Building upon the article I published in January 2022 titled Be restlessly patient & take control of your career journey, and based on the feedback and interest I received on the topic, I've initiated a series of follow-on articles to extend details on the different career aspects I've introduced in the first article. The aim is to make the career aspects as clear as possible; providing pointers and examples where applicable, in order to make them actionable, allowing you to plan and track the different activities against them easily going forward.
In this article I'll introduce the Give-back career aspect. In my first article titled Be restlessly patient & take control of your career journey, I've briefly introduced this career aspect as follows:
A major part of growing in our careers is to widen our circle of influence, we gain skills and build expertise, which we need to pay forward and give back to others in our paths. This includes, but is not limited to, aspects that promote diversity, inclusion, mental and physical health to our colleagues.
To further clarify what the Give-back career aspect is all about,?it’s about how you as an individual, put in the time and effort to help the community around you in various manners. This includes, though not limited to:
- mentoring, coaching, sponsoring activities, where you exert effort and put in the time to help others in your cirlce.
- Speaking/presenting in conferences and other events.
- Being an educator, instructor of facilitator of different learning events and workshops.
- Participating in volunteer communities and external organizations and entities (which would be specific to your domain).
- Engaging and working with under-represented, diverse and minority groups.
- Being active in forums and communities of practice and interests.
- Outreach to undergraduates in schools and colleges.
Moving next into how to engage in the Give-back career aspect.?
- Make the time! I am a firm believer that the most precious gift you can give, is your time and attention. It’s easy to get sucked up in the day-to-day job responsibilities, and not find time to give-back. Consider this as one of your priorities and make the time for it. Recognize the benefits of it to you and to others.
- Connect with your mentors, coaches and colleagues regularly to find opportunities where you can collaborate together on give-back activities. I used to do this especially at the start. I would pair up with people in my network for sessions, or leading initiatives, especially as I learn the ropes. Besides, it usually is more fun and more impactful when you do give-back activities in groups.
- Be vigilant and inquisitive, don’t let situations and incidents around you pass unnoticed; always question how things can be made better for people around you.
A few additional tips for the Give-back career aspect:
- A major part of growing in our careers is to widen our circle of influence,?and give-back is one very influential avenue to have this impact.
- There is absolutely no seniority level mandate to give back; time, effort and passion are the main currency.
- Find your passion in give-back and aim to work towards a higher cause. For instance, for me personally, supporting women in the IT field is my passion, and with this being my focus, I could always find new and innovative ways to work towards this goal.
- Start small, as with everything else, when you get a taste or feel for something by doing smaller activities, it’ll come naturally afterwards, and especially as your passion towards it grow.
As to why the Give-back career aspect is important and how it links to other career aspects:
- It widens your Networking & visibility, which in turn can increase odds to find more and better Opportunities to excel.
- It increased your rapport with your existing Mentors & sponsors, as well as open you for the opportunity of linking with even more mentors and sponsors.
- Definitely strengthens your Domain of expertise, as you give-back in your areas of expertise, so you’d be recognized as a leader in the domain.
- Note that IP, IC, publications is a specialized form of Give-back, so doing the former counts as both.
- When you promote and post about your give-back activities, it helps boost your Social eminence and encourage people to engage and do give-back themselves. So you have a more positive impact on the community.
- As you engage in give-back activities, you have more chances to receive Awards & recognition, as often the criteria include having been heavily vested in give-back to the community around you.
With that, it should be clearer now what the Give-back career aspect is all about, how you can engage in it, and why it's important for your career.
This concludes the unfurling of the tenth and final career aspect in the Restless patience in career journeys series!
