Portfolio careers on the rise

A new trend has come about; there is an increasing propensity to refrain from a conventional full-time job and instead take on several part-time jobs, including self-employment and freelancing. Such multiple-strand careers, more commonly known as ‘portfolio careers’ have become quite popular in Europe and the concept is catching up fast in the USA. The prime reason for the popularity of portfolio careers is the overall flexibility, independence and assortment that they offer. In return, they call for a high degree of enterprise, forbearance and organisational competences.

Portfolio careers are required to be put together around an assortment of abilities, concerns and fascinations; however, the need to concurrently indulge in proactive career management is inescapable. You do not have a single job or a sole employer; on the contrary, you have several jobs and several employers under the gamut of a single profession.  The concept of portfolio careers was mooted in late twentieth century by Charles Handy, an Irish business management thinker. He prophesied that in times to come, quite a few people will be at the wheels of their careers by working in a number of small jobs instead of a single full-time employment.

I have known a gentleman whose company resorted to downsizing and he was just around fifty. Today, he combines consulting with part-time work, teaching at a local college and freelance writing. A good communicator that he is, he utilises his talking and enabling skills to conduct workshops for the corporate world and college students.

There are several reasons why people take to portfolio careers. While some may do so purely for having a good work-life balance, others who possess a number of skills opt for them to make maximum use of their flairs. There are few who seek more independence and fulfilment. However, starting, achieving and overseeing a portfolio career is not easy going. Aspects that pose problems are determining the kinds of jobs to go for, identifying prospective employers, squaring contending exigencies for time and directing the effort per se. And of course, there could be diminished income, greater than before isolation and increased insecurity too; and which will be further heightened because of an absence of a set schedule.

There are therefore two questions that need to be pondered over. Firstly, is a portfolio career your cup of tea? And secondly, how do you manage a portfolio career if at all you take a plunge into it? Whatever be your decision, you have to consider all factors to ensure that all strands are successful endeavours.

You have varied options. You can be employed by different organisations and establishments or decide to be self-employed; a blend of both is also possible. Your schedule could be an assortment of part-time jobs, some even being provisional jobs. It may entail either freelancing or working on specific projects. There are quite a few people who decide to go in for a portfolio career for livelihood as they make efforts to find an opening for a permanent career and job. Despite the circumstances and intent, a portfolio career offers a better control over one’s agenda and timetable.

At the positive end of the spectrum, a portfolio career allows people to use their skills and faculties to generate an income that is as much or even more that what possibly would accrue if they were to go in for a conventional full-time employment. Characteristically, such individuals have a bank of expertise that can be offered to a cadre of employers and even clienteles. Needless to state, their networking skills are excellent. Consequentially, they are able to enjoy a more rewarding work and life experience. On the other hand, there are many who were earlier into full-time employment but were forced out of it and thus struggle to survive and sustain themselves by patching together different part-time engagements. The struggle can of course be rendered easy if they understand the nuances of creating, supporting and developing such work arrangements.

The fact is that portfolio careers are not meant for everybody. You will always run the risk of not being able to generate adequate number of assignments. Individuals who focus on certainty, steadiness and an organized routine may find the experience rather traumatic. But actually this is a subject of individual outlook. As it is, the prospects of job security are rather limited and hence it would be an interesting activity to mull over various skill-sets and knowledge domains that could be put up for sale. The intended objective is to discern how a portfolio career can present flexibility and generate demands for you.

Remember that it is not the strongest or the most intelligent that survive; those who are most responsive to change invariably do well. Going back and starting a new beginning is difficult; you can start today and make a new ending. After all, the world needs people like you – people who can come alive.

Get set to select a career

Getting to select a carer line, though formidable, can also be an easy affair. You need to complement your propensities and abilities; this may necessitate change some to match the other and vice versa.

The career field that you decide to pursue today is a vital life decision because of the enormous time that you will devote to your job in the years to come. It will also define the number of possibilities that you will enjoy to branch out on the basis of your fundamental capabilities. Therefore, your decision has to consider all possible flairs that you have so that you have the greatest degree of independence, free-will and flexibility to embark upon varied jobs competently and assertively.

So, how do you move ahead? Here are some questions that you need to find answers to and which will serve as tips for discovering the most appropriate career for you:

· What do you love to do? Most people look for outside support to decide their career paths. You need to identify people who you hold in high esteem and find out what they do. And more importantly, you will have to work out your aspirations and correspond your abilities with those necessary in your selected field of work. This entails investigative and exploratory work. 

· What are your skills that contribute to doing things that you delight in? Some reflection on things that you excel at and delight in will point to those that you would enjoy at your work too. To illustrate the point, you could be liking gardening as a leisure; you could thus take up landscaping, floriculture, horticulture, greenhouse management or grounds-keeping as a fulltime pursuit. It is the potential field that you need to decide ab initio and thereafter you will be all set to partner with your skills.

