Recareering

RE-CAREERING

A career was once thought of as a profession in which a person served
their profession loyally for their complete lifetime.

Careers of old reflect this, as people become lawyers, doctors,
teachers, nurses, or engineers. A quick look at titles on your favourite
social media site will quickly show that people have very different
careers today.

Management has risen as a profession and have become one of the most
diversified disciplines in academia, and one that opens itself to lots
of extensions and adaptation.

In reality, though, we have to accept that in the 21st century, no
discipline has escaped metamorphosis.

Thanks to technology and changing markets, organisations have seen
massive change in the labour content on roles since 2000 and what was a
full time job then may been reduced to half-a role by 2010, and an even
less of that responsibility today.

Yet, some jobs have grown significantly! Who could dispute this? A
year 2000 job title if not obliterated, could today fit into 10
different job titles – all with different depth and scope. In other
words, one person who acquired a single qualification back then could be
sought for many different, strange-sounding positions today. Granted,
while these will all have the same qualification root, they’ll most
likely require certain specialisations – likely demand some re-training
or some tailored course that would make them especially relevant. It
also shows that education has shifted into a gear where generic
principles and specific skills are linked to behaviours and outcomes
that are applicable to a wide range of positions.

In fact, one recalls predictions a few years back, that a scary
percentage of careers we knew in 2010 would be obsolete by 2020,
replaced by new ones that we’ve never heard of!

So there’s evolution and there’s obsolescence.

TIME TO RE-CAREER?

You may not have a choice!

If relevance is threatening your field and the market has moved on,
you need to re-evaluate your position and take charge of your
future.

A pertinent question going forward might also be:

Do you build a career “in a discipline” or “in an industry”?

CAREER DIMENSIONS

Jobs are multi-dimensional, you can think of them as following a
matrix structure. They have depth and they have breadth, hence there are
various ways in which one can develop or grow career-wise, even though
the tendency is to think upward mobility or climbing the proverbial
ladder.

With most jobs, there’s one’s area of academic specialisation that
one would have studied and got qualifications for. This is how you
gained knowledge and, with time, this is where you grow subject matter
expertise and competences.

Then there is the industry or sector you may find yourself in, where
you are expected to operate and ply your trade. Here, particularly at
managerial level, you have to understand the industry dynamics: the
market structure, key drivers, key success factors, deliverables, key
indicators… key everything. You then learn to build success to your
operation by applying the theories, concepts and scenario solutions you
studied at college. You still need to develop the mental models that
allow you to practice this type of reflexive or meta-learning. This
basically means that you learn to solve problems and you apply this
ability to new situations.

The more you function or practice in that industry, the more you
discover intricacies of the industry, its idiosyncracies and “trade
secrets”. You continually adapt application of your learned speciality
to the specifications of the industry.

It is therefore easy to see how you can grow as much in a
“profession” as you grow in “industry” mastery.

The scope of industry might mean that you discover more and more
areas in which you have to adapt your original skills and develop
increasingly tailored solutions for the industry.

There is likelihood that after a while and with extensive exposure in
the field, especially when the level of operation gets higher with more
managerial responsibilities you may get to act or stand-in for
management colleagues, where your theoretical knowledge driven or
induced by operations management meetings will grow into practical,
hands-on implementation and shouldering of duties that you are no
technical “expert” in. With time, your development could lead to full
competency level and even to mastery within the new industry. But this
might need a deliberate effort on yours and your company’s part,
including specific interventions like customised company training.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

So, when looking for career growth opportunities, you may opt change
industry and become a field-specialist consultant: the accountant, the
marketer or the engineer in a different industry. Or, you may remain in
your industry and grow into a senior, general management role where you
oversee a team of experts within that particular industry. This might
require a bit of personal development, say, in the areas of
people-management, diversity management, effective leadership, and so
on.

You might even decide to assume a new specialised role within the
same industry, relying on your practical exposure and mastery of that
industry.

While competence might be high in this new specialisation area –
enough to float the ship – to really navigate with confidence, you may
need the assurance of a formal assessment, where your prior knowledge is
evaluated and gaps identified with the expectation that you will get
some training to plug these gaps.

Alternatively, instead of casual training, a specific, formal course
may be recommended – giving you reaffirmation for the practical
knowledge you had acquired, as well as building your wealth of key
theories that would help build further context and understanding of the
subject – not as deep as with a full academic qualification, but firm
enough to give you solid footing in applying the fundamentals of the
discipline.

Some Reasons for Re-careering

A simple matrix that you can use to decide if you need to re-career
is presented below. Locate you profile and see if you identify with any
of these. If you do – you need to think about your career carefully and
put the right skills into the toolbox to ensure that you achieve your
long term growth objectives and rekindle you passion for work.

Evolution – adapt or die

• Job/role Metamorphosis

• Adaptation to market needs

• Adaptation to market age/profile

Circumstances – Swim or sink

• Relocation

• Illness

• Family needs. (Babies)

• Scarcity of jobs

Career Discovery – A whole new world

• An aha moment

• A career never considered

• Poor career guidance

• Poor exposure

Self Discovery – This is me!

• Revelation of self

• Revelation of strengths

• Revelation of weaknesses

• “Freedom to be”

• “Playing to your strengths”

• “This is my calling”

Obsolescence – The train has left the station!

• Job ceased to exist

• No need

• Replaced service

• Product irrelevance