Business has been changing fast due to changes in technology and socio-economic trends. The concept of life-time employment is changing to gig work. Engagement between employee and employer is getting redefined. One is valued as long as he or she is able to deliver an impact in the business and shows the flexibility to adapt to the changing contours of the business.
In the recent times, we see hectic activities in various industry sectors in the form of mergers, new investments and acquisitions to keep pace with changes in the external environment. One of the recent studies by CIEL on Indian Telecom sector shows, 69% of the employees have received less than 7% hike in their annual salaries; 50% of the companies are experiencing higher attrition levels and a significant proportion of the employees do not have a job offer at hand while leaving their employer. This clearly shows, they have to script a new path and shape their careers differently.
Agile Thinking
As the legendary story goes, elephants can dance; but, it is not easy to stay nimble all the time. As time passes, we gain experience, sharpen our saw in a particular way and tend to get into a particular groove. We tend to lose the edge. Many people do not keep an eye on the developments around them. At times, the developments could be internal such as the business desiring to change its focus; and some times, it could be happening in both the worlds : internal as well as external. We need to keep our eyes and ears open to the signals around us. We get caught in the trap of activities and lose our sight of the signals of change.
After taking notice of the changes, one has to believe in the fact that one could change course and get onto something new. Some times, the change required could be huge such as leaving a full-time job to starting a new venture. CIEL’s study shows that entrepreneurship is a serious career choice for people leaving a job in Telecom sector (73% subscribe to this view). One has to be courageous to take the risk of making the shift.
Continuous Investment
Some people see the writing on the wall. Yet they do not act on it. Acquiring new skills, reading relevant material, discussing with colleagues to make meanings out of the changes and planning alternate options are not easy. But, given the volatile world that we live in, they have to be done. We have to continuously invest on learning and development.
It is important to excel in the chosen field and sharpen the saw; at the same time, one has to take a little longer term view, say three to five years to assess if the current path looks clear and obstacles on the way are surmountable. If the path doesn’t seem clear, one must evolve alternatives to achieve goals of the career, allocate certain time of the day or week to focus on these priorities.
Happiness at the core
Shaping careers is not limited to reading the signals of change and investing time and energy to learn new things. Rather, it is about gaining happiness and joy through one’s achievements and results.
Many of us think that a successful career is about by the financial wealth, the job title and the endowments. However, the fact is that the core of a successful career is happiness; and the other factors such as money, authority and power are the outer layers. If one is filled with coats of outer layer without a strong core, it crumbles fast.
Hence, it is important, while shaping a career, we must discover what brings us into life, strikes a chord with the soul and injects energy. The ideal design is to align these with the environmental changes and opportunities.
ref: https://www.cielhr.com/shaping-your-career/
