The word “path” is often taken as a metaphor that career development is a straight and narrow track that ends in a predetermined destination. It is as if in order to have a successful career, there is a fixed recipe with exact measures of ingredients to follow and thus great results are guaranteed.
Well, career growth is not a baking endeavour.
It is anything but straight
Perhaps it was during our college time that we were introduced to the idea that the path from education to dream job is a straight line. Our well-meaning educators encouraged us to pick a lane, earn a practical degree and get a job. From there, we should work hard and over the years, climb the career ladder at our company. But in reality, we do not always transition from junior level to mid-level then to senior level and live happily ever after. In fact, it is rare that the direction we take when we start our career stays on the same course.
Building a career is a gradual process, sometimes opportunistic, and for sure full of twists and turns. There are even times when we feel that we are veering away from our target. Getting to the dream job can mean taking one step back to eventually take two steps forward. It can also mean changing careers entirely. And the tough part is, none of this guarantees success.
It is not a narrow track
Also in college, we learn to specialize. If we choose to study chemical engineering, we rarely get into literature and if we choose to study literature, we do not get to experiment in chemistry labs. But at work, regardless of industry or role, we will eventually have to learn skills that are common and necessary across a range of careers. These include critical thinking, problem solving, people management and communication, just to name a few. Once we acquire these skills, we will start to recognize general patterns by which companies operate and such skills will boost our abilities to manage cross-functionally.
Avoiding narrow track means to be less focused on job titles and more on building a portfolio of skills with common threads. While on the surface this collection of skills may look scattered, a closer look will reveal some similarities that paint a clearer theme, corresponding to our career interests. Not all of them will be useful immediately; some will be valuable somewhere down the line, just not now.
It is never ending
Instead of a path with a definitive destination, career development is a constant loop of learning, unlearning and relearning. It is always transient, every milestone is a transition, even within the same job. The twists and turns keep us fresh because we acquire new skills, meet new people and attain new experiences. Taking a few unexpected turns is not necessarily bad, in fact, it can lead to destinations that we might not have known existed before.
Life is a never-ending process, too, when we think about it. Hence, it is only natural that we continue learning and growing throughout our career. The process will not always be fun. Failure is part of the process, and it is inevitable. It takes resilience. This is how we make discoveries and gain new insights about ourselves.
Think ahead
Nowadays it is common that career development involves some kinds of transformations rather than clear advancement down a given path. Half the battle is planning and plotting for future success, always aiming to get closer to the career aspiration we have. Therefore, it is important to always think ahead. If necessary, two jobs ahead.
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