Skills mapping

Write down the regular tasks for your current role. Take note of where you spend the bulk of your time.

If you’re spending a lot of time in the “dislike” column, it’s probably time for a change.

Now take some time to write down what you feel you are good at from the “love” and “ok” sections, and separate these into two categories.

• The “In demand” category is either skills that you see in job postings a lot, OR skills that correlate with highly paid positions (for example, management skills).
• The “Passion project” category is things that you love to do, but which are rarely seen in job listings, or aren’t necessarily valued by employers.

An ideal job will be the intersection of things that you like, you’re good at, and are in demand. Take a look at your list and write down some of the jobs that use this combination for you. You can use job boards to see what’s currently being posted, what salaries are, etc.

• List

There will be a bunch of things that you love that either you’re not good at (yet) or that aren’t in demand (the passion projects). These are things that you can work on as side-projects, in collaboration with other people, or just for fun. Don’t count them out, but these probably shouldn’t be the focus for your next career move. List out some ways that you might be able to keep working on these things anyway:

• List

Priority planning

People have different seasons in life. Sometimes, work-life balance is really important, while other times the most critical thing for you is figuring out how to make more money. Not every career path is linear, and not every role will fulfill everything for you, so it’s important to map out what is a priority for you right now.

I mapped out a few ideas, but you can add anything you like. Rearrange the table so it’s in the order that makes sense for you right now.

Putting it all together/ ways to use this template

It’s unlikely that you’ll find a unicorn role that pays really well, has all of your top priorities, and is exactly fit for your interests and skills. You’ll likely need to compromise somewhere. This is why it’s really helpful to write everything down and prioritize.

You can use this template when you’re looking at job descriptions or planning out your next career move, and map potential new roles against your priorities and skills.

Here’s an imaginary checklist of top priorities and top skills. Edit however you like: