How to be the CEO of your career?

We all spend a lot of time learning for our formal degrees and our disciplines of study (science, technology, engineering, management, arts, and humanities) throughout the first phase of our careers. However, there are two things that are never taught formally at schools or colleges. We are expected to learn them as we go by trial and error. One of these is Financial education and the other one is Career Management. Sometimes it may be too late to undo certain events if we let our career happen to us and we are on auto-pilot. 

The World of employment has undergone a paradigm shift in the last decade and greater changes are imminent due to the COVID crisis. Companies are no longer keen to invest in their staff knowing that the average employee is not going to be staying in the job for a period of ten years like the previous generations of employees did. We do NOT even know if the companies will last that long. We live in a time of great uncertainty and the only thing constant is CHANGE. Companies need people that can add value to their business immediately and the onus on developing and building one’s skills is now on the employee. The two trends that will accelerate this skill development responsibility are the gig economy and remote working. Over the next ten to twenty years, we will see a fundamental shift in the relationship between companies and their staff. 

We are all going to be living longer and that means we cannot retire at sixty-five anymore like the earlier generations. The current generation of students and early career professionals are expected to work for fifty years- all the way into their seventies. The traditional three-stage life of study, work, and retirement is changing rapidly giving way to a multi-stage life where there are more possibilities and complexities to explore and manage. 

Source: L. Gratton and A. Scott, “The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity” (London: Bloomsbury, 2016)

People are changing jobs much more frequently and discovering their interests later in life. They are changing industries, functions, and even geographies during their five decades-long career. How does one prepare for this career marathon and cultivate the toolkit and courage to navigate this journey successfully? 

Figure: Illustration of a sample career in a multi-stage life. Includes many more stages and career pivots compared to the traditional careers

Drawing on cutting edge research from the fields of management, positive psychology, organizational behavior, and practical experiences of successful individuals across various sectors, we have created a course to empower you with the arsenal needed to head into the job markets of the future.

With a mix of tactical and strategic frameworks to help you get most of the present and plan for the future. This course will give you the confidence and toolkit to become the architect of your career. Using this knowledge, you will be able to navigate your work life seamlessly while taking care of your personal life. The emphasis on happiness and sustainability is a key differentiator of the course as we believe that to win the career marathon in the long term, one needs to take care of their mind, body, relationships, and personal finance. Many people who do not take a long term perspective on careers run too fast and burn out in the first leg of the race. It is not about sprinting hard but pacing yourself to constantly keep progressing. 

We would love to hear your thoughts on career planning:

1. Do you have a clear vision for your career?
2. Do you agree that your 'Career is a marathon, not a sprint'?
3. What steps have you taken towards your career management?

Unfortunately, most of us learn about career planning and management by making mistakes and learning as we progress in our careers. This comes at a significant cost of time, opportunities, and money. We know that we would have benefited from a course like this when we were finishing college. Invest in learning about your career now and avoid all the massive costs in the future.  

If you have wondered, "How can I find my passion, my sense of purpose and meaning in work-life?" then this course will be able to provide you with the tools to unlock the right answers. 

We will cover queries regarding MS or MBA, in India or abroad but with a broader holistic approach so that you are NOT blindly collecting degrees just for the sake of it. For the more entrepreneurially motivated among you, we will also show how you can do this successfully during school and in a financially sustainable manner. Understanding risk and managing it sensibly to any career path you are willing to explore is also something you will learn. 

Who is the course for:

• Undergraduate students: first-year onwards pursuing engineering, sciences, social science, and humanities 
• Students considering MS, MBA and higher education in India and/or abroad 
• Early career professionals with less than 5 years of working experience 
• Anybody else that is interested in actively managing their career and keen to explore methods of doing so 

Please see more details about the course curriculum here