Since part of my service offering to individuals is career guidance assessments, a friend and I recently had a conversation around career choices. He asked me: “How does one know that one has chosen the right career? Does one ever know?”
As a Psychology professional, I am asked this question quite often. People want to know of me whether they themselves can know for certain whether they are in the right career; and people also address the question to me to know whether I personally feel that Psychometry is right for me.
To address my friend’s question, I say:
We all face a number of choices in connection with career decisions upon entering adult life, see. The majority of people that I know, have the necessary talent for numerous career paths. A well-spoken, persuasive individual may seem like he or she is cut out for being an advocate, and then this individual chooses a career in brand management instead, and excels at that over time. Equally, an individual with outstanding mathematical abilities may decide against the conventional route of qualifying as Chartered Accountant, and choose an entrepreneurial route instead. Similarly, a person with a definite talent for art, may opt for an academic career in law, where she becomes a prolific academic writer, practicing her art as hobby during her spare time.
So one reaches a certain point where one has to say: “This is my choice, this is where I am at right now. I commit to make the best of my decision, and to stick with it. Who knows where my path may lead me to something else eventually.”
One can change careers during one’s lifetime; in fact, I am of the belief that a lifetime is long enough to practice two or three careers even. I have seen these career changes take place in various close family members over time, and have also needed to adjust my own career path when I reached a plateau in a Finance department at a large corporate.
I know that not all one’s desires or need for fulfilment are met in a work environment, or even in a particular career. I recall at the farewell social for a previous colleague, he expressed some dismay at leaving his perfect company, for his perfect job. So for one, he felt that the environment at this company was great, and he liked his peers and superiors; yet the work itself did not tap into all the facets of his well being that he wanted. He then found his perfect job, and he faced the prospect of a less likeable environment or colleagues at the new job.
There always remain aspects of one’s person that are either unmet in one’s specific work environment; or under-appreciated where clear role expectations exclude that one thing a person enjoys doing, for that particular individual. For instance, a particular Accountant’s role does not require for her to organise social events, although that is something she is particularly good at, so she has to find opportunities outside of work where she can exercise this secondary interest.
If you can relate to the above, I encourage you to find ways outside of work where you can exercise your other interests. Investigate options. You may find that your company’s Corporate Social Investment initiatives has something that stirs your interest that you can become involved in; or your community recreation centre has need of your particular knowledge of a topic to improve their service offering.
Or you may decide to join some of the creative workshops that I present as part of my service offering to individuals, where you will learn some practical skills which you can apply to become more creative in your life. There are many forms of creativity, and I will offer those that are within my arsenal of creative skills, so come along and find out if these interest you.
If you have tried all to find fulfilment outside of your career, and you still feel strongly that you need a career change after all, read my next post on aspects to keep in mind for making a career change.
Written by Nicolene Coertze
6 July 2015