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Posts from the ‘Career Transition’ Category

Jul 1

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Your Career Portfolio; How Diversified Are You?

Just as it is critical to have a balanced investment portfolio, it’s equally important in one’s career to be developing diversified skills, experiences and credentials beyond one’s immediate job and/or industry.  Particularly, in today’s fragile economy and with peoples’ careers spanning up to 7 decades, there are opportunities and imperatives for one to be ramping up in a related or different field/job, even as one collects a steady pay check from a current position.

And full time positions are on the decline in general.  In December 2010, the New York Times wrote a fascinating article, Weighing Costs, Companies Favor Temporary Help, which reports that more than a quarter of the 1.17 million jobs added to the private sector in 2010 were temporary positions.

While this is a frightening proposition for many, it also creates new flexibility and opportunity for individuals to reinvent the what, the how, and the “who for” of work. This is particularly true for many women and men who want a new model of working while raising a family or entering retirement years.

Undoubtedly, it takes discipline and patience to build out a fulfilling income in the true portfolio model.  For example, I recently spoke with a college professor who mentioned that it has taken her three years to build out her portfolio of teaching, consulting and freelance writing to a point that it is just becoming synergistic, fulfilling and economically viable.

Even if most people aren’t ready to embrace this cornucopia approach to working, many friends and colleagues are naturally diversifying their career portfolios by taking on classes and side projects and work in areas such as real estate, photography, interior design, and writing.  This enables experimentation with little risk, and is a great way to nurture a little more creativity and balance, particularly when a day job is only cutting you a pay check and not a soul check.

So, how does your career portfolio look today?  What are you going to do this year to further diversify?  Are you earning a pay check and a soul check?

 

 

Apr 11

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Career Transition through Small Experiments

One might assume that career change is about knowing what you want to do next.  It’s seen as an intellectual, “inside-out” process, whereby our thoughts and knowledge guide our actions.  I am currently reading INSEAD professor, Hermania Ibarra’s book, Working Identity, and realizing that the process of shifting working identity and career is actually more of an “outside-in” process.  

Human beings are complex. For most individuals, the current (or most recent) job is merely a reflection of a few dimensions, interests and skill sets.  We are constantly shifting and changing our assumptions and goals as we go about having new experiences. Whether you ponder opening a small B&B, running for political office, writing a novel, or slowing down to work in a bookstore, chances are you have likely thought about an alternative life.

How many of us, however, actively test out these “pipe” dreams, which excite and scare us at the same time?  The idea behind Working Identity is that small experiments enable us to not only know with greater assurance, but also enable us to begin the process of changing our identity and persona.  

So what does it mean to “experiment” with a new career direction? It could mean volunteering with an organization, attending a conference, joining a new industry association, taking related coursework, shadowing someone for a day, or even going on a “vocation vacation.”  Whatever the “experiment,” it should enable you to try this new “persona” on for fit.  It also enables one to see if this is a path more suited to a hobby or avocation than a full time career.  

Another thing to keep in mind is that this process takes time.   The process may take several years and a number of experiments to shift into a new career. It requires taking new actions, making new connections and integrating these experiences to decide whether the “shoe” really fits.  

Whether you are personally going through a career transition or know someone else who is, encourage them to do the following:

1.) Craft small experiments to test out desired path
2.) Make new connections/networks
3.) Start to rework your personal identity/story (e.g., your elevator pitch)
4.) Accept that there may be a long period of uncertainty