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What do you feel is the first most important step in personal career management? Why?
I feel that the most important step in personal career management is to be honest with myself about my values.
I have drastically shifted my priorities in the last two years, to where my family and personal time are more important than climbing the corporate ladder. This course has helped me realize that it's ok to not want to continue to strive to be at the top and that I can sculpt my current position to better align with my values. I may not be making as much money but I will still be challenged, make a meaningful contribution to my work, and still be able to honor my value of spending time with my family. Ultimately, I am in control of managing my career!
I also find that when I write out my goals I can better visualize them and the path to them. I learned something new about myself when I asked my peers about their opinion of my future with the company. It seems there are some jobs that they believe that I would be a good math that I hadn't considered for myself.
Cappriccieo,
I completely agree with you that this is definitely the most important step in owning your own career.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I think it is very important to have an idea of what you enjoy doing. Personal goals are a good start too. Once you figure out what you truly enjoy, you can list some goals you want to accomplish and research how to get to where you want to be, then base your goals on that.
The most important step for me in personal career management is looking inward. Only I can know what would truly make me happy in a career. I am going through a change right now on looking at my core values and have been doing a lot of personal work on this with a career coach. I do encourage anyone in this stage to talk to a coach and ask friends and family for excellent sources of information about yourself.
Overall, I think the first and most important step is knowing yourself. This is the only way to actually be successful. Otherwise, you are not able to accomplish your goals.
Wayne,
this is a great summary of the change across life. I would say there is a time & place, especially in our youth, when it's okay to focus on the paycheck. We usually have more debts to pay & there's value in getting that perspective.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Understanding your key interest and making sure it aligns with your skill set.
I believe it's important to clearly know and identify your interest so you may be able to apply it to your personal career. Clearly identifying your interest will ensure you select a career path that is enlightening, beneficial, and rewarding to you in the long run. Having this align with your skill set will not only guarantee an rewarding career path but one that you'll be successful in.
I will honestly say my response to this question changed over the many years of working in the field. First, upon college graduation with the world at your fingertips, its all about growth and money. Doesn't matter if you like your job as long as you earning a paycheck. As the career settles in, lifestyle matters, family matters and yes - enjoying what you do matters.
Work experience is a great driver for career mgmt. Find your niche, assess your skill, manage the challenge element, and determine future training/education needs and go for it! So the first step is identify where you want to be. Be honest with yourself and prepare yourself wit the education/skill required. Also, find your passion!
Maritza,
this is a great summary & a great reminder that we should not allow anyone (including ourselves) to lock us in to any one career.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
My opinion the very first step in any career development move is to find out what motivates you, what inspires you, and what your passion is in life. From that point you can decide on different avenues to take and ask lots of questions along the way, network, and be open to change. What's important to me at age 20 would be very different at age 30 and 40 and so therefore it is extremely important to include flexibility and creativity in the lifelong development plan.
I think the first step is to weigh the pros and cons of your career. Once you have identified those you can then start to assess the direction you want to move toward. You can also assess the cons and look for ways to alleviate some of the uncertainty that comes with dislike of a career. Reach out to mentors who have the same uncertainty and seek advise.
Jayson,
this is an excellent point, yet make sure you are confident in a new position before jumping ship.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I would say is find what you like to do. If you are miserable at your job and don't like what you are passionate about then find something that you are passionate about and go after that profession.
Jenny,
so true & while there will always be parts of any job that aren't the most exciting, I should be doing something that I truly love.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I think the first most important step in personal career management is determining what interests you. Spending about 40 hours per week doing your job can be very tedious and draining especially if you dislike what you're doing. Feeling drained will also prevent you from performing well, which can lead to unpleasant outcomes for you and your employer.
But if you do something that interests/excites you, then 'working' won't have a negative connotation to it. It will make 'working' a lot easier and pleasant for both parties. And I think that once you have that positive attitude, the other aspects will fall into place.
Michael,
yes, this is one of the best pieces of advice that we can cling to in these situations.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
discover what motivates you so that your carrer choice is something you enjoy doing and not a job.
Vicki,
This is great advice & if you do accept the status quo you will become disengaged in your work.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.