The Career You'll Love

I’ll admit it: I’m a bit of a tech geek. I started out with a career in computers and have enjoyed keeping up on it.

But even I get worn out by the rapid changes in technology these days. Not just high tech – computers, phones, networks – but technology in every realm of life. I was remarking to my optometrist recently that dramatic increases in price seem to directly stem from technologies that didn’t even exist until recent years. The options are dizzying.

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Two hundred years ago, your role in life largely depended on the village where you were born and the vocations of your parents.

With the Industrial Revolution came the idea that you might have more choice in your lifelong career, although still heavily influenced by your family’s social status.

Nobody is sure exactly what the model is for the 21st century, but it’s a mixture of taking initiative, investment in your skills and education, finding a path to self-fulfillment, and being flexible as the world changes ever more rapidly.

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When I work with people on their career plans, I’m often asked what I mean by creating a long-term plan. Does this mean you’re supposed to detail out what you’ll be doing for the rest of your life? Impossible!

I had a client a few years ago who had a career plan for the next 25 years. Seriously. Personally, I find it challenging to map out five years.

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Sorry to tell you this, but there’s a good chance you’re going to lose a job in the future. And quite likely it’s going to be something outside your direct control.

Fine. So what have we learned from the last few years? After all, a lot of us have had our lives totally upended through our own job loss, or those close to us. It would be great if the next time didn’t cause quite so much heartbreak.

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If you have a job, you’re probably very busy. You’re now doing the work of three people, struggling to catch your breath.

The difficult part is to think about the long term. You not only need to be valued as a productive worker today, but also five years from now. Or ten.

Are you building that foundation for your future career?

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Does your next job exist yet? Maybe.

But many times jobs are created, or tweaked, based upon specific needs at a certain time, even connected with the talents of certain individuals.

This is one of the reasons why some jobs are filled before they’re even posted: The hiring manager was taking advantage of a great match of someone’s existing skills to address a specific pressing need.

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Earlier this year, Microsoft commissioned a study which asked hiring managers how much they used the internet to check out prospective candidates. Here’s a couple of interesting results:

• 57% used professional and business networking sites (such as LinkedIn).
• 98% used SOME internet resources to check out candidates.

This tells you that you need to have a positive presence on the internet, because your next boss is most likely going to check you out – perhaps even before ever setting up an interview.

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In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers: The Story of Success, he stated that to achieve mastery in an area, it generally takes about 10,000 hours of serious learning, practice, and skill development.

I think it’s a valid conclusion, but there’s more to the story.

If you want to be famous for something, to be at the forefront, you have to establish yourself as world class. You want to be one of the best violinists? 10,000 hours. You want to make a living as a pro golfer? 10,000 hours.

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There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about the importance of creating a personal brand. I first came across the idea in an article by Tom Peters in Fast Company Magazine in 1997, but he didn’t originate it.

Here’s the concept: Any powerful brand (Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, iPhone, Facebook) stands for much more than the products that it names. McDonald’s stands for more than just a certain kind of food, it’s also about kid-friendliness, reliability, cleanliness, and value. These attributes are incredibly consistent over the long term, and drive much more visibility and loyalty than just the food they sell.

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