One of my favourite quotes, is from Tim Minchin’s address to a group of UWA students. He said you don’t have to have a dream, he promoted “passionate, dedication to the pursuit of short-term goals. Be micro-ambitious. Put your head down and work with pride on whatever is in front of you. …… be aware the next worthy pursuit will probably appear in your periphery, which is why you should be careful of long-term dreams. If you focus too far in front of you, you won’t see the shiny thing out the corner of your eye”
This is great, it takes away the pressure to have a dream or a defined career path (unless of course you have one – which is good) and it suggests a focus on opportunity and chance, which are the great new career planning tools.
The world of work has changed. The job for life, one life long career path are no longer readily available. The corporate ladder and opportunities within the company are less likely and career management has become the responsibility of the individual. We need to drive and manage our own career path. This is great news and can even the playing field for those returning to work, or finding themselves out of work.
Career planning now involves knowing yours skills, your strengths, understanding your work values, knowing what motivates you and what gives you job satisfaction. With this elevated self-awareness comes understanding and confidence. This allows proactive career choices and decisions made with focus and knowledge. This will increase the chance of Tim’s shiny thing appearing in the periphery and allow us to judge its impact on our career.
Combine this self-awareness with increased industry knowledge. Attend industry functions and associations that work in your area of interest and develop a strong network of industry contacts. Use social media and good old fashioned conversation to develop relationships both formally and informally. Develop and support your network, provide assistance and seek assistance when opportunities presents themselves.
We now have a career management strategy that is driven by self-awareness and understanding and promotes and creates opportunity and chance. It is a proactive stance with an exploring perspective and a focus on skills and strengths. It places importance of building relationships and developing opportunities.
Most people are extremely anxious about their careers but very few have invested any time understanding or creating a strategy for career
management. If you are one of those people, now is the time to change that.
About Carol
Carol Erkes is a qualified career coach, with a background in HR and recruitment. She provides practical, solution focused coaching that ensures you are confident and positive, making informed career choices.
Carol loves working with mums returning to work, professional career transitions and outplacement coaching. She specialises in developing quality resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and helping to design a tailored and targeted job search strategy.
Carol Erkes is a founding member of the FlexCareers panel of career and executive coaches. You can contact her through her FlexCoach profile here
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