Everyone wants a pay raise. Everyone wants a promotion. But only a few are willing to go the extra mile by re-looking what constitutes career success.
Career success is no longer just about the money we make or the position we hold. It lies in one question: are we growing?
People leave an organization for many reasons, but one key reason lies at the core of their decision.
Most people I came across during my work shared that they left their jobs because there was no room for growth.
Hence, we can surmise that the core motivation for most working professionals lies in seeking new growth opportunities – both professionally and personally.
That is why people naturally leave when a new opportunity comes along, with higher pay and more potential for growth, especially if the organization is serious about developing its staff for better things.
Therefore, we must consider different perspectives when defining what constitutes career success today – what you and the organization you are working for can achieve.
Experience Isn’t Everything
Contrary to popular belief, It does not matter how many years of experience you have in the industry.
Instead, what matters more is the quality of the experience you accumulate in the industry of your choice.
What is meant by quality?
For instance, during your years in the industry, you may have done many different projects and drawn valuable, tried-and-tested lessons and strategies from various assignments and environments.
This knowledge comes from experience and is infinitely precious to any employer.
A person can be working in the same industry for the past 15 years but doing the same things in the same job.
Compare them with someone with only five years of experience but different knowledge garnered from working on various jobs or projects that required them to take more risks and create new ways of getting tasks done.
I would certainly invite the latter to join me,
After all, in our increasingly fast-paced society, career success is about whether you can accelerate the growth curve of a business.
In other words, it is not the years of experience that matter but the quality of your years of experience and how much you learned from venturing out of your comfort zone.
Your Career Is Your Responsibility.
The lesson I took away after working for various organizations is that my career success is in my hands. If it is to be, it is up to me.
With that in mind, I decided to fork out money from my pocket to complete my MBA studies.
After completing various training, speaking and coaching certification in four years, I was able to add value not just to my organization but, most importantly, to myself.
In short, the ROIs still returned to me because I took charge of my career direction.
The first step towards career success is acknowledging that it is your responsibility and not anyone else’s.
Set A Realistic Timeline.
Most people I met also shared that they tend to change their career direction every three to four months.
While I am not suggesting that you avoid changing your career plan altogether, you should set a timeline before deciding to embark on a different course.
You must pause and reflect on your journey so far, as well as what you can and should do moving forward.
People change their plans because they need clarity about what they want to do, which is alright.
But by changing their minds too often, they are not giving their invested efforts more time to reap returns and results.
They should instead give themselves a realistic timeline to see the results. About eight to ten months is ideal.
Start steering your own ship in the year ahead, and take full responsibility for your career direction.
This is Joseph@RISEUP Signing Off.
May You TRANSFORM, FLOURISH AND PROSPER in the brand new world!
#riseup #riseupglobal #showup #careerconversation #career #humanleadership
