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CAREER/LIFE PLANNING
It’s time for a check-up now that you have been doing
this work for a while.
Is your job providing you with all the benefits
you had hoped, e.g., sense of accomplishment, income, career growth?
Do
you get out of bed in the morning with energy and enthusiasm because you
truly like and have pride in what you do, a feeling that your work is useful
to someone?
What adjustments do you need to make to bring that dream you
had back on track?
Is it time for a new vision, a new sense of what you
want to do with your life?
Below are some questions. Add others that fit
your situation. Think positively about the results of this self-evaluation—whatever
the outcome. You may just take the right steps in time to avert a crisis.
Do you know how you contribute to the overall success
of the organization, i.e., your role in the big picture of the company’s
changes to be competitive and excel in the marketplace? Having this knowledge
about yourself applies equally to the profit and non-profit sectors of
the economy.
Has management acknowledged your contributions, especially
regarding attitudes, conduct and productivity?
When it comes time for restructuring
or beginning a new project, those individuals with perceived value will
be rewarded with a new assignment.
Do you still expect great things from yourself and others?
Are you part of a world-class work group?
Are you receiving cross-training
or rotational assignments to add to your personal and career development?
Are you contributing to team-building, conflict resolution, the training
of others, and to the total systems approach to improvement?
Have you hit
a brick wall in your growth and advancement?
Do you feel you are in the
wrong place and need to do something different within that organization
or a different organization?
Is it time to become self-employed, or to
move from self-employment to the payroll of an organization?
Are you seeing problems rather than challenges in your
everyday work?
Attitude makes the difference between being dragged down
by problems rather than enervated with challenges. Are you putting forth
your share of solutions, creative answers? Do you see yourself as an innocent
victim in the fast-paced changes happening in the organization and in the
world?
Have you battled with expediency or politics when deciding
an issue? Are there too many times when it is difficult for you to do what
you think is right or to maintain your integrity? Are there constant moral
conflicts?
What encouragement do you get to continue your learning
activities?
In this age of always having to be ready for something new,
do you receive training, financial reimbursement, etc.?
Have you established
a relationship with a mentor, or mentors, inside or outside of your workplace?
How has the association been helpful to you? Are you ready to be a mentor
to someone who could learn from your experience and achievements?
Do you feel that you are earning the money you are being
paid, i.e, are you putting forth the effort that equals the compensation?
Have you undertaken more responsibility or greater amounts of work and
feel you are not being adequately remunerated for it?
Where is accumulating
wealth positioned in comparison to other priorities in your life?
Has your
work positively or negatively affected your personal health and habits,
as well as your relationship with family and friends?
You may find a pattern emerging in your answers.
Is there
need for:
(1) A drastic change?
(2) A relatively minor correction?
(3)
A pat on your back because you are moving along well toward your short-
and long-term goals!
When necessary, start again at Step 1 in the Manual
to achieve career/life planning success.
The final advice on successful management of career/life issues goes
to D.L. Patterson, B.Sc., '86, Fitness Trainer, Cambridge
Physiotherapy & Rehabilitation Centre
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What I needed to know during my UW days
(prepared in January, 1993)
1. Importance of Networking: I know now that jobs are had often
through contacts, even student membership in associations. Membership notifies
you about upcoming opportunities, names of contacts, helpful courses/seminars/workshops,
and keeps you abreast of contemporary issues in your field. Universities
teach the importance of class and lab work—primarily "textbook"
knowledge. Yet to maximize employment possibilities, students need to get
out of the library and make connections, do volunteer work, develop their
people skills.
2. Which Supplementary Courses Supplement? I could kick myself
for even the one or two "bird" courses I took just to fulfill
the quota of required electives. I knew so many people who enrolled in
so many such courses to breeze through school or to up their average. What
a waste! On the other hand, I'm very thankful for the excellent quality
of UW curricula, where I had an opportunity to augment my Kinesiology studies
with a variety of Therapeutic Recreation and Psychology courses which proved
invaluable for working with "special" populations.
3. The Sheer Magnitude of Future Prospects (And, Employment Opportunities
are "Made"): I cannot believe I still hear new grads say
there are no jobs "out there", or that they have no idea what
they can do with a degree in .... To claim that there are no possibilities,
even during tough economic times, is a lame excuse for personal incompetence
in investigating the options. And how could you know your options unless
you furnish yourself with pertinent experiences (see #1 above)? How to
"go for it"? In my final term, I devoted every Tuesday (a light
course load day) to job search efforts. I spent weeks honing my resume,
cover letters, etc., and reading job hunt tips. I perused newspapers, wrote/called/visited
companies, and developed a simple filing system to keep track of these
contacts/applications. During my last few weeks of school, I had job interviews
throughout southern Ontario and I had a CHOICE! of employment positions.
Now, I must confess. I was not a top student scholastically. I am basically
very average in every way. But I know me—my strengths, weaknesses, areas
of interest, goals.
4. Never Misrepresent Yourself: Hopefully I have never fallen
prey to this, but I've seen it in others, and they ultimately have suffered
for it. The best way to avoid this is through ongoing self-appraisal. When
I was Pres. of our Ont. Kin. Assoc., I once wrote a newsletter article
on this topic. Therein I stated that at any given moment in time, on any
given topic, we all are situated somewhere along a continuum from exposure,
to experienced, to expert. Recent grads often portray themselves as experienced
or even as experts in a field, when in fact, they simply have had a glimpse
of exposure in that area. If you admit you are "green", then
at least you've given yourself permission to screw up occasionally. A self-acclaimed
expert may have significant finances, manpower, and resources invested
in his/her work which a workplace will not happily see wasted. Also at
stake is one's reputation...something not easily retrieved.
5. The Whole Me: Another tragedy of university life is a loss
of identity. Again, I hope I was not a victim here. Many implode themselves
with academia and subsequently graduate as a shallow, stale, burnt out
UW clone. Were you athletic before university? Keep it up! Were you musical,
good in languages, or ... whatever! Don't change. Keep on expanding yourself.
I do not, of course, neglect my work for the sake of excelling in my interests.
However, my entire sense of self-worth is not exclusively generated by
that single aspect of my life—work.
6. Finally: I would say I needed more practical, hands-on skills
upon graduation. I have read more, studied harder, and attended more physical
rehab. related courses since graduation than I ever expected.
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