For 3 years, Huong’s son was obsessed with everything dinosaurs. That’s all he wanted to read, learn, and talk about. He learnt the alphabets by citing dinosaur names from A to Z. He loaded his little brain with dinosaur facts and drew a million pictures of dinosaurs. He declared his dream vacation to be a trip to the Gobi Desert, where a lot of dinosaur fossils have been found. He wanted to be a fossil hunter who fights fire in his spare time when he grows up.
Then, everything took a sharp and sudden turn after the family visited an exhibit about the Titanic. All of a sudden the floor was covered in drawings of the Titanic and different British ocean liners. Huong found herself engaged in conversations about how much coal the Titanic was burning a day, or what a person’s chance of survival was during the Titanic sinking depending on their social economic class and gender. He now wants to become the person that builds the biggest ship in the world.
This is often the way we approach our career journey. Too often, we have a hard time seeing beyond our current job or occupation, or perhaps beyond the next promotion. We may struggle to connect what we’re working on now to what’s next. And so we put their head down, work hard, and hope that things will work themselves out in the long run.
In some instances, with the right amount of luck, things do work out. But more often than not, we are caught off guard when we’re forced to pivot due to unexpected changes in our organization. Some may feel lost if they haven’t given their next career move much thought. Many find that their skills and knowledge are narrowly focused on what they’ve been doing, and not necessarily aligned with what they might want to do next. Worst of all, they’re at the mercy of the labour market because they’re often under a serious time crunch to find something else.
So what’s the alternative? Here are 4 things you can do to take back control over your career journey, despite all the unexpected twists and turns.
- Pursue your interests.
What are you curious about? What do you find interesting or intriguing? Take time to pursue interests that aren’t directly related to your work. Read books, listen to podcasts, attend events, volunteer, or experiment in your spare time. By pursuing your interests, you’re building up valuable skills, experience, contacts, and insights that will be essential to your ability to pivot when you want or need to. And you never know, these skills, experience, contacts, and insights may actually connect back to your current work in unexpected ways. Innovations often happen at the intersections of disciplines.
- Make time for your interests.
Sometimes it feels like there’s not enough time in the day to get through all the things you NEED to do, let alone make time for the nice-to-haves like interests and hobbies. But this is a worthy investment of time. Pursuing your interests help you build valuable skills and experience that would be essential to your ability to pivot. It also gives you some much-needed creative rest after hours, so that you can unplug from work by engaging in something else. This important refresh allows you to return to work with renewed energy and creativity.
- Maintain your network.
To some, networking feels like a lot of work. To others, it feels sleazy, because they think of networking as taking advantage of people or pretending to be someone they’re not.
None of those things are true. Developing and maintaining your network simply means identifying the people that you would love to stay in touch with and then keeping that connection alive! Everyone will have their own criteria for who they want to stay in touch with. Maybe it’s people you admire, respect, and enjoy their company.
Make it easy and simple to stay in touch. When you think of someone (usually because something reminded you of them that day), send them a quick message. If you’re busy and don’t have capacity for a longer engagement, just share what reminded you of them, and wish them a great day. If you have more time and are in a social mood, try to schedule a call or a visit.
- Take risks and jump before you feel 100% ready.
There is a common misconception that you should wait until you feel ready before taking a leap or pursuing a different path. Whether it’s imposter syndrome or fear of change, it’s important to lean into new opportunities, even if you feel a little hesitant or nervous.
When you’re presented with a new opportunity, take a pause to evaluate whether it fits your interests, goals, and priorities. Seek out objective feedback from those you trust about your skills and strengths. And then give it a go! Don’t worry about evaluating whether you’re the ready for that next leap. Leave it to the people doing the hiring. It’s their job ;).
It’s important to take an active role in your own career path. After all, you’re the best one to chart the course forward to make sure you get to where you want to go.