What's Your Driving Force: The Task or the Impact?

Next Step Navigator is a career newsletter mixing real talk with real advice to help you tackle the job hunt and carve out your own unique path. It’s like grabbing a coffee with a mentor who shares stories and strategies to boost your confidence and guide you towards making strategic, meaningful career moves.

When you think about your ideal job, what comes to mind first? Is it the specific ‘what’ you’d be doing day-to-day – the skills you’d use, the projects you’d tackle? Or is it the ‘why’ behind the work – the bigger purpose, the problems you’d be solving?  

Understanding your core drivers can be crucial for finding work that feels right. Let's explore two common (and equally valid!) orientations: being task-oriented versus impact-oriented. 

Figuring out where you lean can be a game-changer for how you explore careers and present yourself to potential employers. 

What Drives You: Task vs. Impact Defined

This might be a new way of looking at things, so here are some definitions and examples:

• Task-Oriented: If you're task-oriented, your focus is primarily on the activities, skills, and processes involved in a job. You're motivated by mastering a craft, enjoying the nature of the work itself, completing projects efficiently, and using specific skills.

• Impact-Oriented: If you're impact-oriented, your focus is more on the outcome, purpose, or mission behind the work. You're motivated by contributing to a specific cause, solving a particular problem, seeing the tangible effect of your work, or aligning with an organization's values and mission.

Neither orientation is better than the other – they're just different ways of finding meaning and motivation in your work.

Spotting Your Style: What Can It Look Like?

How do these orientations show up in practice?

Task-Oriented people might:

• Take pride in their mastery over certain professional skills & abilities

• Prioritize roles offering clear skill development opportunities.

• Seek well-defined responsibilities and processes.

• Feel most satisfied by learning a difficult technique or delivering a high-quality piece of work.

• Describe their ideal job based on the daily activities involved.

Impact-Oriented folks might:

• Heavily weigh an organization's mission and values when considering roles.  

• Prioritize seeing the "bigger picture" effect of their contributions.

• Feel most satisfied knowing their work directly helped solve a problem or contributed to a cause they believe in.  

• Describe their ideal job based on the problems they want to solve or the change they want to create.

Discover Your Leanings: Self-Assessment Questions

Not sure where you fall? Try reflecting on these questions:  

1. Think about a past project (work, school, volunteer) you felt really proud of. What aspect gave you the most satisfaction: executing a complex part of the process, or knowing the project achieved a specific positive outcome or impact?

2. If you had two job offers with very similar day-to-day tasks and pay, would the company's mission or the specific problem they solve be the deciding factor?

3. When researching jobs, are you drawn first to specific job titles (like "Data Analyst") or to industries/causes (like "Healthcare" or "Environmental Protection")?

4. What frustrates you more: unclear instructions on how to do a task, or not understanding why the task is important?

5. Imagine your ideal work review. Which compliment would mean more: "You executed that task flawlessly" or "Your work significantly contributed to our team's goal of X"?

6. Do you find yourself more energized by learning a new technical skill or by learning about the impact your potential employer has on the world?

Be honest with yourself! Your answers can point towards your primary driver.

Using This Reflection for Career Exploration

Understanding your orientation is like having a better map for your career journey:  

• If you lean Task-Oriented: You might start your research by identifying the skills you want to use or the tasks you enjoy. Then, explore roles that involve these across different industries. Resources like O*Net Online, the Canada Job Bank or the LMIC dashboard can be great for seeing where certain skills are needed.  

• If you lean Impact-Oriented: You might start by identifying the causes, problems, or industries that resonate with you. Then, look for organizations working in those areas and explore the different roles within them that could utilize your skills. Researching company missions and values will be key.  

Tailoring Your Job Search

Leverage your orientation to make your job search more authentic and effective:

Resume & Cover Letter:

• Task-Oriented: Emphasize specific skills mastered, processes improved, and tangible accomplishments demonstrating technical proficiency. Use bullet points that highlight how you did things effectively (don’t forget metrics!!).  

• Impact-Oriented: Highlight experiences that align with the organization's mission. Frame your accomplishments in terms of their contribution to larger goals or positive outcomes. Clearly state why you're drawn to their specific impact. 

Interviewing:

• Answering "Why this job? / What motivates you?": Be ready to talk passionately about either the specific tasks/skills involved or the mission/impact that excites you.

• Asking Questions: Your questions should reflect your priorities. Task-oriented folks might ask more about daily routines, tools used, and skill development opportunities. Impact-oriented folks might ask more about team goals, company values in action, and how success is measured in terms of impact.

It's Not Either/Or: Appreciating the Spectrum

None of us are 100% one or the other. You might be primarily impact-driven but still really enjoy the craft of your work, or vice-versa. Impact-oriented people still need to execute tasks well within a certain skill-niche to make a difference, and task-oriented people often contribute to significant impacts, even if it's not their primary focus.

Aim for roles that offer a satisfying balance for you.

Your Next Step

Understanding whether you're primarily driven by the task or the impact is a powerful piece of self-knowledge. If you’re an early career professional working on defining a direction or someone undertaking a career change it can offer clarity, focus your job search efforts, and ultimately help you build a career that feels more authentic and fulfilling. 

What drives you more? Does this distinction resonate with your experience? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

If this newsletter resonated with you and you're looking for support in finding career clarity or a fresh job search approach, feel free to email me: [email protected].