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Re-Careering At Any Age
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This does not mean
changing jobs or employers, it means changing careers!
Some people are changing careers out of necessity as work is outsourced,
automated, or compressed, while others are changing careers out of
preference. The "in" phrase is "Re-Careering."
Age is no longer an obstacle to doing whatever, within reason, you want
to do. The only reasonable limitation lies within your self concept:
afraid to fail, afraid to succeed, afraid what others will think, etc.
Ugh!
The key to Re-Careering is a combination of self-evaluation and being
in-charge.
My research and observations as a Human Resources Executive leads me to
believe there are five pivotal elements to help people take charge of
their career. These elements apply to several situations:
- Beginning a career but not sure if it is the right one;
- Feeling stuck in a present career and wondering about changing
or staying where you are;
- Wanting to change a career but not sure how or to what;
- Wanting to reinforce your decision to remain in a current
career;
- Transitioning from one career to the next such as from the
military to the civilian sectors;
- Wanting to retire but not sure what to do during retirement.
Knowing as much as you can about Re-Careering is imperative to your
success and happiness. Human Resource Recruiters actually apply these
five pivotal elements to candidates when they interview them, and so, it
makes sense that the person seeking to Re-Career should also apply the
same five pivotal elements whether you seek to join an organization as
an employee or be self-employed.
The purpose of this article is to share with you the five pivotal
elements of Re-Career success, to advise you how to maximize the chances
of your Re-Career success, and to give you a personal professional
example. I identify these five pivotal elements as the Five Sigma of
Success. They are: Interest, Competency, Motivation, Capability, and
Fit.
The first element is Interest. Most successful people love what
they do, even have a passion for it. When you are interested in what you
do, your dedication elevates and you want to learn more about it. You
love the process and the content. So, the first step to Re-Career
success is to find out more about your Interests. A way of identifying
your Interests is to identify activities you really enjoyed in the past,
what you enjoy doing in the present, and then to forecast your
Interests that will be appropriate in a future career. Most Interests
fall into categories such as Hands-On, Investigative, Social
Interaction, Risk-Taking, Structured, and Creative. So, think about what
you liked to do in the past, what you like to do now, and then place
your Interests in one or a few of these categories. Then ask yourself if
you want to do the same things you have been doing in the past and in
the present in the future, or do you want to do something different? How
can you leverage your past and present Interests into your future
Interests?
Competency is the second element. This means having the skill to
do things. You probably have many skills. Perform the same exercise from
above, but replace Interests with Competencies. Use the same
categories. For future success, you must couple what you love to do
(Interests) with what you are good at (Competencies). If you find
yourself not very good at what you say you want to do in the future you
will need to improve your skill in that area, or find something else
that you can be good at.
The third element is Motivation. You must have the fire in the
belly to do what you want to do, to withstand adversity, to find the
resources to help you reach your goals. It really means identifying your
intrinsic and/or extrinsic needs that must be met in order for you to
feel fulfilled, to be all that you want to be. When you are not sure
what motivates you, you just may fall for anything and be sorry for that
in the end. Perform the same exercise from above, but replace
Competencies with Motivation. By completing this third step, you are
putting the pieces of your Re-Careering puzzle together. You are moving
towards leveraging your Interests, Competencies, and Motivational Needs.
Capability is the fourth element. This means having the potential
to go beyond what you currently enjoy and do, to become better. In
other words, having the capacity to expand, to grow, and to be a life
long learner. Again, perform the same exercise as above, but replace
Motivation with Capabilities.
The fifth element is Fit. This is the trump card for Re-Career
Success, meaning that in spite of the other four elements present, Fit
cancels them if it is not present. Fit means finding the right
environment to support your Interests, Competencies, Motivation, and
Capabilities. Without the appropriate support and reward system in the
right environment, all bets are off for your Re-Career success. Again,
perform the same exercise from above, but replace Capabilities with Fit.
As a Human Resources Executive, I have discovered that when employees in
organizations fail it is often because they do not fit into the way
things are done in that particular organization. Have you ever heard,
"You just haven't signed on-board," "This just isn't the right place for
you," or "You really aren't compatible with how we do things around
here." This does not mean that the organization is necessarily
dysfunctional and the employee is Ok, or vice versa. This only means
that the relationship between the organization and the employee is not
suitable, not compatible, not a good fit.
As I have reviewed with you, a key to helping you Re-Career for success
is to uncover your Five Sigma of Success, by analyzing your past and
present, and then forecasting your future. Regardless of your age, you
have had the best teacher for analyzing yourself . your experiences in
life. You can tap into your experiences and leverage them for your
future Re-Career success.
I am not saying this is an easy process, but seeking answers to
questions such as the following are helpful. To uncover your Interests,
for example, you might ask yourself: "What did I really like doing when
I was younger, and why was that?" "What do I really like doing now, and
why is that?" "What do I really want to do in the future and why is
that?"
These three questions help you explore your past and present Interests
in order to help forecast what your future Interests might be. If your
past decisions brought you to where you are today, then it seems
reasonable that your present decisions can take you to where you want to
be in the future. I recommend you ask yourself similar questions for
the other four elements (Competencies, Motivation, Capabilities, and
Fit). The focus is to look at patterns and trends.
Now for the personal example. I have over twenty-five years in the Human
Resources field, and now I am currently on-faculty with the University
of Phoenix School of Business and Management. I am also a published
author. Before I started to professionally write, I believed I could not
write well because I was told by teachers that I could not write very
well, and that I was better served to study the sciences. So, I received
a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology. However, one day someone
challenged me to give up my false assumptions and to stop listening to
what others were saying. With some initial resistance, I took the
challenge. And as they say, "to make a long story short," I am the
author of two management books and six mystery novels. I am a frequent
radio and television host on the topic of career management, and I give
lectures on the topic of writing.
I leveraged my Five Sigma of Success.
You can be the best you want to be, but "if you don't know where you are
going, then any path will take you there." The key, then, if to find
you who you were in the past, who you are today, what you want to be in
the future, and build a pathway to get there
By: Antonio F. Vianna
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