In 2001, organisational psychologist Amy Wrzesniewski and university professor Jane E. Dutton first published their research on a term they called ‘job crafting’, whereby employees tweak certain aspects of their day-to-day role in order to make a more radical overall change to how they feel about their career.
The term has been adopted and adapted by various individuals, employers and consultants since, such as Adam Grant, one of Dutton’s former students.
Grant used job crafting exercises to help Google employees customise their role. All of those who took part, says Grant, ‘were rated as happier and more effective by their managers and coworkers, just six weeks later’.
Rob Baker, founder and Chief Positive Deviant of HR consultancy, Tailored Thinking is another advocate of the job crafting philosophy, defining it as the process of ’making changes to how you act, interact and think about your job.’
The eventual aim of job crafting is to become a more fulfilled employee who attaches greater meaning to your work, in turn making greater contributions to the workplace.
Navigating your career path involves more than just reacting to job offers and opportunities that come your way, Taking a proactive approach to intentionally craft and mold your career over time is key to finding meaningful and fulfilling work aligned with your goals and priorities
Job crafting involves shaping the scope and nature of your job to better suit your skills strengths and interests. This allows you to take more control over your career trajectory, rather than passively going with the flow.
Crafting your career is an ongoing process that evolves as your needs and experience level changes over time. With the right strategies, you can carve out a career that aligns with what matters most to you.
In this comprehensive guide we will explore how to proactively craft your career including
- Assessing your career values, passions, and priorities
- Identifying opportunities for job crafting in your current role
- Expanding your skills through training and education
- Building relationships and networking strategically
- Seeking out developmental assignments and projects
- Negotiating changes to your job description or responsibilities
- Taking calculated risks to build experience
- Positioning yourself for advancement
With focus and effort, you can shape your job and skills in a way that propels you toward your definition of career success.
Understanding Career Values, Passions and Priorities
The first step in crafting your career path is identifying what you value most in your work. What motivates you? When are you happiest and most engaged in your job?
Assess your passion points like:
- The type of work you do day-to-day
- How you help people or make an impact
- The mission or purpose behind the work
- How you apply your talents and strengths
- Opportunities to continuously learn and grow
- The team and people you work with
- The level of creativity and autonomy
- Work-life balance and flexibility
Rank these factors from most to least important. This shows what to optimize in your career. Stay true to your top priorities as you navigate career moves.
Finding Job Crafting Opportunities in Your Current Role
Job crafting involves modifying your existing job to better fit you. Look for ways to shape your formal job description as well as your daily tasks and responsibilities.
Strategies include:
Task crafting – Take on new projects or trade responsibilities with colleagues to focus time on what energizes you most.
Relational crafting – Build key connections with helpful colleagues and mentors.
Cognitive crafting – Change how you view your job by focusing on high-impact work only you can do.
Even small tweaks like delegating busywork or switching to flexible hours can significantly increase your engagement and sense of purpose day-to-day.
Expanding Your Skills Through Training and Education
Shaping your capabilities through continuous learning opens new career directions. Look for training, mentors, education programs and other opportunities to:
- Gain cutting-edge industry knowledge
- Build expertise that sets you apart
- Learn highly sought-after skills
- Cross-train into new functions or roles
- Expand your professional network
Target skill gaps that provide the biggest career advantage and return on investment based on time and money needed.
Certifications, conferences, online courses, workshops, and degree programs all offer avenues for skill-building.
Networking and Relationship Building
Developing strategic relationships is vital for unlocking career opportunities.
Prioritize networking with:
- Leaders in your desired career path
- Colleagues in roles you aspire to
- Recruiters and talent managers
- Mentors who can advise you
- Industry peers outside your company
- Former colleagues and classmates
Leverage your network for insider advice, learning from their experience, tapping into new openings, and getting recommended. Nurture your connections through regular check-ins even when you don’t need an immediate favor.
Seeking Out Developmental Assignments and Projects
Take initiative to get involved with special assignments that provide exposure, experience, and connections. Projects to pursue include:
- High-visibility cross-functional initiatives
- Special task forces or innovation teams
- Stretch assignments outside your typical scope
- Initiatives with exposure to company leaders
- Challenging roles only you can tackle
- Assignments utilizing your particular expertise
Raise your hand to volunteer. Make a case for taking on developmental projects. Demonstrating initiative can propel your career growth.
Negotiating Changes to Your Job Description
Have candid conversations with your manager to change your job description in ways that better fit your skills and goals.
Possible changes to negotiate include:
- Altering your job title to highlight your evolving role
- Adding or switching key responsibilities
- Increasing flexibility in how, when, or where you work
- Changing the team, department, or supervisor you report to
- Getting formal training budgeted for your role
- Securing more opportunities to flex your strengths
Come prepared with a specific business case for how the proposed changes benefit both you and the company. Be open to compromise. Incremental changes over time can craft your role in the direction you want.
Taking Calculated Risks to Build Experience
Moving out of your comfort zone through strategic job changes presents risk but reaps rewards.
Consider calculated risks like:
- Switching to a new industry or company type
- Taking an unconventional role to gain breadth
- Accepting an interim stretch assignment
- Rotating through lateral moves to build versatility
- Relocating to expand opportunities
- Joining an intriguing startup venture
- Launching your own entrepreneurial venture
Assess risks against your career goals. Take a chance when potential learning outweighs the costs. Have a backup plan.
Positioning Yourself for Advancement
Proactively develop and demonstrate attributes needed at the next career level.
To ready yourself for promotion:
- Master higher-level skills
- Take on broader responsibilities
- Spearhead key initiatives and deliver results
- Exhibit managerial capabilities like mentoring junior staff
- Operate with minimal guidance and oversight
- Share your aspirations and seek leadership feedback
Let your ambition be known. With patience and persistence, you can craft your career to reach new heights.
Key Takeaways on Crafting Your Career
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Identify your true career motivations, passions and priorities.
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Modify your job through task, relationship and cognitive crafting strategies.
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Expand your capabilities through continuous learning.
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Build relationships and strategically network.
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Pursue developmental assignments and special projects.
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Negotiate formal changes to your role over time.
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Take calculated risks to gain new experience.
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Position yourself to advance to the next level.
With intention and perseverance, you can craft a fulfilling career tailored to your needs. Define your own measures of success. Then incrementally shape your job and skillset to achieve it.
Job Crafting – The Power of Personalising Our Work | Rob Baker | TEDxNewcastleUniversity
FAQ
What does craft your career mean?
What are the three types of job crafting?
How does job crafting work?
Job crafting works best when you personalize your work around your superpowers, or the distinctive strengths and interests that make you exceptional. There are three ways that you can bring your superpowers into your job: thinking about processes, people, and purpose. Where your work meets your life. See more from Ascend here.
What are the different types of job crafting?
Originally published in the Harvard Business Review, the ‘Fatima’ case study looks in depth at the three different types of job crafting: task, relationship, and cognitive crafting (Wrzesniewski et al., 2010). Here’s a quick overview—at some points, you’ll easily be able to draw parallels with the Job Crafting Exercise described above.
How do you do job crafting?
Here are four tips to keep in mind as you do some job crafting: Practice visualization. Take time to evaluate what you’d like to change, and think about what type of job crafting would best suit your needs by creating a vision board or asking yourself questions about what you want from this process.
Why is job crafting important?
The focus is keeping your needs and interests in the center without sacrificing career development. It’s been a key part of identifying how to find meaning and identity at work ever since. To be clear, job crafting doesn’t mean you toss aside the responsibilities you don’t like doing.
