Maritza,
this is a great summary & a great reminder that we should not allow anyone (including ourselves) to lock us in to any one career.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I will honestly say my response to this question changed over the many years of working in the field. First, upon college graduation with the world at your fingertips, its all about growth and money. Doesn't matter if you like your job as long as you earning a paycheck. As the career settles in, lifestyle matters, family matters and yes - enjoying what you do matters.
Work experience is a great driver for career mgmt. Find your niche, assess your skill, manage the challenge element, and determine future training/education needs and go for it! So the first step is identify where you want to be. Be honest with yourself and prepare yourself wit the education/skill required. Also, find your passion!
Understanding your key interest and making sure it aligns with your skill set.
I believe it's important to clearly know and identify your interest so you may be able to apply it to your personal career. Clearly identifying your interest will ensure you select a career path that is enlightening, beneficial, and rewarding to you in the long run. Having this align with your skill set will not only guarantee an rewarding career path but one that you'll be successful in.
Wayne,
this is a great summary of the change across life. I would say there is a time & place, especially in our youth, when it's okay to focus on the paycheck. We usually have more debts to pay & there's value in getting that perspective.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Overall, I think the first and most important step is knowing yourself. This is the only way to actually be successful. Otherwise, you are not able to accomplish your goals.
The most important step for me in personal career management is looking inward. Only I can know what would truly make me happy in a career. I am going through a change right now on looking at my core values and have been doing a lot of personal work on this with a career coach. I do encourage anyone in this stage to talk to a coach and ask friends and family for excellent sources of information about yourself.
I think it is very important to have an idea of what you enjoy doing. Personal goals are a good start too. Once you figure out what you truly enjoy, you can list some goals you want to accomplish and research how to get to where you want to be, then base your goals on that.
Cappriccieo,
I completely agree with you that this is definitely the most important step in owning your own career.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I also find that when I write out my goals I can better visualize them and the path to them. I learned something new about myself when I asked my peers about their opinion of my future with the company. It seems there are some jobs that they believe that I would be a good math that I hadn't considered for myself.
I feel that the most important step in personal career management is to be honest with myself about my values.
I have drastically shifted my priorities in the last two years, to where my family and personal time are more important than climbing the corporate ladder. This course has helped me realize that it's ok to not want to continue to strive to be at the top and that I can sculpt my current position to better align with my values. I may not be making as much money but I will still be challenged, make a meaningful contribution to my work, and still be able to honor my value of spending time with my family. Ultimately, I am in control of managing my career!
