Make your job skill-oriented, not sector-oriented

Many people go through career dilemmas and sometimes that could be very challenging indeed, if hard choices are to be made between job of interest and job of advantage.

A smarter option would be to make our job skill-oriented and not sector-oriented. That might sound foolish considering how could a microbiologist for 10 years suddenly change his career option and become a hockey player? That can never happen but my argument rests on taking our roles seriously than our sector. With this approach, there are multiple advantages.

Firstly, as a Research Uptake and Communications Officer of a health research based organization, I will start thinking on how best I can contribute in the field of Research Uptake and Communications than in the health sector. I will not think about whether national adolescent and sexual health program has been successful or not. Rather, I will spend more time how to produce good policy briefs to encourage government officials in spending more in adolescent and sexual health sector. This will help me polish my expertise thereby also benefiting the organization as I will contribute more in my expected role. Also, it will stop me from deviating from my major responsibility.

Secondly, if I opt for another job, my asset would more be the skills I possess rather than the organization I previously worked with. In that regard, I will create a value for myself which nobody could take away from me.

Such an approach could really be made practical in our day-to-day work simply be remembering what sorts of duties and responsibilities we are expected to perform in our organization. The moment we start thinking in that fashion, we automatically make our job skill oriented and erasing the burden of the sector we work in.

When Harsha Bhogle, academically trained in management becomes a celebrated cricket commentator, it should not be difficult to understand that it is all about the skills and not the sector!