Driving your career or just along for the ride?

What if you were suddenly given an expensive car to drive, but you didn’t know how?

This is the kind of situation many individuals find themselves in a few years into their careers. They are suddenly told they need to take charge of their careers—i.e., drive their careers forward—but they lack the skills to do so.

In India, most people are told, “Your life will be set once you graduate.” So, you follow the given path: schooling > graduation > job in a field you studied.

Our education system doesn’t teach us how to take charge of our careers. Therefore, creating more awareness about how people can actively shape their careers is important.

A recent session I conducted, titled "Own Your Career," was focused on building this very skill. I spoke to a group of women about how they can take control of their career paths.

Some of the questions I asked them were:

• “What are your career drivers? Do you actively consider them when choosing your next role?”
• “What would you like your career to look like in the next five years?”
• “What are your current skills, and how many of them are applicable to alternative roles?”

Most of the participants, with 5–20 years of experience, shared that they had never actively answered these questions for themselves—and here I was asking them to do so every 2–3 years!

When we take charge of our careers, we don’t need to wait for the annual appraisal to assess our achievements and consider new opportunities. Instead, we drive those conversations.

When you have clarity about what you want your career to look like, you can start planning the necessary steps in the short to medium term.

If you resonate with the participants from my session, I encourage you to answer these questions for yourself:

• “What do I want my career to look like in five years?” Don’t just write a title—think about the type of work environment you want, whether you want to lead a team, etc.
• “Where are you today in relation to these goals?”
• “What can you do to move toward these goals?” Consider who you can ask for help and what short-term actions you can take to get there.

Be the driver of this super expensive car called "Your Career"—and learn how to drive it too.

We all know what can happen when an expensive car is in the hands of an unskilled driver—a crash!

Founder & CEO

Lochan Narayanan