Interview with Barbara Moses, Ph.D.

Contact Point Staff Amber Taverner interviewed Barbara Moses, career expert, author and speaker.
May 28, 2003 

CP:  “What Next? The Complete Guide to Taking Control of Your Working Life” is an international best seller and by a Canadian author. That is quite an accomplishment, congratulations.

BM:   Thank you.

CP:   What inspired you to write this book? Is this book the next logical step to Career Intelligence: Mastering the New Work and Personal Realities and The Good News About Careers: How You’ll be Working in the Next Decade?

BM:  This book brings together my career planning workbook and ideas about the new work landscape including the psychological issues and challenges that people deal with. The career planning workbook is a tool for the individual in the corporate environment. This book is much more intimate; it’s about life and about anyone who works. It includes concepts, ideas, and advice. I wanted this book to capture my own voice in career counselling and to show people how to respond to every career issue and dilemma today whether it is boredom, burnout or finding their authentic path.

CP:  Do you have a favourite section in “What Next?” If so, what is it and why?

BM:  I loved writing about motivational typology and the personality profiles of organizational sectors.

I also liked writing the section on career challenges. People often think that there is something wrong with them if they’re bored, burnt out, or confused. I wanted to tell them that there is nothing wrong with them. The work landscape has changed and here is something that you can do to adapt to these changes.

I like anything that is completely new and fresh and hasn’t been done before. Information that is intellectually challenging and combines my knowledge of the new work place, social trends, individual differences, and individual psychology. It’s really applied social psychology.

I have received emails from people saying “Wow, this book changed my life”. It is very gratifying as an author.

CP:   There is something in “What Next?” for job seekers of all ages and at different stages of their life. How would someone in their 20’s use this book versus someone in their 40’s? What are similarities and what are the differences?

BM:  The process of finding great work is the same for anyone. The issues to consider will vary by age and experience.

The task for someone in their 20’s is different from someone who is older. Someone in their 20’s might say, “I don’t know what I want to do” and has little real work experience. They should be looking at work as an opportunity to find out more about themselves in relation to their work environment. After all, their experience is limited. And if the job doesn’t work out they need to figure out what they liked and didn’t like about the job. Also younger workers are gathering resumé-enhancing experiences. They are looking for work that engages them but they should also think of their work as stepping stones to other opportunities.

But someone in their 40’s shouldn’t be saying “I don’t really like this work but it’s good for my resumé”. They are living in real time and shouldn’t be focusing only on whether they are acquiring additional skills. At this point they should know what their potential is or have a sense of their potential. For instance, an individual may already know that they are a great writer or manager. Someone in their 20’s doesn’t necessarily know that. They are lacking external and internal feedback.

As you get older, you have more of a sense of who you are. People in their 50’s don’t need to prove that they are competent. They shouldn’t be looking at prestige and status. They should feel more secure in who they are. This is why people later in their career often go back to an earlier source of engagement with less prestige.

With each individual there is earlier persistent underlying career themes, whether it be “I want to make a difference”, “I want to inspire people”. “I want to change the world”; “I want to help people”. Everyone has an underlying motivator. Effective transitions for older workers involve coming back to an earlier source of engagement.

CP:   With the uncertainties of today’s economy and other issues such as the double cohort, what are some of the unique challenges being faced by youth and students in today’s workforce?

BM:  We may be doing our kids a huge disservice by forcing them into making increasingly early career decisions. By getting them into evaluating every activity they participate in in terms of whether it is good for their resumé, we forget that we are not just preparing our kids to be future workers but citizens as well. In other words we should lighten up as parents and educators in terms of making our kids career “worthy”. I often worry more about a 17 year old who knows what they want versus a 25 year old who is still thinking things out. A lot of kids are forced into making career choices when they don’t have the basis for making those career choices. They think there is something wrong with them if they don’t have a clear career direction. They should reflect on what is important to them and what they cannot abide by in a work environment.

CP:   In your book you talk about boosting your career intelligence and strategies for career success. To ensure their own career success, what steps should individuals take? What action should they take? Are there areas they should focus on?

BM:  There are two underlying principles in my book: Being a Career Activist and expressing your Authentic Self in your work.

Good work is a right not a privilege. Work should speak to your most important values and draw upon your unique talents. You should feel good about yourself and still have time for a life. Ask yourself regularly, “Am I happy?” “Am I engaged?” “Did I learn anything?”

In order to be a career activist you have to express yourself in your work. Self-knowledge and self-assessment are critical to meaningful career management. That is why so much of my book is devoted to self knowledge: the assessments and quizzes. “What Next?” covers tactics such as marketing yourself effectively. In the book I dispel the myths about networking and self promotion. For example the myth that you need to be an extrovert to do these things successfully. The book also looks at the myth that in the future people will be inventing themselves constantly and that we will have 5 to 7 careers in our life time. In fact people will not be reinventing themselves, rather they will be reconfiguring themselves. Reinventing sounds like we have no soul. We don’t “reinvent” who we are. We already come to the table with talents and meaningful attributes.

CP:  We have seen a lot of changes in the economy and in work in the past few years. For instance: the rise and fall of the IT and dot.com industry, the challenges and issues faced by the travel and tourism industry. With respect to work and the economy, what kinds of changes should we expect to see in the next 5 years? What will be some of the challenges faced by workers?

BM:  I never believed that people should prepare for hot jobs. A “hot” job today can be rendered obsolete due to changes in government will, new technology, the economy etc. In the future, the skills shortage will create huge opportunity, in particular for managerial talent since so much as been lost due to restructuring, downsizing, and retirement. Also, certain skills will be at a huge premium. For example, individuals with communication skills, that is they can get to the point quickly in a compelling way or people who can bring together diverse ideas from diverse disciplines. Also, individuals who are informed about social, cultural and demographic trends.

CP:   How would you recommend the reader turn their sometimes mechanical job search process into a more dynamic, fluid, spiritual, and meaningful journey.

BM:  To me, affective job search at its best is play. The characteristics of play are both planned and spontaneous. It is a combination of planned and unstructured, expressive and stimulating. The only difference is that job search is purposeful and play is typically not. With the best play you learn something about yourself and you test yourself.

First have a meaningful, deep idea of your core motivators and talents. Think about it as a journey with opportunities to meet with new people, get ideas from new people, to test yourself and to learn.

Think of yourself of having conversations with people instead of networking. Don’t think of networking as a situation to use a canned sound byte or to mechanically give out business cards to everyone. It is an opportunity to find something new about someone else – and not viewing that communication with someone as did I get a job lead?

Here’s a tip: You should also think of every networking opportunity as your chance to be an oral storyteller. To share what you’ve learned not only to gather information. Perhaps that involves sharing industry gossip or a new trend. It is an interaction where you are sharing as well as acquiring…sharing and learning.

Job loss, although devastating at the time, ultimately becomes hugely emotionally meaningful as people learn about their emotional resilience and take pride in the fact that they can cope and bounce back from reversal.

CP:  Barbara, Do you have any final thoughts or comments?

BM:  I would hope career practitioners and H.R. professionals will remain ever vigilant in understanding the complexities of their clients’ lives and today’s hugely demanding workplace.

To view Contact Point’s reviews of Barbara Moses’ books, please use the URLs below.

What Next? The Complete Guide to Taking Control of Your Working Life
www.contactpoint.ca/article.pl?sid=03/04/29/0634201

The Good News About Careers: How You’ll be Working in the Next Decade
www.contactpoint.ca/bulletins/flash/flash1299.html

Career Intelligence: Mastering the New Work and Personal Realities
www.contactpoint.ca/bulletins/flash/flash1199.html