Throw away the career rule book – and write your own



Who sets the career rules you are following to build your career? If the answer is that you don’t know, then perhaps now is the perfect time to write your own career rulebook.

Predictable, linear career progression and last-a-lifetime careers are unlikely to be the norm for future career templates. Partly this is about advancing technology making some career paths redundant, but it’s also about the impact of disruptive and unpredictable labour market forces - Covid being just one.

But there’s also a trend among professionals for different measures of career success – 

·      flexibility ahead of predictability

·      meaning rather than status

·      alignment instead of being a square peg in a round hole

·      variety ahead of repetition

·      pivot instead of soldiering on 

In fact, this shift reflects individual choice rather than the inherited careers previous generations may have expected. This requires some adjustment and responsibility on a personal level, so here are a few suggestions to shake up your thinking:

1.     Normalize the idea that you have your own timeline and career arc

Stop trying to fit someone else’s template.

Know what YOU need and want from your career and create a working life that delivers.

This guide to uncovering the rewards you value most is a great place to start.

2.     Know and consciously use your values to create the working life that satisfies

If progression matters hugely, if you thrive with generous doses of recognition, or if collaboration brings out your best work, plan accordingly. Does your chosen profession reflect your values, and are your values and those of your organization in harmony?

 Read more about discovering and activating your values here.

3.     Know your deeper purpose and express it in your work

What gives your work meaning and what makes you proud at the end of the working week? These are just two of the questions that reveal your deeper purpose.

Clients often shy away from the word ‘purpose’ because it sounds grand and is overused in many circles. What it means to you though is important if you want to create a fulfilling career. It’s a central pillar of the career change programme I use with my clients and allows us to recognize WHY we work where and how we do.

To start unraveling your own purpose, request your free guide to Joining the Dots in your Career Transitions.

4.     Take your whole self to work  

When you feel you have to adopt a work persona that squeezes out valuable parts of your character, there’s something wrong.

Instead of pretending to be someone else’s version of what a teacher / accountant / designer should be, seek out and evolve environments in which the real you is actively welcome.

5.     Discover and chase new dreams throughout your life

It’s OK to have a wide variety of interests! This is how new ideas, collaborations and innovations emerge.

When you’re actively pursuing ideas that enliven you, fascinate and absorb, and which offer new learning, you’re adding to your stock of knowledge and experience. In time, you’ll have something to offer that may include new ways of combining sectors or fields. Chase those dreams, because they have something to teach YOU.

6.     Change careers every decade (or so) if you want to

Don’t rely on external forces to write your career path – consider what you need for fulfillment, what the world needs, and change direction to give your new venture a chance. 

Career change can be a positive choice – not only to be faced when redundancy strikes or industries die. What you have already mastered and contributed will not be lost, rather your new direction will build upon your past career in enriching ways.

7.     Develop mastery in one career, add a second string, change direction and master that one

The key word here is ‘mastery’. Grow and contribute in your first career, make your mark, have successes to share.

When you add a second string and develop a portfolio career, develop mastery in that second string too – throw yourself heart and soul into developing expertise in your field. Care about your work, about your contribution, about continuing to learn. 

It may well be the unique interaction between the two areas of mastery that become what you are known for. This combination of depth and innovative blending can offer the creative spark that provides new solutions to problems we can’t yet know.

I’ve noticed a growth of interest in portfolio careers and have written about it in this article. If this appeals to you, but you’re unsure how to make the change, I’d love to hear from you.

8.     Adding rejuvenating career gaps – to travel, to learn, to experiment, to share

Yes, write yourself a permission slip. What will you gain from designing a career gap? Will it be knowledge, experience, rest, rejuvenation, new perspectives, giving back, developing new ideas? 

In some countries, a regular sabbatical is well known to retain and motivate staff. Build in your own gaps, justify their existence in your career path, embrace and thoroughly enjoy them. In some cases consider them the opportunity to prototype an idea. You’ll return to your next venture with recharged batteries, fresh eyes, and a valuable dose of wellbeing.

When you gain mastery then slide into a new field, perhaps punctuating these two areas of mastery with a rejuvenating gap, you’ll be following what Professor Lynda Gratton calls a carillon curve ‘involving a mosaic of building energy in new areas, making time for reflection and time for working in volunteer passions’ (The Shift, p 252).

9.     Job share, start your own business, collaborate, innovate

You may have no experience of any of these ways of working, but which do you fancy? What can you design within your current work or alongside it? What would you like to explore? 

Go out and talk to people who have already done it and consider whether your next move could include one of these ideas. Ask what it will give you, how you will grow, what a difference you could make to the world through these new efforts.

Instead of dismissing them as ‘not for you’, give the idea time to breathe – it could be the making of you.

If nothing else, I hope these ideas have prompted some new thoughts. When you accept that you are the author of your own career story you can start to be more creative in how your working life evolves.

Discover what YOU need to feel fulfilled and to be yourself – and if you need a gentle nudge, a framework or some career change coaching, I’d love to hear from you.