How would you introduce yourself to you?
Self-motivated, eager to learn, hardworking and a team player, these are some of the common adjectives used in a lot of resumes (mine had them too). There are plenty of guidelines and articles on how to write a resume or how to introduce yourself to your future employer. In my opinion, there is a more important question that needs to be answered before all that; How would you introduce yourself to you?
I suspect that the answer to this question can tell a lot about the career path one should take. For example a quality control position is not a good fit for someone who loves change and exploring regardless of how "hard working, team-oriented and self-motivated" he is. Someone whose main value in life is spending time with their family should not put themselves in a path that requires a lot of travelling and relocation.
As obvious as this is, I have seen a lot of people make compromises for the sake of their career, a lot of which are somehow $ related. There is no doubt that money is an important factor and having a secure and growing income is desirable for almost everyone. Let's take a look at the fundamental principle of how we are paid. Wage systems value employees on their capability, their skills and knowledge, or what they actually do, their skills plus level of productivity. The more employees develop their skills the more they make. In such an ecosystem, it makes sense to pick high demand skills and develop them, right?
What if I'm developing skills that are only used in work environments that I absolutely hate. I might be 10 times better at something that I really enjoy doing. Research shows that employee satisfaction is a crucial drive for productivity [1]. What if I know something very well but I don't care enough about it to actually produce. What if I realize that what entertained me 5 years ago does not entertain me now. Your values and interests might change over the course of time and a good self reflection practice can help you a lot to manage your career [2 & 3].
Of course it is also important to think hard about the value of what you do. Not only the current value but also the value of your skills in future. The whole purpose of asking this question is to explore the core values in life and real interests before choosing a career path or keeping one.
How would you introduce yourself to you?
* The photo was taken by me last year in Courtenay BC. I was exploring this beautiful park and talking to a good friend of mine over the phone. He wanted to get my opinion on a decision he had to make for his career and I shared my perspective with him. He called me again couple weeks ago and mentioned that the talk we had was useful for him. This led me to think the concept might be worth sharing.
1. https://www.keepem.com/doc_files/clc_articl_on_productivity.pdf
3. https://www.colgate.edu/docs/d_alumni_career-services-for-alumni_toolkit/toolkit_ch-1_self-reflection.pdf?sfvrsn=0