Career sounds like such a heavy word, doesn’t it?

When I was younger and I heard the word “career” I would picture a clean-shaven business man in a suit and a power-tie, strategizing his advancement in a company where eventually one day he would be the vice-president. Career was big league stuff. It seemed to require tremendous commitment to a well-planned, calculated path in one’s life. Successful people fascinated me because, when I looked ahead in my own life, choosing a single path like that was unappealing. For one, I wasn’t sure I knew what I wanted to do. Also, how much did I really know about myself that would allow me to say, choose the right education or somehow find that perfect job that would allow me to keep climbing up the ladder? How did they do it? I wondered. Maybe it was pure luck or access to consistently good advice. Maybe it was an extensive collection of self-help books?

What I know now is that a career is much more than just about professional advancement: it’s a whole lifestyle based on a series of choices. Choices that help us move through life and which hopefully land us in situations that make us happy. With the right choices, we could end studying something at school that we genuinely enjoy learning about. We could work at a place where we get to perform tasks we’re naturally good at. It’s about finding our right fit. It’s about the idea that work isn’t a separate activity from life, (if life is all the stuff we actually have fun doing); work is very much a part of life and can quite plausibly be a part of said stuff we actually have fun doing. “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life,” right? But how do we find that fit, how do we make those right choices?

We start with finding out what we’re really about. A career, after all, is a completely individual process, unique to each of us. It starts with discovering what our natural abilities are and what’s important to us, what we truly enjoy doing, how we learn the easiest or how we process data. There’s a multitude of tests and exercises available that assess and uncover hidden abilities like a natural skill we might have for calculating numbers or how we tend to interact with a large group of people. We can identify relations we enjoy, like helping others or leading a team. We can think about our priorities: do we value lots of free time? Do we value financial stability? Being close to family? We can observe how we deal with deadlines, stress or conflict. We can also spot the stuff we don’t like; what if we’re bored by repetition or a lack of challenge?

Once we get an idea of who we are we can start looking into work situations that would be a good fit. If you found out that numbers utterly bore you for example, you probably would be happier not being an accountant, even if your family owns an accounting firm. There is a vast amount of information available that enables anyone to see what it takes to be good at any given job and match that to what they have found out about themselves. Information on jobs is also obtainable regarding what schooling would be required, where and how much of that work is currently available or what the future prospects are for that job.  Another way of finding out about work is by talking to people in the profession. Another yet, one that also allows for hands-on experience (and always looks good on a resume!) is volunteering.

But a complete process of career decision-making involves, rather than blindly moving from job to job, not only gathering all the information we can and making decisions based on that information but also acting on those decisions. Taking action means setting goals, both for today and for a broader view of what we want for tomorrow, including identifying blocks to those goals and figuring out how to overcome them. It involves planning the next step, big or small, and then following through with it. It’s about moving ahead to wherever “ahead” means to us. Moving ahead could mean scoring a job and a place to live in Nelson right in time for ski season. But it could also mean missing a ski season because you want to concentrate on starting your own business.

So, what we hope to acquire with the process of career decision-making is the ability to move towards our own favourable outcomes in our work life. It requires being well-informed and staying true to ourselves and that is why it starts with gaining a solid understanding of who we are and what makes us unique. A wealth of information and a variety of tools to guide you along the way are out there.  Make an appointment with a career practitioner at Kootenay Career Development Society or attend the popular Work That Fits workshop.

Employment counsellors can also provide information on the labour market, assist you with your process of self-discovery or refer you to a multitude of employment and community services. Ultimately though, these professionals can only counsel and assist, as it is up to us to remain firmly in the driver’s seat for the whole ride.

Whether you choose a career in the trades or a social worker, remember the choice is yours. Keeping in mind that this path is unique to each person and is an unfolding action that can change and evolve throughout life, it’s good to remember that all we’re doing is connecting ourselves to situations we’re most happy in, in which advancement and success come naturally.

If you love the outdoors, you may not enjoy an office job. And that’s a career decision. Much like how you might decide to take a wilderness course at college. It’s just a series of choices. It’s no different than making it to vice-president… if being a vice president is your thing.