Career Development - A Pathway To Success?

"Where do we start?" "Where will I be 5, 10 or even 20 years from now?" 'Will I be successful in whatever career I chose to do?" These are all the questions we ask ourselves close to graduating from University or even now when we are experiencing job losses, redundancies because of COVID - 19, and do we know the true answers to these questions? Its hard to say. It certainly is a challenging time for new graduates looking for work and even those who have been in their career for several years and having to start all over again, however if you are reading this hope I can give you some hope in what I share with you.

If you are in a position where you are just starting out on your career journey or back to the drawing board and looking for another job because you were made redundant, I will give you a high- level overview of my career path and some key messages where I hope it be helpful to you on your path.

I have had a number of roles in my lifetime, some related to my degree and some not. Some I left by choice, others not. I chose an academic subject not in order to land up in a fancy job earning lots of dollars. I chose to study Chemistry as I enjoyed it considerably at school and was very passionate about wanting to find out more. I loved it so much that I decided to study for a further 4 years to do a PhD after I completing my Masters. Even during this time, I had no idea where I was going to land up after I graduated. I learnt very early on to be successful in anything I do, my values had to be an integral part of my growth and I had to have a genuine passion to learn through experience and education.

Some of my experiences included rejections, failures, redundancies and several "starting all over again" scenarios. I have now reached that certain age, its inevitable I reflect more about what's left in my life and how I could have done things differently to allow a smoother transition in my career path.

A career to me has been the primary path to my growth and has shown me a way to define who I really am. It has been a source of income, identity and sometimes can be on how I relate to others and how others relate to me.

I was not taught on how to cope with failures, rejections and mistakes through my academic career but learnt this through my life experiences and knowing how to embrace them. It was most certainly painful, chaotic and confusing at times, but it gave me opportunities to really dig deep and find answers to the "hows?", "whys?" and "whats?". The more I learnt, the more I was able to educate others through mentoring, presentations and just informal networking and which furthered my sense of purpose.

So here is what I can offer in guiding you in making your journey more satisfying and transformational and this all can be in your control:

Emotional and Cultural Intelligence: Learning about the relationship with yourself, your colleagues, communities and families showing sensitivity, compassion and empathy.

Patience: Exploring our capacity to tolerate problems and suffering without becoming annoyed.

Grit: Guts, Resilience, Initiative and Tenacity.

Connection, meaning and purpose: Maintaining and building connection with ourselves, focusing on central motivating aims of life.

Learning about yourself and the world of work, exhibiting personal resilience, confidence, authenticity when its not so easy, and making life changing decisions – all of these steps are challenging and may create anxiety and uncertainty for many people. It may feel at times as if you are about to leap off into the unknown and not sure where its going to lead. However, the harder we work to connect to our values, our beliefs and to others we could potentially transform our lives becoming more mindful and accepting instead living in a world of resentment, denial and unresolved frustration. This can also be taken as an adventure: The freedom to examine who you are, allowing the experiences to define your capabilities and showing your commitment to change in becoming a new, better version of yourself each time.

 "I want to look back on my career and be proud of the work, and be proud that I tried everything." —Jon Stewart