Whether you are just starting out in your career or working to make
your established career better, there is a danger lurking. When talking
with careerists all over the world, I occasionally run into someone
who is getting better and better at a skill that fewer and fewer
people want or need. To use an example from another century, they
are getting better and better at making hand-crafted leather buggy
whips while more and more automobiles are driving the streets. In
today's fast moving culture, it has become very easy to focus on
the wrong things, without even realizing it. You want to make sure
that your career path isn't turning into a dead end.
Many of you who are starting your career should know that it is
very possible the work you are doing today will not exist in
another 10
years. Yes, there will be some people who specialize in the work,
just as you still see some COBOL programmers today, but your work
will likely change -- requiring different skills and different
technology. If you want to succeed in your career, you need to
change with it.
Unfortunately, this can sometimes be more difficult than you think.
We are all reticent to let go of those skills we struggled to learn.
After all, haven't they served us well in the past? Surely there
is still some need for them. The truth is, yes, there is still
a need for those skills, but there are certain areas you need
not pursue
any farther. The question is, how do you recognize them?
While the past has great lessons to teach us, we shouldn't become
trapped in it. Along with all our current skills, we need to constantly
be looking forward towards the "next big thing." This means
we need to investigate new ideas, new technologies and new skills
as they appear. Have you read the latest book on business management?
How about that interesting article on finance? Did you look at that
new technology that everyone is talking about?
Growth in your career is going to be found in these areas, not
the skills you have already obtained and use on a daily basis.
Sure,
you will use those skills, but if you aren't constantly investigating
new ones, you will fall further behind your peers and your industry
with every passing day. Now, of course, you may not need every
new skill, every new technology, every new idea, but the fact
is, you
never can tell what the next great idea might be or where it might
arise. You have to investigate as many new ideas as you can and
integrate those ideas and skills that make the most sense for
you.
This might sound like a lot of work, especially when added to your
already heavy workload, but you must do it or you risk career stagnation.
Your career is more than just the work you are doing today. In a
previous column I laid out the difference between your job, your
work and your career. (See The difference between your job, your
work and your career, April 20, 2007, http://welchwrite.com/dewelch/ce/2007/career-op-20070420.html)
and developing new skills clearly falls under career enhancement.
What you learn might not effect your day-to-day work today, but rather,
it is designed to effect your career over your lifetime. Just as
you might not know which skill or idea might turn into the next great
idea, you can never tell how it will effect your career over time.
Instead, collect as many ideas as possible, so when an opportunity
arises, you are ready for it.
Starting today, what new knowledge, skills or technology are you
going to investigate? What new tools are you going to add to your
repertoire? How are you going to insure that you aren't becoming
better and better at a skill that no longer matters...or won't matter
in a few years? How are you going to avoid making buggy whips in
and automobile world? It doesn't take any special skills or hours
of time. It only takes an open and inquiring mind to insure that
you are building the career you deserve...not just for today, but
for a lifetime.
Career
Opportunities
