The Basics of a Successful Career

In it for the long haul?… why good preparation matters…

We all were 21 once and the indestructible to the world! I can’t count the amount of stupid things done by myself, which have been written off to experience. How any of us get through our younger years is a miracle in itself as the learnt lessons from these years spell out a hard fact! If we don’t prepare in these years for a sustainable career, we will not have one!

So, still in reflection, a brief yet candid reflection of my own twenty something experiences:

A)   Staying fit = Good move

B)   Joining the Army = Good move

C)   Studying Finance = Good move, could have being better

D)   Not embracing my passion after the Army = bad move

E)   Not developing my networking skills = bad move

F)    Not thinking long term career satisfaction = bad move

G)   Not doing a degree that stirs my passion = bad move

So laid bare, one can see how hindsight is definitely 20/20 vision and that its difficult to make a decision in the present, especially when you have just turned 20 and feeling larger than life itself!

I would like to share a story from a course I did after launching my second career in Finance back in the day when the Celtic tiger was roaring for all of Ireland! I was at a life-skills seminar by Ian McClean & Partners and Ian himself shared a great story about a President of a Merchant Bank who was in attendance at one of his courses. When finished the course presentation, the President of the Bank approached Ian and thanked him for the hearty presentation, which he found impressive. He especially liked the analogy of the career ladder against the wall, where you climb it one step at a time. He said that his father was also a President of a Merchant and made him join the bank as a Clerk with no perks or favours done for him. He went into the bank, worked hard and climbed the ladder like everyone else, one step at a time until some decades later; he reached the very top of the ladder! It was only at that time did he realise the ladder was not facing the right wall! Imagine a lifetime of work, success and acclaim with no intrinsic reward for the impact you have made on society? A life’s work spent on a hollow success??

As a youngster, we would argue that “well didn’t the banker get well paid for his troubles?” Sure he did, but money itself is not what makes us happy, it provides a medium for living. Currency is a means to travel life’s path, nothing more. Thing is, if you do your planning and stay committed to your happiness, you can get paid doing what you love, which is a win win!! You win by getting paid doing that you love and your employer wins by having a better and more committed professional working for the company. Society also wins by the increased positive impact given the “good cultural fit” of the employee to the role and organisation.

So, if I could go and do it again, I would change nothing! We all have regrets, no matter how perfect our plans are! Life tends to work on net outcomes with plenty of crests and valleys along its path. That said, there are things folks may want to think about now that will impact their future either way.

Passion – find out what interests you. Use social media to research your areas of interests and keep on going until passion is stirred in an occupation and/or discipline. Don’t think of it in best earning class, think of it in what makes you happy class!

Keep fit – fitness assumed is fitness lost in later years. Stay fit whilst young and it will stand to you in years to come. Develop a lifestyle of keeping fit through exercise, running/field sports and walking. Stay active always!

College – College is a must for charting your career path! Getting a degree will give you more flexibility than without it. A 25 year old genius with a secondary school education, an IQ of 160 and a coding ability that would make Steve Wozniak jealous will not get his CV/Resume past HR in most major technology companies; but the Philosophy degree holder, who partied through college will have a CV that gets an interview! Degrees matter regardless of what path you take! Try to marry your degree major to an occupation you are passionate about!

Networking – 80% of all major decisions in management are made based on the confidence of those presenting according to a McKinsey Institute study I read a few years ago. Networking consistently through meetup.com and social media is a great place to start to polish and practice your networking skills and build an active network for yourself that will last the pace of time! In technology, it’s estimated that over 90% of software hires in junior roles are done from personal networks. Networking will increase your career prospects, potential and effective development over the course of your career, the more you network, the more successful you will be!

All that said, whilst now is the time to be doing the above, make sure it’s all being done to support a direction that you love! If you love what you are doing, you will be happier and the world needs more happy professionals in love with their roles! Why not be that guy today! I will join you are the happy bar as I start my third career in technology and am loving every minute!

