Starting A New Career?

My daughter just graduated from college with a business degree.  As a serial entrepreneur, and the son of an entrepreneur, it's been an interesting challenge to help her think through "career choices" as she launches into this ever-changing work world.

Before I talk about how to pick a career, we need to acknowledge that "career" is possibly an outdated, or at least changing, concept.  Career implies structure and reliability.  In today's economy, I think it's more appropriate for most to operate as a mercenary with a certain set of skills (think Liam Neeson in “Taken”) to be employed throughout your work life. Mike Myatt once pointed out that the word career has French roots meaning "road or track", implying a pre-defined route (or even routine) one is supposed to follow. However, it's clear that the days of working in a single company for 30 years and retiring with a gold watch are over.  I don't know who reneged on this implied deal between employer and employee first, but to quote  a recent Secretary of State "what difference, at this point, does it make?"

Of course, there are fields that lend themselves to specialized career thinking such as law, medicine, engineering, science, etc.  I get that, but for the majority, the opportunity ahead seems scary and overwhelming when leaving college.

Preparing To Launch

Picking a career before you pick your first apartment is a cruel set-up…a lot like picking a major before your first day of class.  Unless you have a clear calling or conviction to a certain field, I recommend consuming as much leadership, business and marketing wisdom as you can find while (and if ) you pursue your degree. As John Maxwell says, “everything rises and falls on leadership”. Skills can be taught; work ethic and character (key topics in leadership development) will set you up for success. Business classes teach you the basics of commerce and capitalism (hopefully your college mentioned the benefits of capitalism!). OR pick a broad skill that can be broadly applied. I'd avoid humanities, anthropology, archeology, etc.  Unless you just like the personal discovery and incubation process college provides and have a real plan (or benefactor) to pay for that luxury.

Time To Launch

As Stephen Covey would say in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “Begin with the End in Mind, envision what you want in the future so that you know concretely what to make a reality.” In agreement with Covey, you should launch your work career (let's agree we can still call it that) with the end in mind.

A successful career has three main ingredients:

1. Join a growing industry or sector. In the digital age, entire industries are being replaced with new ones.  Make sure you pick an industry that has a future and is somewhat impervious to, or has already reckoned with,  global outsourcing, regulation, and the impacts of the web on brick and mortar. I've managed to stay in mobile communications for most of my career, though I dabbled in other fields just to convince myself that the grass truly is not greener. To quote a Warren Buffet investment strategy, "Get in an industry that is growing and stay there."
2. Find a role that fits your strengths.  Through trial and error and self-awareness, each of us can become clear on where our strengths lie.  Finding your “strength zone” is a huge part of job satisfaction and personal purpose.  I blog about this (here)
3. Organize your work to fit your lifestyle.  With modern technology and work arrangements it is possible to define your work in a way that puts a priority on the lifestyle you want to live. No doubt, there are trade-offs when we choose to filter our job opportunities based on our lifestyle preferences.  Remember one of the basic principles of intentional growth - if you don't know what you want, the chances of it just showing up in your life are basically zero.

Securing these 3 components of a great career requires time and intentionality. Begin with the end in mind, but remember it's the END, not the "beginning". When we launch, we often don't have the luxury of being overly picky in any of these three areas. Over time, if you are a leader and add value in every capacity you serve, you will earn the right to select, dare I say demand, all three.

Go get 'em.

Question:  What would you put on your list of priorities in building a great work life?