By Simon North
Simon North is the Founder of Position Ignition, one of the UK’s leading career consultancy companies which created the Career Ignition Club, a leading-edge online careers support and learning platform. Follow him @PosIgnition
Whilst a
common definition of ‘career’ is everything that we undertake in our working
life, sometimes we’d like our career to start when we know we’ve gotten onto
the right track. So what are the ways in which we can ensure that we do start
on the right track?
1. Know what you want.
This is easier said than
done, isn’t it? Only a small number of people have a vocation or a clear vision
early on in their life of what it is they want to do. For most of us, knowing
what we want takes time. But once you’re clear about it, you know you will be
on the right track, not just now but forever.
2. Find what you want.
There are processes that we
can undertake to help us find what it is we want. One of the biggest challenges
for us is translating and transferring our talents so that we know what we have
in terms of our skills, strengths and energies and so on, and where we can take
those.
3. Start this process early.
How early? Well, it
depends on where you are now, but get onto it immediately if you haven’t
already. If you’re still in school or university, the earlier you start this
process, the better. There is so much you can do before you get to the point of
engaging in real work. Those of us already in work need to understand what we
have to do and to do it to get ourselves onto the right track.
4. Experiment, try things out, explore as much as
you can.
It’s quite possible to sit in a job and feel defined by the job
description we have and the colleagues around us who won’t let us do different
things. Don’t accept those false walls of imprisonment. They don’t really exist
and you’ll find, if you lean on them, that they are actually quite elastic and
there is more you can do. In addition to that, use your time outside of work in
an innovative way and find ways of experimenting and exploring different
aspects of work by working in perhaps a not-for-profit environment. Many people
who have responsibilities in coaching football teams or being a Brownie Pack Leader,
for example, are learning leadership and management skills, which they don’t
get chances to dive into at work.
5. Persist.
Two of the increasingly important
facets of careers in the 21st century are consistency and
resilience. Be bold; be tough. Accept people saying ‘no’ to you. You’ll find
that there is scope to do more and to get onto the right track when you let go
of your lack of courage.
6. Invest in your learning.
To get your career on
the right track, invest time into
learning and understanding. This has at least 3 dimensions. There is the
learning you need to gain in order to be a credible technical professional. There’s
learning about the organization you work in and about what your contributions
to that organization are. Finally, these is the understanding and learning about
yourself and what it is you are good at and what it is you might need to
develop.
7. Identify important communities for you.
Having
done your exploration and experimentation and gotten clear about what it is you
want to do, you’ll find it easier to get onto the right track if you know who
can help you. There are a number of parties to focus on. One of them is the
network of communities and tribes that are really important to you. It could be
communities within an organization that has the sorts of job you want to pursue.
Organizations are made up of different communities and tribes. A tribe is a
collection of people who immediately recognize you and your value. They studied
the same subject or degree as you and/or are familiar with the same type of technical
research work you’ve done. After identifying these communities, you then need
to build relationships with them.
8. Use your friends.
You will have friends,
colleagues, acquaintances and you have your family; there are many people close
enough to you who could be useful. Sometimes we’re lucky that we have an older
generation that has been watching out for us in terms of our development. Your
seniors may even have been proactive in offering you the opportunity to
experiment. Even if that hasn’t happened, who do we know whom might be able to
fulfill that type of role for us?
9. Your vision and your intention.
How clearly can
you see the future? For some people, they can see 10, 20, 30 years on. They envisage
what they’ll be doing right down to the last detail of what they’re hoping to
do. For other people, that is really difficult. What we are suggesting here is
that you give some thought to where this career track is taking you.
10. Write a letter
to your younger self.
Write a letter to them saying what you will have done by
the time you’re 82. It’s a way of saying that by the time I got there, this is
what I’d contributed and this is what it enabled me to do, both personally and
professionally. I am proud of myself.
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