J.T. O’Donnell, CEO of Careerealism.com,
Explains How Taking a Spiritual Inventory and Finding Your Inner Geek Can Help You Professionally

“Don’t let people tell you why it won’t work,” J.T. O’Donnell advises professional women.  That powerful, all-purpose mantra guides O’Donnell, Founder and CEO of Careerealism.com and Creator and Coach at CareerHMO.com, in her career coaching empire.

O’Donnell started her blog, Careerealism.com in 2009, when there was no centralized place in the blogosphere to go for career advice, nothing synonymous with career or career change. Looking to industry leaders Fast Company and Forbes, O’Donnell created a blog highlighting cutting-edge career information. Her goal was, she states, “to be the Fast Company of careers” and emulate their innovative, forward-thinking approach.

O’Donnell capitalized on social media, especially Twitter, to build her brand and drive traffic to the blog. The vast number of varied social media followers she drew enabled Careerealism to attract  a team of career coaches to write for the site, and thus bring expert career information to the masses.  Careerealism.com now includes innovative aspects such as Careerealism TV (with Wednesday webinars), as well as traditional career advice encompassing networking and interviewing tips, resume assessment, and career acceleration assistance.

Today, the company’s cutting-edge vibe is further embodied in its new offices, which include a homework room where employees’ children siblings can stay after school or when ill so they have a safe place to be. The room, inspired by a visit to Google, aligns with her belief that professional women should go from the gut with ideas they think will work, despite the naysayers who may try to talk her out of it.

That ability to go against the grain — and instead listen to creative instincts — is part of O’Donnell’s core professional philosophy.  Looking back, O’Donnell notes that she entered career coaching when “it wasn’t cool.” Leveraging her experience in human resources and staffing, she strategically built her business from home when people said it couldn’t be done. In the beginning, she says, “You would tell people what you did and they would joke about it, but they would call you afterwards, and they would want to work with you.”

Nowadays, O’Donnell believes that very lack of confidence that can scuttle plans for a dream career, or a lack of passion about your daily work, is what brings so many to Careerealism for advice. O’Donnell uses one word to sum it up: unhappiness. “We live in an amazing country, land of opportunity, freedom, a lot of which we forget…and we have 70% of the American population unhappy with their jobs. That’s a really weird disconnect,” admits O’Donnell. O’Donnell’s acknowledges January as the top month for calls from women who are finally fed up enough with the status quo that they are ready to find other, more fulfilling employment.

O’Donnell knows first-hand, from hearing it over and over again, that successful, professional women can find themselves in executive roles that leave them feeling empty and sad, instead of energized and happy. If you fall into the unhappy and empty group, O’Donnell suggests five simple steps – separated into the “Spiritual” and “Practical” realms —  to set you on a different career path in 2014.

The Spiritual Side of Success:

Define “Career” for Yourself

• • Before you can do anything to change careers, you will need to step back and ask yourself what is causing your unhappiness. Figure out what the word “career” means to you and stop using other people’s definitions — i.e. stop worrying about what other people think. We are all too concerned  about answering the question, “What do you do?” in a way that gets respect — let go of that mentality, and instead, determine what career success means to you, and you only.  In a nutshell, the only person you should be trying to impress with your career is you.
  • Unfortunately, many people do not have the strength to take the steps above, but the irony is that if you talk to highly successful entrepreneurs who really love their jobs, those people will tell you they stopped caring what other people thought a long time ago. They are “geeks in their space” and they love it. Again, the operative mantra is “stop worrying what everyone else thinks. Make yourself happy.” When you are ready to embrace that, you are ready to create career change.

 Get Your Geek On

• • Ask yourself “What am I a geek at?” Start by trying to remove the negative connotation of the word “geek” in your mind, and instead, re-associate it with the concepts of curiosity, creativity, and intelligence.  Who is your inner geek? (Staggeringly successful websites like etsy.com and wisegeek.com could not exist without them.) What problems do you love to solve that you could waste hours every day figuring out? When you can find that, labeling yourself as a geek is a very freeing thing.  Even if it takes you a whole year trying to figure out where your “geek energy” is, it will be time well spent. When you do change careers, you have a much better chance of feeling satisfied with the change.
  • What does your career do for you? Your career can do one of two things: it can either directly  support (and emerge from) your geek status, where you earn income from your unique expertise — or your job is simply a means to an end, and exists solely to support your geek status. O’Donnell cites the symbiotic relationship between Olympic athletes and Hilton Hotels, as manifested in Hilton’s Team USA Athlete Career Program, as a perfect example of the latter. Olympians thrive and like the jobs they acquire at the hotel chain, not because they want to become specialists in hotel management, but because Hilton supports their material needs so that they can be the Olympians they were born to be.

The Practical Side of Success: 

Optimize Your Profile

• • Make sure your LinkedIn profile and resume are current and optimized – after all, women looking to change careers or elevate to the C-suite should be ready to pitch themselves at all times. Your resume and profile represent both you and your brand;  the question is, do they represent you adequately? A lackluster LinkedIn profile, for example, says three things about you: you are not savvy, you have done nothing significant or, worse, you have something to hide.

Create a Network

• • Your network is your safety net – after all, every job is temporary. Without a network, you are simply a business of one and you are the product. Think of it this way: your resume reflects your product’s brand, and is a marketing tool, while your network is your market. If you have no network, where can you market yourself?

Lastly, to women who are content at their current company but who want to ensure they climb the career ladder, O’Donnell asks, “Are you leading the charge?” Women who want promotions should anticipate, define and create: anticipate problems, define solutions, and create policies that improve performance. Companies care how you can increase the bottom line — therefore, identifying new revenue sources or determining where the company can save money gets you noticed.

She also advises professional women, “Lead from your gut.” Men go from the gut and trudge on even when the data shows a strategy is not working as effectively as planned. If women don’t step up with their ideas, they leave the door open for men to waltz in and supply an idea even when it’s the wrong one.