5 Essential Benefits of a Career Consultation with DesignForce

When it comes to career planning and development, it has historically been the norm to rely on the advice of friends, family, professors, or even commissioned recruiters. While their perspectives all may provide unique value, they are often limited to the constructs of their personal lived experiences. 

Career Consultants, on the other hand, are experts in not only career development and workforce strategy but also the A|E|C industry as a whole. DesignForce’s Career Consultants are unbiased, third-party career development experts that help A|E|C professionals navigate the many challenges and decisions unique to the built environment.

Before we get into the myriad of benefits, let’s define a career consult: A career consult at its core is an in-depth conversation between you and a DesignForce Career Consultant to discuss your professional life and receive datasets and unbiased advice on how to elevate it. Some professionals use the opportunity to take a pulse check on whether their career is on track, while others seek out consults when they are feeling a little lost in their professional life (you are not alone).

Whether you are a recent graduate deciding what engineering discipline to pursue, or a tenured architectural leader seeking advice on how to build your microbrand within the industry; career consults are beneficial for everyone within the A|E|C industry, regardless of what phase you are in within your professional journey.  Here are just some of the many benefits of speaking with a DesignForce Career Consultant:

1. Heightened Career Intentionality

A|E|C professionals dedicate their professional lives to designing the world around us. However, they often get so caught up in the day-to-day minutia of their work that they don’t take a step back to reflect on their own career. A career consult serves as an opportunity for you to broaden your perspective and be strategic about designing a career that is rewarding, fulfilling, and right for you. Throughout the discussion, we aim to truly understand your “why” and the values that are important to you so that you can align your actions in your professional life with the core beliefs you hold so dear in your personal life.

2. Understand Your Professional and Personal Goals

After talking about your why and exploring your career values, our Career Consultants help professionals craft both personal and professional goals that help them elevate their career fulfillment. While many professionals choose to create goals based on external factors, we aim to shift that perspective to focusing on your personal happiness and fulfillment.

Questions that may be explored in these consults include:

• What energizes you to get up and start your day?
• What has been the most fulfilling professional project you have worked on?
• When do you feel like you are having the largest impact?

Once your macro goals are developed, our consultants work with you to break each macro goal down into bite-sized, actionable items to help you progress along your chosen career path without feeling overwhelmed by the journey ahead.

3. Equip Yourself with Tools & Data

You would not start a project without the right tools and information… right? A career consultant can provide you with the guidance, data, and information necessary in order to advocate for yourself effectively and professionally.

Whether you are preparing for a performance review or strategizing how to ask for that promotion or raise; we can help you determine an intentional, data-driven approach that will maximize your outcomes. Through our compensation analysis, communication role-playing, and benefits benchmarking services; our consultants help ensure you are amply prepared for whatever may come up in your professional career.

4. Build Your Professional Narrative  

Knowing your strengths is one thing, but what can be a little more difficult is knowing how to properly convey them in a meaningful way. We can help you articulate what makes you a great engineer or how to demonstrate that your Revit skills are an asset to your firm. The market is constantly shifting and being able to clearly connect the dots between your strengths and what employers or clients are currently valuing in the market can help you elevate your career.

5. Expand Your Network

According to Forbes, 80% of all jobs are filled through a professional network connection. Beyond just securing a job, expanding your network is helpful for finding mentorship opportunities, building your personal brand within your field, gaining insight into novel ideas and perspectives, and fostering new relationships. Scheduling a career consult will allow you to add an extra node in your network for you to use.

At DesignForce, our mission is to positively impact the built environment by putting people first. One of the main vehicles for achieving this mission lies within the complimentary career consults we provide for career professionals. We believe that every individual in the industry deserves access to free, sage, unbiased advice, and data so they can design careers that maximize their fulfillment. If you are curious about reimagining your career, feel welcome to reach out to me at ktg@designforce.me!