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By Peter Weddle
Big events change things. The Great Depression reshaped the world view of at least several generations of Americans. And, the same is happening as we emerge from the late, unlamented Great Recession.
Many of us will never again look at the world of work the way we used to. It’s different now – we’re absolutely convinced of that – even if we aren’t exactly sure what the changes are or what they may mean for our careers and future wellbeing.
One change, however, is already apparent. We now know that we can no longer manage our careers the way we have in the past. During those seemingly carefree days, we focused on our careers just once a year — during our annual performance appraisal and salary review. The rest of the time we concentrated on doing our job, believing that such an approach would provide the best measure of job security.
Sadly, the Great Recession proved otherwise. It didn’t matter how loyal we were or how strong our contribution was, if we were in the wrong place at the wrong time, we found ourselves suffering career cardiac arrest or what the pundits call unemployment. We quickly and painfully learned that doing our job wasn’t enough to ensure we would keep it.
So, what is the minimum daily requirement for a healthy career in this new world of work?
To answer that question, you have to know what constitutes a healthy career. I think it’s one that provides you with genuine career security — the ability to stay employed in a job of your choosing regardless of the financial condition of any one employer or the entire economy.
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It’s a nice thought: to believe that security can be found in one’s career. But I can’t help but think of the other side — what if the career that makes you happy also happens to be the one that will offer little security? This is where the seven facets mentioned are most potent but in an era of lateral job promotions and “career-hopping” I wonder, as a young career-person myself, how appropriate it is for me to just focus on one career at all?
It’s a good point, Simren, but what I took away from this article is that you should work on YOUR career, not A career.
While it might be ideal when you’re just starting to say, “OK, I’m starting here, and I want to get here, and these are all the steps in between,” each individual person’s career rarely works out that way.
Even in the same career path or when applying for the same job, each person’s work history, network and skill set will be completely different depending on what they chose to focus and work on over the years.