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| Saturday, 14 February 2004 |
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How do you change careers? by Ananda Rajapakse Picking a career is like choosing a spouse. You may like what you see now, who knows what he or she will be in 5 years or 10 years from now. People change, companies change, bosses change and you change. Have you come to a stage when you wake up in the morning and curse going to work or curse you have to work at all? In Japan many are happy with their first job and work in those companies for a life time. Some companies have many generations of workers from the same family. For most Japanese it is life time tenure with one company. In the USA an average worker has had 8 to 10 employers by the time he or she is 40. In the US they believe that rolling stones gather no moss but has momentum which is more important today. In Sri Lanka most of us think of a Career Change when we hit depression at our work places or when we are victims of downsizing. In this situation the choices we have are few. It is an either or situation. If you have come to this stage then you have to either compromise and make adjustments in the same career or look for another job or a new career. The best time to think of a career change is when you are at your best and at the top. Then you can make better judgments. It is always better to look beyond your job or job description when you hit a low in your current position. In many cases we may really not need a job hop or a career change. Most often it is a change of the Boss or the department that is needed. If it is the work you do or the responsibility that you have that creates the problem then it is a problem on your side of the table. Sometimes it can be that you enjoy your chosen field but you are not satisfied with the way your skills are used. Many companies and government institutions in Sri Lanka have failed to use the full potential of the skills of their employees. This creates frustration and dissatisfaction among the workers. This is in particular relevance to Journalists, Marketing Managers, Sales Reps, Lawyers, Secretaries of Ministries, Police, Teachers, University Lecturers, Graphic Artists, Copywriters etc. Job change is easier than career change. Job change means you change the company and do the same job you have been doing for years, maybe at a different level though the field will be the same. A career change is when you take on a new field of work that you have not done before. It is important to realize that in most cases you don't have to give up your skills to change the situation. Instead you can combine those skills with something that holds your interest. I know of a graphic artist in a leading advertising firm who designs great print ads for leading clients, sits at his home PC late into the night designing web pages for a British IT Company. Sadly the company he works for has not yet exploited this area of the business. He is happy as he enjoys both his job-as a graphic artist and his career as a web design consultant and he earns during the day and at night. (The writer is, Head of Corporate Communications at YATV, a Rotarian, a regular Career Guide to University of Moratuwa, Advisor to AIESEC Sri Lanka chapter of World's largest organization of Undergraduates promoting the marketability of Graduates and South Asia Representative for Presidential Classroom Inc. organizers of the Future World Leaders Summit in USA Email- [email protected]). (More next week) |
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