Where's My Career Headed?

I have asked myself this question several times in the course of my career and rightly so, it’s a question we should all ask ourselves at regular intervals in addition to the ‘job selfie’ concept we raised in the last post...

Career Management, as defined by a CIPD report in 2011 defined it as ‘planning and shaping the progression or movement of individuals within an organization by aligning employee preferences, talent and potential with organizational resourcing needs both now and in the future’.

The key considerations have been highlighted but for me the real crux of the matter is the deliberate attempt to shape the progressive movement within and outside the organization and the question of determining who ultimately bears the responsibility. The definition also supports the fact that there must be an alignment between what employees want or aspires for in his/her career to the current and future aspirations of the organization which ultimately drives employee engagement.

Let’s attempt to examine the relevant questions both parties should consider;

Corporate Organizations.

It’s high time we stopped paying lip service to the issues of Employee Engagement as it relates to Career Management. This should be a top line agenda at the highest level of authority within the organization, bearing in mind the changing nature of Talents in and out of our workforce i.e increasing number of Millennials, the challenge with diversity management, high cost of recruitment and managing attrition, shrinking margins and competition etc.

Different surveys done overtime by different firms to check the pulse of organizations, per time, has always affirmed the fact that more forward thinking organizations are going beyond the mere provision of work and good compensation packages but, are also consistently re-inventing the wheels to create and sustain that alignment between overall corporate goals and the career aspirations of their key talents. They are not just selling the vision of increased revenues and growth but, also showing how each employee fits into the same grand plan.

The Individual.

• Have you ever tried to see yourself in the 5 – 10 year corporate strategy of the organization where you’re working now?
• How does that affect your job and future plans… where do you need to up your game in readiness?
• Where am I and how did I get here?
• Is it time I asked for a role change within the same organization to help further enrich my work experience?

Some people have happened to find themselves on their current careers paths and vice versa without any prior plan or purpose. However, while some have remained undecided on where to go from there, some have followed the school of thought that whatever is doing at all is worth doing well, taken the bull by the horn and have gone on to further develop themselves in that path.

Now those who complained, and are still complaining, about “finding” themselves in their current jobs/careers, have a tendency to escalate the levels of complaints and even move on to holding the “system” responsible for their current situations. Eventually, they become extinct and obsolete leading to performance issues.

You can start this personal journey to achieving career success by practicing the following:

• Determine what really gets you ticking, keeps you alive and ignites your passion. Once this has been identified (though this takes a lot of work and soul searching), dig deeper into the areas where your passion can be applied, most especially with the focus of solving problems (an entirely different discussion for another day). You can also take up projects and initiatives outside the immediate work environment as volunteers. The fire/joy gotten from such can then be brought back into the workplace.
• Research and study industry trends to ascertain current and future skill requirements of your current job and even other areas you are considering for a possible switch in the near future. It’s very important we consistently update our knowledge of the jobs we hold at the moment, compare notes with friends who handle similar roles in other industries and just basically explore areas needing improvement. This demands that we pay attention to building our professional network as well. Do lengthy, detailed and relevant studies on the focus area you want to explore, identifying pitfalls to avoid, as well as latch on to the success stories and lessons of predecessors in the field.
• There’s always a place for Personal development. Aduloju Babatunde Lanre of SHORTLIST NIGERIA referred to it as dying discipline. Kindly read up his post ‘The Dying Discipline of Personal Development’ on his LinkedIn page. Successful careers are built over time by people who take out time to find out what their passions are, align same with job and career goals and follow through with long term/stretchy development goals along the same path.
• Embrace Technology….it has a dual effect on the general job debate. While we’ve witnessed such explosion in IT since the dot.com avalanche, we cannot rule out the number of jobs and careers that have simply gone into extinction as a result as well.

Additional comments please…