Career Course Workbook

As you work through the Career Course, you'll learn things like how to get an interview,how to market yourself to hiring managers, and how to put your best foot forward.

But that's only half the battle!

You also need to understand your values, the skills you need to land your dream job,and the types of organizations you want to work for. These exercises will help youanswer all those questions and more.

Who is the workbook for?The workbook is only for you. You can share the summary of your exercises with acareer coach after the course is complete to talk through your game plan or get helpwith a plan for filling in gaps. You won't turn it in as part of your course, but if you skipthe exercises you'll miss out on a lot of self-discovery.

What will I get out of it?After completing all the exercises, you should have a much better vision for where youare and where you want to be in your career. That vision will include:

● Understanding your values better so you can focus on finding rewarding work● Establishing some career goals● Understanding what role and organization you see for yourself now and in the

future● Discovering the gaps between the skills you're good at and where you want to be● Knowing which skills you want to invest your time and energy to develop● Planning steps to boost your skills, and know what to get rid of to make room for

growth● How to reach your career goal

Let's get started!

How to use the workbook

After completing each unit in the Career Course, you'll complete the corresponding unitexercises in the workbook. Each unit exercise will help you articulate your career plan.

Unit 1:Values puzzleStrategic career plan

Unit 2:Skills matrixOrg & role map

Unit 3:Portfolio practice

Unit 4:Time and energy allocationStrategic activities

Unit 5:Strategic trade-offsReaching your career goal

We've created summary pages at the end of the workbook to collect all your insights.You can share the workbook summary during your follow-up coaching appointment, orjust keep it handy at your workspace to keep you motivated!

UNIT 1

Exercise: Values puzzle

In the course, we've just covered the state of the content design market, and how tobegin looking for jobs. That's a great start!

But there's a very important aspect of your career journey to consider: your values.

Understanding the skills you need to succeed, where to find jobs, and how the market ischanging—it's all great stuff to know. But none of it matters if you take a job where youfeel like your values are not being fulfilled—or worse, there's a serious mismatch!

Values will be your north star on the way to reaching your career goals.

INSTRUCTIONS

● Cross out the least important values on the grid one-by-one to help you focuson what does matter to you.

● You're done when you'll have 5 values left. These are the values that mean themost to you.

Write out the 5 values remaining:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Exercise: Strategic career goalFrom values to goals...

In this exercise, you'll determine how to align your career appetite with your values. Asdesigners, we often start with a lo-fi version, a sketch, as a beginning basis for ourthinking. Similarly, let's first define your high-level career goal.

INSTRUCTIONSBased on your 5 most important values, define your goals using the example on thenext page. Don't be too detailed. We'll get there in the next step. Take your time andthink about each statement for a while before filling it in.

That said, don't overthink it! Remember, you can always go back and change or updateyour goals.

Here's an example so you know what we're looking for:

Where I want to be in 3-5 years...

UNIT 2Exercise: Skills matrixIn Unit 2, we looked at the different skills we need to succeed in the job market, and howwe can tie them back to our own experience. As you move through your career, it'simportant to understand where you stand in certain skills areas, and where you mightwant to improve. That's what we'll do next.

INSTRUCTIONSTake a look at each skill in the skills matrix circle. Grab 2 pens or pencils with differentcolors. Use each color to draw a line outwards from the center. Use one color torepresent how confident you are in that skill today, from level 1 to level 6. Use the othercolor to represent how good at that skill you'd like to be in the future.

LEVELS

1Aware ofhow it works,but noexperience

2Taking stepsto learn andpractice

3Practicing,still needsguidance

4Independent,well practiced

5Confident, candeal withcomplexity,a lot ofexperience

6Perceived asauthority,mentorsand guidesothers

Then, no matter how confident or experienced you are, draw a heart next to your 3favorite skills.

TIPS● Be realistic. Don't diminish or overestimate your skills. Try to be objective and look

at yourself as if you were a stranger and describe that person's skills.● Optional yet cool: To hear someone else's perspective, ask your trusted

colleague, your manager or someone else you work with to mark your levels.

