Resources
The following articles have been written to address three common issues that emerge for people as they manage their careers:
How to advance your career
Want to set yourself up for promotion or a more senior role. What’s the secret to success?
More balance please
You want to negotiate greater flexibility in your role. How should you go about it?
Finding Purpose
You are exploring joining a non-profit to find greater purpose in your work. What should you consider?
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Many career advice tools promise they will identify what vocation best suits you. But few people end up working in the field that they imagined when they were a child. In fact, most people will change vocations several times during their working lives.
Is vocation really the thing that brings fulfilment to people’s careers?
Rarely. Occasionally we meet a doctor, a teacher, a nurse, or a firefighter who fills like they are living out their life’s calling. Mostly we meet professional people who are seeking to find fulfilment in their working life, while juggling several personal and professional ambitions.
Some want adventure. Some want stability. Some want to save the world. Some want to make lots of money. Some want to spend more time with their family. Some want to immerse themselves in the narrow detail of their work, while others want to operate like generalists and love a diversity of tasks, people, and projects.
Navigating Seasons of Career Fulfillment
People who have had mature, diverse careers will say that the most satisfying times in their career, were when their motivational needs were met in their workplace. Some speak of times when they had opportunities to learn or travel. Some tell of the exposure they had to influential people, or the chance to work on innovative technology. Others point to moments when they feel their work had a real positive impact on other people or when they felt a particular connection with a group of colleagues.
While some people have motivations that dominate their focus over working lifetime, for many, motivations change as their circumstances or perspectives alter through the seasons of life. This is normal. Understanding how to address and approach those changes is more important than trying to determine ‘what you should be when you grow up’.