your specific professional identity. After all, your professional identity is a value add. Oftentimes when a new position is created in a company, it can be created for “the person” so that it’s custom and career belonging would be achieved.
If you work independently, you get to design the career of your dreams. Instead of calling yourself another marketer, designer, life coach, or strategist, use the name of your professional identity to differentiate yourself and attract clientele that are looking for your special type of hybrid expertise.
Being an Unconventional Challenger or Moment Architect are two professional identity titles my clients have created for themselves, and these set them apart. They still have to explain what that means and why those names are authentic, but once they do, their clients have a much better understanding of their uniqueness, and this leads to career belonging because they’re not trying to fit one type of career path or field anymore.
Once we achieve career belonging, it means we are seen, known, and valued! The actual hallmarks of belonging.