           

Sources/Credits:

Pics;

www.unsplash.com

www.businessinsurance.org

www.careers.answers.com

www.njstatelib.org

Credits;

Course by Ian McClean & Partners was delivered to the Irish Institute of Credit Management, which I then attended as an active member.  Ian McClean & Partners  

Yulia Vambold for the feature picture on unsplash.com

Self-Actualisation, love your life!

Self-actualisation comes with a price… is it in $$$ or just finding yourself?

I remember watching an interview with Marshall Bruce Mathers III aka ‘Eminem’. He was asked if he was relieved as a successful artist that he no longer has to worry about the poverty issues he endured from his early years. He said “while you do not have to worry about money any more… all you really do is trade one set of problems for another”. His insights are consistent with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs of which self actualisation is at the top. So if a Rap star has such insight, do we also posses similar insight into ourselves or are we a little more adrift then we realise in our ‘raison d'être’?

Great professionals are passionate about what they do and all passion comes from our centre of gravity that is our ‘reason for being’, our ‘raison d’ être’ if you will. Our ‘raison d’ être’ houses our values, our beliefs and our interests in a seem-less structure that motivates us to reach for the stars should we dream it so. So how can we harness this and realign our lives to what will see us happy?

Fortitude. One needs to be sure they are lacking in self-fulfilment as a human being, before calling and committing their energy, strength and resources to change.

Honest Self Reflection. Be sure to be honest with yourself as you will be the sole benefactor of truly knowing what lies in your own heart, thus able to see where passion can be found from within. Without this, there is no compass to direct us to happy outcomes in life.

Understand the outcome to begin. Lao Tzu said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. I submit that we also need to make sure it is in the right direction. When we find something that stirs our passion; research, testing and insights from established professionals in the area are of paramount importance. Tragedy occurs when our hearts are broken by simple misunderstandings on what we thought something was ‘V’ what actually is.

New Direction ‘V’ Old Values. When we make change, we leave allot behind on the way despite our intention to bring our “transferrable skills” with us. We leave experiences and expertise on the shelf to expand ourselves by engaging our passion in change for our new professional direction. It’s important for sustainable change in our lives to be rooted in that centre of gravity that is our raison d’ être. Without it, we risk conflicts with what lies there such as our values, our beliefs and our inner peace. Without synergies established with these elements within us, we will struggle more in our new profession and never truly find happiness, which rests upon self-fulfilment and actualisation. If we listen to our inner voice in self-reflection, we increase our chances of success in just about anything we do that is aligned to our raison d’ être.

Knowing our course and direction in life, our need to be happy through self-actualisation, should be considered a given, so what’s next?

Harness the passion. Structure passion to purpose and it will drive you forward with impressive energy. Make this your presence in the world.

Feel a single purpose. Commitment can be felt. Feel it through your passion for your new direction as a single purpose, a single cause in your life. Feel pride when asked, “What do you do?” The reward lies in the two golden words of reply “I am…”.

Draw from the past, don’t let the past draw from you. My dear old mother once told me that being able to let go of bitter experience and become better by learning the lessons it teaches for the future is a real plus in change.

Be flexible. We all become settled in our comfort zones. To reach a better place, we need to become happy outside of our comfort zones and be willing to never stop learning and growing as individuals as much as professionals. Be brave, be flexible and you will enable success to visit you on your journey.

Plan a direction only. Avoid detailed planning for your career change as you will become bogged in the plan’s detailed points, which inevitably will be conflicting with life and it’s changing goal posts. My own career change plan is simple and in a few lines: “(Research+Testing+Validation)+Plans/(College+SoftwareDev+Networking*2+CompScience+JobSearch+DevelopmentProjects+Progression)==Happiness."

Loving what you do is not just a tagline for the ages, it’s a way to live your life, so deep thought now can direct or redirect your life to greener pastures that you would never think possible on any given day. By truly recognising our own raison d’ être, we embrace our values, beliefs and inner qualities fuelling our passion for the direction we want to take in life. By travelling a road to self-fulfilment and meaningful contributions to the world we all share in, we make a better tomorrow by our efforts today! Not a bad start, middle and end, don’t you agree?