· What are various broad fields that you can work in? An area of work entails taking up different types of jobs. You should regard your inclinations and fascinations in the context of searching a career path that will open up a minimum of four or five job alternatives within the array of a particular field. For example, you may become a doctor, but the options are working at a hospital, teaching at a medical college, practising medical law or hospital administration. Likewise, if your communication skills are good, you can take up editing, publishing, copywriting, opinion journalism and even PR consultancy jobs.  It will all depend on your individual disposition and readiness to experiment.

· What are the qualitative requirements for various fields that interest you? You need to find out about the attributes and qualifications that are sought by employers for different jobs. This would necessitate some research and the information that you gather will assist you in deciding specific fields and extent of studies required. 

· Who are the people engaged in similar fields and who can help you learn more? Having discerned jobs that appeal to you, it is essential that you interact with people who are already working in such lines. You will get to know their opinions and even recommendations. It is likely that you may take on an apprenticeship to get a hang of what things will be if you take up a pursuit as a career.

· How should you assess your career line for its harmony with your perceptions and research? If you couple the advice you get with your own findings plus outlook, you will be able to envision your career path. You will have some lifestyle aspirations and they should invariably be dovetailed in your planning to make your future as pragmatic and secure as possible.

· How can you be better poised for the career that you intend choosing? You should make good use of your networking to get into honorary or even low-remuneration jobs so that you have a good practical exposure to working conditions. By doing so, you will be in a position to prioritise acquisition of additional skills and qualifications.

· What is the most important aspect of your outlook? As always, the need to maintain an upbeat approach is very important. You should be open to suggestions so that you can adapt yourself to fast changing situations. There will be high-pressure demands which you should regard as challenges. Above all, you must maintain the exclusivity that you possess because that is what will make you stand out and create an impact on your employers. 

Your decision to select a career is a turning point in your life. Just as you cannot judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, you need to weigh various factors that will stand in your favour. And the more detailed and serious your effort, the better will be your future.

Set your bearings correct to advance in your career

Every single individual, irrespective of the organisation he or she works in, seeks growth and improvement. To be able to achieve this, you need to have objectives, possess appropriate skill-sets and be extremely go-getting to reach wherever you have aimed for.  

Career advancement is self-inflicted; you need to set your bearings correct to experience it. Here is what you should do:

· Be an innovative thinker: Your thinking need not be restrictive. On the contrary, you must think beyond parameters and search continually for something novel. You can create an impact on your boss and other senior people by offering constructive proposals; this will have positive fallouts. Today, no company can assure you of lifelong employment and hence you need to be a sort of a venturesome impresario so that you can remain focussed on your career direction.

· Be knowledgeable & proficient: Your adeptness and know-how at your work are a subject of regular evaluation; and they are invariably sought. Dexterity can be demonstrated through promptness, perseverance, fervour and honesty. You have stretch yourself beyond your perceived level of confidence and thus be able to greet new environments imperturbably and assertively.

· Show concern for your work: You need to execute all tasks with boundless eagerness and exhibit your yearning for more challenging tasks. In this way, you will be able to augment your individual value and also send correct signals to and create a positive impact on your boss.  

· Advance your interactive abilities:  Employees who possess powerful interactive capacity are invariably resilient hearers, acute scholars and excellent performers; they are actually organisational live-wires. If you have strong interactive abilities, your seniors will automatically turn their attention on to you; in fact they scout around for such people to share their load with; if you happen to strike their attention, windows of opportunities will lie ahead of you for evident reasons.   

· Indulge in self-promotion: You must know about your USPs and also make regular efforts to market your attainments. People care about what you have done and not what you are going to do. To that extent, while refraining to blow your own horn, you must talk about various programmes undertaken by you successfully so that others are invited to take notice of you. You earn the right to promote yourself only when you accomplish something of value. And when you disseminate to the outside world details of problems solved by you or a new initiative launched by you or contributions made by you, again windows of opportunities will open up for you.

· Make continual learning a habit: Learning is an eternal process and the more knowledge you acquire, the better your career advancement will be. Through your capability and deftness, you can usher in organisational prosperity. It is essential that you remain updated with latest drifts and advances, both in your field of work and outside it. The secret to mastery in any field is to forever be a student. To do well in your career, you have to learn something new every day and re-learn something old every day.

· Conduct yourself skilfully: You need to conduct and acquit yourself in a professional manner. Your communication skills matter a lot. Participation in professional events like workshops and seminars will also portray your professional approach. It is essential that you adhere to the laid down norms of behaviour – be they related to work-timings, dress code and teamwork, etc.

· Widen your contact base: Besides expanding your professional network, you also need to develop a greater social attitude. You stand better chances of success in your job search if the prospective workplace has somebody acquainted with you and also willing to help you. If you have a potent social network, you will get to know about new openings without much efforts; your job search gets easier.

· Eliminate full-stops: Your focus should be to work at a place that offers you prospects of growth. It is futile to waste your skills, qualifications and practical knowledge by working endlessly at one place. You need to take advice from your friends, philosophers and guides – they could be anybody and not necessarily your seniors or elders – on what you ought to be doing for your career advancement. Taking help from professionals can also do you immense good.

Your career advancement is your personal responsibility; it does not come packed to be purchased off the shelf. You cannot afford to laze around with your career. You must begin to act today so that you can make a difference tomorrow.