Here's a low-fi example so you know what it should look like when it's complete.

Your skills matrix

Where are the biggest gaps between your skills today and where you want to be?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Exercise: Org & role mapAlright, we know where we stand when it comes to our skill set. Let's get to work onimproving all our skills, right? Not so fast. Sure, improving is fantastic, but we also wantto know where we're headed before deciding which skills to focus on.

So let's answer that question—where are you now, and where do you want to be?

INSTRUCTIONSSkim the main categories of the map, so that you understand what choices you areabout to make. Then, grab some colored pencils or pens.

First go through the categories (rectangles on the left) and mark them by level ofimportance:

● Star = Very important● Square = Somewhat important● X = Not important

Then, mark the branch endings on the right side with:● Purple = Where you are now● Green = Where you ultimately want to be

As you go through this exercise, think about why each is desired: money? creativity?flexibility? helping people? Make notes if it helps to articulate your thinking.

Here's a low-fi example of what your results might look like:

Type of work & org you prefer

UNIT 3

Exercise: Portfolio practiceWe just spent an entire unit looking at how to create your portfolio. So let's do somepractice! This exercise will help you get into the habit of summarizing complex projectsinto digestible sections.

Think about two projects you’d like to write about for a case study in your portfolio. Writea two-sentence summary for each stage of the project:

● Problem● Process● Solutions● Impact

Then add some notes about screens you might like to show for each project.

PROJECT #1 NAME:

Problem:

Process:

Solution:

Impact:

Notes on visuals or screens you might want to include for this project:

PROJECT #2 NAME:

Problem:

Process:

Solution:

Impact:

Notes on visuals or screens you might want to include for this project:

UNIT 4

Exercise: Time and energy allocationRemember the skills we examined in Unit 1? Now's the time where we start thinkingabout how we can improve on those skills—and how we can use them to get our foot inthe door.

INSTRUCTIONSReview the skills you want to develop from the Unit 2 Skills Matrix exercise.

1. Write the ones you want to work on in the right-hand boxes. If you don't fill up allthe boxes, that's okay.

2. Mark the % of your time and energy you want to spend on developing each skill.3. Assume you have a limited timeframe for learning—we suggest the next 12 to 18

months, but you can decide what works for you.

You can invest all your time in one skill or spread it across many skills. Just make surethe sum of all the time percentages equals 100.

Your time & energy budget

SKILL TO LEARN % OF FREE TIME TO ALLOCATE

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Exercise: Strategic activitiesNext, let's break down those skills into specific actions. Let's examine what it will actuallytake to be successful at these skills—and how to measure your progress.

INSTRUCTIONSCopy 3 or 4 of the skills from the last exercise where you want to invest the biggest % ofyour resources.

Now think about how you struggle in that area and what you can do to overcome ordiminish your struggles. The activities or actions to improve those struggles should beconcrete and specific (real steps to get you past it!).

In the last column, set up your personal metrics. Supposing your struggle was linked tothe lack of self-confidence in facilitating meetings. Ask yourself: How will I know whenI'm more self-confident in that skill? What are the signs and the evidence?

SKILL #1:

STRUGGLEACTIVITY TO ADDRESS THE

STRUGGLE / LEARN THE SKILLHOW DO I KNOW THE ISSUE IS

SOLVED?

SKILL #2:

STRUGGLEACTIVITY TO ADDRESS THE

STRUGGLE / LEARN THE SKILLHOW DO I KNOW THE ISSUE IS

SOLVED?

SKILL #3:

STRUGGLEACTIVITY TO ADDRESS THE

STRUGGLE / LEARN THE SKILLHOW DO I KNOW THE ISSUE IS

SOLVED?

UNIT 5

Exercise: Strategic trade-offsWe've just read about climbing the career ladder. Feeling motivated? We hope so!

But we also need to start thinking about how we spend our time—and where we mightwant to make some tradeoffs. We only have so much time between work, personalcommitments, and learning new things. How do we decide where to focus?