Sources/Credits:

Pics;

www.vccaugus.org

www.free-to-be.net

www.lifechoicememphis.org

www.socyberty.com

www.thesexywallpapers.com

http://publicdomainarchive.com/public-domain-images/page/14/

Credits;

“Public Domain”

Career paths... what happens when a crises hits yours?

From Redundancy to Rehire? Make your choice your own!

When I was a twenty something, I scoffed at the idea that when you reach your thirties, you could get kicked to the curb for being too expensive to retain as an employee! Little did I know that it is a fact of business life! Many businesses actively seek to employ a cost centric approach to talent retention thus seeking to shed expensive employees they do not consider “critical” to their business and those unlucky enough to be considered expendable are let go normally through the redundancy process.

So, what to do? How do we navigate career breaks especially when spurned by either redundancy or indeed a ‘mid life crises’ where one becomes unbearably unhappy in their career?

Acceptance is key. Without a clear understanding of yourself, your work life satisfaction and your current position of being made redundant or needing a new career to save your sanity, you will not be successful in any change effort.

Passion lost is passion waiting to be found. Steve Job’s once said “don’t settle, follow your heart” and when you are at a mid career cross roads; you need to think about what makes you happy. Find that occupation, which stirs your passion for work and you will find your direction in life.

Planning is essential. Don’t assume you will get a job in a month, curtail all unnecessary expenditure immediately and make your personal budgetary plans viable but ridged as to support your plans for the future in a realistic manner.

Research the market to understand how it works, what is effective and what tools are effective such as social media for job searching and show casing skills and expertise through blogging and social media engagement.

Research your career of choice; do not assume any 3^rd party will do it for you. It’s your life and your success depends on you more then you think. Bad circumstances only get good through persistence, intelligent thought leadership and planned actions. Be sure those efforts are driving you on the road you want to be on, rather then the road you find yourself on.

Don’t assume, verify. It’s nothing short of a tragedy when a seasoned professional assumes its too costly or risky to become X when you were Y for so long. Change your outlook to “how can I make this happen”? This will allow thinking outside of the box, maybe downsizing personal expenses and taking a lower level role in Y, which can free you up to study and enact a transition plan to X? It will not be possible if you assume it cannot be done!

Beware of a stale mind! For those unhappy in their careers, plan your career change in your job and don’t throw in your resignation until you have a transition plan that is financially and operationally viable. For those unluckily made redundant, you are at risk over time of slowing up mentally, so why not temporarily replace your work routines/actions with new actions to create a daily and weekly mental routine.  We ignore our minds at our peril so when risk is elevated in unemployment, why not try to pear the mental pencil by doing mental exercises (IQ workout tests) which are available on Mensa’s official website at http://www.mensa.org/workout.php and on an independent website at http://www.mensa-test.com. This along with keeping fit, relaxation exercises like yoga and/or meditation will complete a mental sharpness package that should address the issue of stale mind keeping you ready to ‘hit the ground running’ in a new job.

Plan in stages. The only easy day in a career change is yesterday, so plan your educational and work strategies in a manner flexible enough to cover what’s needed in skills, employability and certification, yet be responsive to opportunities that you uncover in your search for a new career and job. Good planning will always see a critical path logically assembled in stages giving you the ability to complete tasks necessary for the completion of follow on tasks to advance your overall career change strategy. In tandem to these critical path tasks, have contingency plans ready should a job arise in your experienced field rather then your desired “new field” of work. Are your educational plans flexible enough to accommodate such an opportunity?

With the right plan and commitment, all career changes are possible; from a current job to the long-term unemployment register, you can bring happiness back into real time focus. Where there is life, there is hope… never give up on your dream, which is ultimately to be happy!

Source/Credits:

Pics:

www.blog.resumebear.com

www.ventures-africa.com

www.artbistro.monster.com