Choosing a Career - Part 2 (understanding Yourself)

At the end of the last post we talked about possible career tracks.

Based on the framework of Discipline, Industry & Function we hope you began some research. There are a few posts in this blog labelled as "Industry" and "Functions".

We will continue to post about different industries and functions on a regular basis. 


The next step in managing your career is to understand yourself

Your aptitude
Find out what you like doing - are you comfortable with numbers; are you at ease with people; do you feel comfortable working on machines; are you a computer nerd?

Don’t confuse existing skills with aptitude

Your situation
What have you done so far - what are your qualifications; what demonstrable skills have you developed; what is your track record (your responsibilities in your current job or any organized activity you have participated in; your contribution in the job or activity); other notable achievements in any field or activity?

What do you want to be?
Based on the framework and your research, you may want to be a Subject Matter Expert in a discipline, a Functional Expert in a particular function e.g. finance; supply chain; accounts etc or a Business Leader in an industry.

You could look at what kinds of skills are required at different levels in an organization in in this linked article.

Understand what constraints could block you and how to overcome important ones

Develop the attitude
Understand your personality, learn to review your actions and underlying motives and work on attitudes dysfunctional to your goal

In the next post we will discuss basics of preparation for the career