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Have you ever been in a situation where you cannot find a way out of your career? What will be your next steps? What is the career path that you want to go through? Have you ever felt the pressure of seeing your friends and colleagues keep achieving new things while you’re staying at the same place and trapped in your current position? If you do, welcome to my team; you’re not alone. I believe lots of people were in the same situation before, and today, I want to discuss one methodology that may help you out with this. I’m not an expert in using this methodology, but once I found it, I can immediately see how it can impact and help me solve my problems that’s the only reason I started this article, and I just want to set the right expectations for you.
Can you tell me about yourself?
Sounds familiar? Ya, you’re right, it’s a very famous question that we may find in almost all interview sessions. Then, normally, what will we answer if we receive that question? If you search for that question on Google, you will receive tons of articles to give you hints on how to answer it in the right way that interviewers want to hear. But is it the one that you’re looking for? I think answering this question can help us to reflect and not just only help interviewers understand who we are but also help us.
Once we start answering that question by thinking about what the others want to hear, I think we already approach it in the wrong way. Why do I say that? Simply because we are trying to sell what they want not who we truly have. And from my point of view, a relationship which starts dishonest won’t last long. More importantly, we should be transparent and honest with ourselves first. So it means to find the answer, the journey we should go is searching inside ourselves, not out.
So that’s where we can find the meaning of applying the V.I.P.S methodology.
What is V.I.P.S?
It stands for Values - Interests - Personality - Skills and not the Very-Important-Person-S as some of you may think.
Once I found out about this methodology, my first impression was that “Skills” is placed at the end, but most of the time, they are things we want to list down in the first order in our introduction. If you disagree with me, some introductions below may recall you a bit, and you can see they are quite familiar somehow.
“I am X; I’ve been working in A for B years. I have A1 certifications and have A2 skills by doing A3 projects…” or
“I am X, Y years old, studied in Z. I used to work in company A where I learned B skills…”
But why are we doing that? As I mentioned before, we think skills are things that listeners want to know and may bring us more chances to get what we want (which can be jobs, opportunities, or relationships). Just one thing we forget is that if everyone you meet during the day shares with you the same set of things at the end of the day, how can you remember one specific name?
Another way to say it is, what is your brand? What is your unique selling point?
The reason why interviewers want to know your unique selling point? I can guess it’s because they want to know who are the ones to match their opening positions or career paths. In many cases, once yours is matching, they may ignore the skill a bit and may hire for the potential and ability to grow.
So, let’s go through the methodology a bit. How can we identify our V.I.P.S?
Let’s start with the V - Values. Values are things you care about and want the most in your life. Values act as the filter for other pieces. Values are boundaries you set so the rest of your activities will play inside. It is important to identify and consider your values as you approach career decisions since your work will influence how you can live out your values.
I - Interests are things you like to do, which can help you to wake up and jump out of bed with joy, the reason you can spend hours working without feeling tired. It will be easier to stay motivated!
P - Personality is your way of thinking, or you can name it your style. This includes things like whether you need to be around people or need quiet time to recharge your energy level. How do you make decisions? Careers can be more comfortable for people with complementary personalities.
S - Skills are those things you do well. These can be natural talents, strengths, or abilities you have acquired through education or training. If you struggle to identify your skills, ask yourself what you do well, where you have been successful, or even where others have sought out your help. These are your skills and strengths!
Talking about your career and understanding your selling point will help you not just only pick the appropriate opportunities but also bring you adaptability in case of transitioning from different jobs. So, V.I.P.S. will play the role of the anchor while you’re sailing your ship. Life can change, many things can happen, old jobs may disappear, new jobs will rise, and you need to make decisions with the right path which matches the most with you, especially in the case your skills are out of date with new requirements. I believe that a career path is not a straight line. V.I.P.S methodology can help us somehow do not need to come back to the root for any single turn on the crossroad.
Conclusion
In my own opinion, the V.I.P.S methodology is a very neat solution and can help us quicker find our ikigai
I hope that using this methodology during your reflections can help you define your road clearly and better. Based on that, you can confidently share, let the world know who you are, and attract the right persons, opportunities, and jobs aligned with your wish.
Take some time to listen to your inner voices and use them to answer the questions from the world outside there. Don’t rush to follow the trends, learn new skills, and follow advice from people if you see they do not match your values, your interests, or your personality.
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