The present financial condition has made the job situation really dynamic. Gone are the times when parents used to think that they knew exactly what their children should study to achieve the right profession and be pleased ever after. What is a hot, high-indemand sector becomes outdated all too soon now.
We have seen cycles when civil engineering was considered bottom of the rung to when it was crucial for all infrastructure tasks and now again when there is a slowdown and layoffs. Yet investment banking, considered the gold standard of successful careers, is now in doldrums. And it is not merely the jobs, but also where you locate them that is varying with seasons. Dubai, once a hot destination, is now a hard location to survive, expensive and, therefore, an unpleasant profession destination. Same for the United States. In such a scenario of uncertainty, how do you get hold of yourself ? How do you ensure that you are not in the eye of the storm every occasion a downturn hits?
Differentiate yourself Cultivating a different personality is simply like purchasing a product or service the most outstanding one catches attention. Expertise has the similar standards as well. In fact, this is the most main thing we should do well at the commencement of our career.
The initial step is to identify what makes us unique -- communication abilities or technical depth or interpersonal relationship or the capability to think out of the box. This pensive analysis has to be done honestly , perhaps with help from peers and superiors to get clarity on the key talents that we can potentially develop to create that dissimilarity.
For example, if you are a remarkable coder, start emphasising it by taking part in as many coding competitions as possible. Start monitoring your performance metrics in coding, which can verify that you are a great coder. Guess what? Still in the worst fiscal scenario, there is always a demand for the most productive, efficient coder, so you will be secure.
Golden rules Learning is completely proportional to exposure: The first job is based on what and where we studied.
However, as we progress to the second and third career, this pales in front of our experience -- what have we learnt on our career?
A significant part of what we learn is dependent on what we were exposed to in our separate stints. If our career took us to international markets, we learn more regarding working with separate cultures and competing globally . If our job gave us the opportunity to wear several hats, say , selling along with advertising, we have learnt more. What it does is that it enhances our upcoming opportunities far more than the raises we have received or the designations we hold.
So, especially in the initial stage of your career, target on creating opportunities for learning. Give less significance to stability and compensation, for they are the result of what you learn. Working for start-ups is a high path to leapfrog your education. It arrives at the cost of stability and current profit but you will gain manifold in the future and that is something you need to quantify properly when you evaluate your options.
Do not neglect soft talents: In the early part of our career, we are often busy learning the principal talents and becoming better and better at it.
Often, in this fixation, we lose sight of structure our repertoire of soft abilities. In fact, some of us believe that it will automatically `come' when we move up the ladder. However, the truth is that soft talents start becoming more and more critical once we reach the mid-management stage. By then, we are too old to study these skills as our personalities are shaped and perceptions are set. Interpersonal talents, oral and written communications, creative thoughts, are all as important as receiving a postgraduate degree and should be accomplished accurate from the start.