INSTRUCTIONSGo back to the previous exercise, and look at all the activities you entered in the"Activities" column. Place them in the 2 right-hand squares in the quadrants (nextpage) marked "Raise" and "Create."

List the activity in the "Raise" quadrant if you've already done some initial work, or in the"Create" quadrant if it's completely new.

Then, brainstorm additional behaviors you'd like to stop or do less of to make room toaccomplish your new goal. Think about how your days look. What does not bring youcloser to your career goals? What's not productive? What are those tasks and actions?

List out those behaviors or activities in the "Eliminate" or "Reduce" quadrants to makeroom for your new activities.

TIPThe behaviors or activities you list might be personal time-wasters or might bework-related. Be honest about your goals and what you're willing to trade to get there.

Strategic trade offs

ELIMINATE RAISE

REDUCE CREATE

Exercise: Fulfilling your biggest wish or goalThis exercise will increase the chances of reaching your most desired goal.

This exercise is based on the WOOP mental strategy. It's backed by 20 years of scientificresearch.

It turns out that the obstacles that we think most impede us from fulfilling our wishescan actually help us to realize them. The method instructs us to dream our futuredreams but then to imagine what obstacles inside ourselves prevent us from achievingthese dreams.

After this exercise● You will know what to do when you encounter an obstacle that could block your

plans and wishes.● Therefore, you will increase your chances of fulfilling your goals despite

obstacles. Nice!

INSTRUCTIONSAnswer the questions in the 4 quadrants in the exercise (next page).

Reaching your biggest goal

1. Your one big goalWhat is your most important wish (orstruggle to overcome) to allow you togrow and achieve your biggest strategiccareer goal?

2. Your biggest blockerWhat is it within you that most holds youback from reaching your career goal?

3. Your future visionImagine your best future self working at ajob you love. What are you doing? Whereare you and what's it like there?

Pull it all togetherComplete this sentence—and commit toit!

IF I HIT THIS BLOCKER...

THEN I WILL TAKE THIS ACTION…

TO OVERCOME IT AND REACH MY GOAL.

Congratulations!Let's review what you've accomplished. After plotting a career strategy plan...

● You know what you value the most at work.● You've drafted a career goal.● You understand what role and organization you see for yourself now and in the

future.● You found the gaps between the skills you're good at and the skills you want to

be good at.● You know which skills you want to invest your time and energy in● You planned specific steps to boost your skills and you know what to get rid of to

make room for development.● You know what to do if you encounter your biggest obstacle on the way to

achieving your biggest goal.

Career plan summary

These notes are a great reminder of where you are now, where you're going next, andwhere you ultimately want to be in your career. If you want, you can use the followingpages for your coaching session.

Unit 1I want to prioritize these values...

1.2.3.4.5.

Based on those values, I want to achieve these goals…● In 3-5 years I want...

● On a daily basis I want...

● I certainly don't...

● I want to work with people who...

Unit 2These are the skills I'm best at…

1.2.3.

These are the skills I need to develop…1.2.3.

This is where I am now:

This is where I want to be:

[Unit 3 work goes straight to your portfolio!]

Unit 4This is how I'm going to prioritize my time in developing new skills…

And these are the activities I'm taking to achieve success in those new skills…

This is what I'm going to trade-off in order to make sure I achieve success in those newskill areas…

I'm committing to this statement to reach my one big goal:

IF I HIT THIS BLOCKER...

THEN I WILL TAKE THIS ACTION…

TO OVERCOME IT AND REACH MY GOAL.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

This workbook includes original material adapted with permission by the UX WritersCollective. The original authors created their work on a Miro board:

Katarzyna MałkiewiczUX Designer, Wrocław, Poland. Passionate about mapping experiences. Currently at EY,where we're trying to make auditors' lives less complex.

Wojciech ZasinaUX Designer, Wrocław, Poland. Currently at Ocado Technology designing anddeveloping fast home deliveries of your groceries.