3 Questions to Ask when Changing Career Path.
I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.
— Stephen Covey
In the real world, our first job was not likely related to the course we took from college. There will be times where you keep asking yourself either you took a road less traveled by or are you making enough for a living? However, if you are lucky enough to land your dream job — Congratulations!
I remembered the time during my internship, my superior and I were talking about careers then I told him that I wanted to be a Barista. His only advice for me, go where your heart desires. My undergraduate course was Business Administration and my first job is related to the hospitality industry. It is entirely different from what I learned during college and was culture-shocked by the fast-paced environment. But why did I chose to be a Barista than working in a corporate world? My only answer to that is, I wanted to conquer my fears (I am a shy introverted person) and to know more about myself.
After I completed my mission at working as a Barista, I resigned and kept on exploring what lies ahead of me. During this pandemic, I took the time to discover new opportunities with free online courses available, enrolling in a class that will benefit my present and future self, and updated to the current news to aligned with my plans. Disclaimer: I am not romanticizing this pandemic as a lot of us were laid off and ruined our plans, but these are what I learned.
- What are my current mission and core values?
An underrated question yet important as our mission and values were changing months or even every year. Example: if you are not happy anymore in your current state with your role in your organization and you want to expand your knowledge and skills to a different set of people, most likely, you are going to take that road. After reframing your thinking in your career, you come up with a new core value that you want to hone. Either way, it is different for every person on what their priorities in life are and do not be so hard to yourself if it is different from others.
2. What are my current strengths and weaknesses?
These are common questions but helpful during self-assessment mainly because when your previous job is different from what you want to take a new career path. As for me, my strength that will contribute to the career path I want to pursue is my leadership skills, customer service skills, and my passion for developing knowledge to other people. And my weaknesses were communication skills that I need to enhance more and some technical skills.
3. What industry do I want to take?
It is a difficult question because every day kept on researching different industries and whether they aligned with my core values and mission. My previous job is in the hospitality industry and recently piqued my interest in the technology industry (such as digital marketing, web programming, and business analytics. Hence, enrolling in one of these classes). Creating a graph is essential as you can see their pros and cons and if they will contribute to your career growth.
Now, you are settling into the first part. It is time to do some actions to achieving your next goal. Keep in mind that there are no perfect plans as such plans have many hurdles to overcome. We do not know what is next for us, but, as Darren Hardy states in his book on The Compound Effect, “The dream in your heart may be bigger than the environment in which you find yourself. Sometimes you have to get out of that environment to see that dream fulfilled. It’s like planting an oak sapling in a pot. Once it becomes rootbound, its growth is limited. It needs a great space to become a mighty oak. So do you.”
With that, I will leave you a Visayan word in the Philippines “PADAYON” meaning moving forward.
