The first and perhaps most important skill Andrew Grinbaum highlights is that individuals should start with an end in mind. I am intrigued by this topic because I think that it is logical and employing this strategy in your career would save vital time and money associated with making bad career choices.
Andrew Grinbaum states “goals are important to have if you want to succeed.” But he indicates that not just any set of goals will do but rather, goals which are realistic, well thought out and attainable. He continues to advise that your set goals should not only ask you to push yourself to the next level, but they should also come with knowledge and experience to be able to get to your next level.
In creating and planning a career, individuals should create goals based on where he or she wants to be at the end of the career path. What this means is that if an individual know that he or she cannot stomach to be in the presence of blood or open flesh, then he or she should not pursue a medical degree just because his or her parents are doctors and his or her older siblings are also pursuing medical degrees. The individual should think about the industry in which he or she wants to work but more importantly the job and even the title of the job and position where he or she wants to reach. Andrew Grinbaum advises that you should write down the one or three to ten places you would like to work, and the kind of work you would like to perform. He further states that you use the research in his book Cha-Ching! or go online and take a look at Monster.com and see what sort of salaries people with five or ten years of experience are getting paid for the type of work you are thinking of pursuing. He also stated that you should also consider where you would expect to live as this would be a key in creating a strategy that would allow you to maximize your potential. If there are no opportunities in the city where you are living for an industry for which you have pursued a degree, then you have acquired a really expensive poster, and this is not effectively and efficiently planning your career.
The professor also suggest that individuals take a look at Salary.com and analyze the titles for which they have an interest, to see what kind of salaries are associated with these titles. An individual may know that they love young children and may be seriously considering a career as a kindergarten teacher. However, upon realizing that even after a decade as a kindergarten teacher the maximum salary that can be attained is well under $100,000 and insufficient to adequately pay for the degree acquired to pursue the teaching position. In situations like this, not only is this a bad career strategy but also a poor economic decision.
Andrew Grinbaum recommends, you should take some time and work out the various fields in which you want to work and think 10 years into the future. He also endorses that you should ask of yourself; how much do people in this field earn after five years? After ten years. Where are the jobs located? How much do the top 10% in this field/profession earn after reaching seniority?
In a Wall Street Journal article title “Seeking to Match Skills and Jobs” by Justin Lahart and Ben Casselman, the author discuss what can result from not effectively preparing for a career. The authors assert that one reason unemployment is stuck above 9% is the even some of America’s best educated workers don’t have the skills employers are seeking. They further declare that there are plenty of unemployed workers with specialized skill but in the wrong specialty. The authors state that these individuals face the choice of either taking a lower-skilled job or going back to school to learn more skills. They further discussed the case of a Fresno, California nonprofit agency that provides nursing and other in-home health services, that is finding it difficult to hire an occupational therapist, “in a field where competition for talent is keen.” The article indicated that the agency is offering $55 to $65 an hour, a $15,000 signing bonus and help paying off student loans. The article include that the agency’s director has resorted to cold-calling potential therapists. The authors of the article concluded that in theory these kinds of mismatches should ease over time and that young people looking at careers will be drawn toward areas with greater opportunities. However, the demand for specialized skills can shift quickly, so picking a career that has good prospects doesn’t meant that it will be that way five or ten years from now.
This article emphasizes the need to effectively planning your career. Individuals can easily pick the “flavor of the month” opportunity to pursue as a career of they can carefully plan a career in which there is stability and longevity. As indicated by Lahart and Casselman, while there may be strong prospects in a career today, it does not necessarily mean that the prospects will be there five to ten years from now. Be wise and plan with a goal in mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment