Switching between employment and career
“No, scratch the word career. Careers are for people who wish to advance. I only want to survive, draw a paycheck."
- Emily Giffin, Something Borrowed
Quoting words from Emily Giffin's famous chick lit - Something Borrowed, and sharing personal experience accumulated in the last six years to prove exactly why it isn't too uncommon to find similar life stories. In a country that doesn't always bestow upon its dwellers too many options to choose from, I find it alarming and at the same time feel strongly about promoting successful careers, rather than successful employment opportunities. I have exited multiple consulting assignments a couple of times in the last half a decade or more, and every time it has been due to the same reason. Although apparently, it may not seem to be quite the reason, I'm trying to figure out what makes it paramount.
Selection procedure:
I have faced this before, and let me be honest, the selection procedure is often not fair. Not only is the selection procedure unfair, but an offer that HR makes is also very often glazed. It is only after you join and dive deep into the system that you realize you could have done better otherwise. The HR in India is seldom concerned about careers - they look for skill sets and relevant experience. It is mostly a one-sided affair with the HR looking for certain things in a candidate completely oblivious of what the job profile would offer to the candidate apart from a wage. In short, they buy skills and not talent. If talent were to be fostered, the first question a recruiter would ask is whether the candidate has a genuine interest in the job profile and through different means to try to gauge his/her understanding and passion about the subject. Even while some companies test the candidates through assignments and aptitude tests, what I find missing is a quiz on industry knowledge. It's ridiculous to test a person on his intelligence and skills regardless of his passion.
Knowledge acquisition and transfer as an essential skill set:
In most of the companies I have worked with, I have been hired primarily for my intelligence and aptitude for the current role but very rarely due to my previous experiences. What is simply *astonishing* is that I have always only been tested for my ability to understand the domain that the recruiting company is hiring for or my aptitude for the area of competence. I have never been quizzed on my previous experiences. So, basically no one knows how good I have been in the last few years of my work. And why? Because most recruiters have either not been interested in knowing how I have performed previously or have lacked knowledge of my domain to be able to draw a fair assessment of my potential.
Tip #1 -
Always carry forward your knowledge and experiences. I try to maintain a record of sorts to keep the knowledge that I have acquired safe. However, I feel one must carry forward previous and existing knowledge by first transferring it to team members in the new organization by introducing best practices, sometimes even revamping processes, or enlightening senior management to adopt them.
Tip #2 -
Learning as a career is always a constant While your immediate job may not lead to a career, your learning never stops unless you build a pay-cheque-to-sell knowledge attitude. A person with a stubborn approach to learning, unlearning and relearning what he has been taught previously shall succeed but only immediately. Experience does not involve unlearning, it involves learning and then examining, only to relearn. What you do not need in the moment, can be documented for later use. Regardless of what you do for a job, your knowledge is a transferable asset that has no boundaries or restrictions. And it is the best asset to invest in - you can liquefy any time with a switch!
Tip #3 -
Employment can be satisfying while a career may be challenging One has to constantly keep upgrading his/her skills if s/he is passionate about a certain area of work. It may not always be possible to upgrade your knowledge if you are not dealing directly with it. A career as a long-term programme can be successful if only you trade satisfaction with a challenge. That challenge may be unseen, but one has to speculate about future developments if one has to estimate the scope of growth in a particular area.
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