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Chapter 1 - Why Managing Your Career?
Success and happiness at work are rarely achieved by chance. Recognize that by taking a proactive approach to managing your career, you are more likely to realize your ambitions, do justice to your skills, and stay in full employment.
Making wise choices
Make the most of all the career choices that face you during your working life, be clear about your goals, alert to opportunities, and quick to make key decisions when necessary. Effective planning will help you be prepared and focused, so that when you need to, you can make the right choices. Nobody wants to look back on their career at retirement and wish they had taken a different path or done things another way.
Making the most of your experience
It is rare to know from your first experience of work where you want to go next in your career. Often people find out what suits them over time, learning from their reactions to different positions, environments, roles, and responsibilities. Actively managing your career will help you use all your experience effectively, so that you avoid repeating less successful events and maximize your satisfaction with your working life. You will be better equipped to foresee situations, make sensible, realistic plans, and act upon them. As a result, you will have more confidence and be clearer about your personal priorities.
Gaining a sense of purpose
The most successful career paths have good planning, a sense of direction, and clear milestones along the way. A career path needs to be flexible but it should always be structured. If you have a "map" of your intended route, you can make sure that all the activities in your working life help further your aims and give you a sense of purpose. Managing your career does not mean closing your mind to luck and chance, but involves talking and thinking about your career in a methodical way. This will help you gain further insights and recognize any opportunities as they arise, so that you can make the most of them.
- View managing your career as an exciting new project.
- Give planning your career the time and effort it deserves.
- Concentrate on career opportunities.
- Be prepared to look back as well as ahead.
A career can be likened to a journey: if that journey is to be a purposeful expedition rather than an aimless one, it will need to be managed well. The degree of satisfaction you gain from your work is within your own control.
