Career Transition Tips # 3; Know Thyself Before Choosing Right Career
In this five articles series, we have
already explored the value of accepting the change of uniform from military to
corporate( click here) and the overwhelming benefits of starting early for our
career transition ( click here). In this third article, which is also written in
the logical sequence of events during transition, we will understand what all
we need to know about our-self and what is the value in doing some homework on ourself before we move onto finding the suitable career path for our
second innings.
While many will contest this
need of knowing our-self with the statement that you've been living with
yourself all life and no body knows you better than yourself and therefore, you don’t require any discovery of
yourself. The fact is that we don’t understand to the fullness who we are and what
skills we have to offer. Many a times we would have come across so many veterans who switch from one industry domain to another on the pretext that a particular
industry doesn't suit their requirements, however they fail to first identify three issues i.e
what do they like the most, what best they have to offer and which domain
aligns the most with the first two requirements. The most suited industry for a person will have an environment and work requirement which is most align with skills and preferences of that person. Therefore, before we explore the web for the
various career options, It’s mandatory that we do homework on our self. So what
does this homework entails and how best we can do it? The answer to this
question can possibly be found in answers to a
set of these five questions:-
Ø Do
you know your soft skills and hard or work content skills?
Ø What
you want to do for the rest of your life? Do you feel that you don’t want to
join any hierarchical structure and you feel comfortable with independent work
without any external interference? or Do you feel comfortable with hierarchical
structure of the corporate organisations?
Ø Do you know which work you like, and which you don’t
and what are your favorite working conditions- team member/independent or
isolation, field work/indoor work, geographical location such as
urban/semi-urban/rural, weather condition in terms of cold/warm and so on ?
Ø Are
you a go –getter or you generally work at your own pace without time constrains?
Ø Do
you look forward to a busy, responsible and progressive career or you want a easy
workplace having time for yourself and your family? Do you want to earn lots of
money or you are happy with a limited amount?
Once you will sit down to write
answers to these questions, you will find that each question has raised many
more sub questions to be answered before you find answer to any one of the
above mentioned five. If you find answer to the first question “ Do you know
your soft and hard skills”, you will come across questions such as what have I done
till now , what are my strengths and weaknesses, which areas I have expertise in,
which all transferable skills I have and so many other logical questions. Therefore, it’s a
comprehensive exercise in itself before we know which career path is the most
suitable path for us. It’s only when we have done this
exercise on our personality, skills, interests and liabilities that we can
move forward to finding which career option is most suitable and which one is least. A career councelling can help you in self assessment and in finding the right career in your transition (click here)
Other related Articles
Listen to your heart in choosing your career
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