Be a megastar employee

Who does not want to excel at work and be a megastar employee? In this context, everybody will offer the same old advice, “Be dynamic and enterprising; maintain ascendancy; lend a helping hand to others; and get engaged.” This advice needs to be refreshed further with concrete approaches that can boost your standing.

Your will to win, desire to succeed and urge to reach your full potential are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence. You have to be a yardstick of quality so that you stand out. Here are some methods that can transform your repute from an uninspiring employee to a superb one:

· Be prolific without being harried:  You should strive to be productive without remaining unnecessarily preoccupied. A comprehension of the difference between these two efforts is critical to your doing well at work. Working excessively is not essentially a barometer of efforts; what is of significance is the outcome.  

· Address concerns head to head:  If you delay notifying any failure or slipup, you will be doing more harm than good to yourself. You should look problems straight into their eyes; this will facilitate your forward movement.

· Be skilful to decline, if required:  Taking on several tasks at a time is counter-productive; you do no justice to them and neither you nor your company benefits. It is necessary that you possess the ability to decline; doing so will initiate candid and more fruitful dialogues and manifest your prowess to accord precedence to issues and set frontiers of operations.

· Use techniques instead of setting objectives: While any objective is a singular item that you would desire to attain, the technique is how you propose to do so. Objective per se could be restraining, but techniques bring about outcomes and hence make you feel enduringly triumphant.   

· Be an effective narrator:  Communication skills are a prerequisite to success; hence it is essential that you speak and write impressively. You may talk on any subject; your knowledge and delivery apart, the timings of your delivery are very important. Strong communications skills are what will give you popularity and get you promoted.

· Be dependably middling:  People who are smart and skilful are not necessarily assured of success. You need to possess a good mishmash of concrete and corresponding skills. Being passable at an assortment of attention-grabbing things can, in point of fact make you exceptional. 

· Have cushion-time up your sleeves:  Effective time management calls for having vacant time slots at your disposal. If you have one to two hours cushion time on a daily basis, you can utilise it as respite or attend to pending assignments. And more importantly, you should allow yourself less time to finish a work; you will still be able to do it.

· Let your knockers remain behind you:  If you have to market any proposition to your co-workers, seniors and clients, you need to do your homework well so that you can clarify all qualms. In the light of the foregoing, you must always anticipate faultfinders and ensure that they do not have the better of you.

· Be concerned & compassionate:  Your workplace success is contingent on your workplace relationships. The latter can be developed best through display of fellow feelings. You should have regard for sensitivities of others.

· Routinely acclaim others:  The best way to promote yourself is by indicating and appreciating the endeavours of others. You will make them happy and draw them close to you.

· Believe that your job is at risk of failing:  Your current job is not there forever. If you realise this, you will remain alert and ready for any eventuality because you can never predict when an aspiring person steps in to take over from you. 

· Take a break from everyday work routine:  Beyond a certain level, stress and strain adversely affect your productivity. It is therefore, extremely important that you earmark adequate time for rest and recoup; periodic breaks from daily grind will do you great good. You should also habituate yourself to exercise to remain physically and mentally fit.  

The secret of joy and success in work is contained in one word - excellence. Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other. You have to work hard because sans it, nothing grows but wildflowers. Keep your best wishes and objectives of deep interest and concern to yourself by dedicating time to them regularly. If you truly care about what you do and you work conscientiously at it, you will be a megastar at work.

Jealousy rescinds career advancement

Successful individuals always concentrate on how their ingenuity and headship attributes can help their organisation grow. When people start comparing themselves with others, they wile away their precious time, attempting to be what they are actually not. And they generally do not move forward in their careers.

Jealousy is a perilous natural feeling that comes to us routinely; it is unavoidable but can be restrained. In their quest to excel at work, several people tend to mess up their careers and lives because they cannot withstand stress and strain that afflicts them when they try to emulate others desperately wanting to come into limelight or get a promotion.

The best way to advance in your career is to be your natural self and know what you and your principles are, besides what you need to do to support your abilities. Mentors and others can show you the way, however, eventually you yourself have to be the captain of the ship that is also you. If you are jealous, you run the risk of wrecking your career for reasons more than one. .

Today, the general environment in which we live is devoid of consideration towards others, where impersonators abound and everybody is involved in a rat-race. The requirement for ingenuity is exceptionally intense and which calls for an extremely venturesome disposition. Under such conditions, people prefer to engage in one-upmanship to create an acquired impression, rather than deciding to be exclusive. And since this stance breeds discontentment, jealousy pervades our environment.

People who are jealous seek acquiescence and recognition; and not importance. They have no intention to make any useful contribution to the world and feel satisfied being part of a herd. Ordinary that they are, ordinariness is what they accept it in their lives. The jealousy that vexes them does not encourage anybody; it simply outlines them.

Today, the world has become a global village that calls upon everybody to accept workplace medley and yet stand out differently. Jealousy is a symptom of lack of appreciation of our own exclusivity and is simply and clearly the fear that you do not have value. You need to be assertive enough to luxuriate that exclusivity and self-worth. You may not be able to alter the sensitivities that generate jealousy, but you can definitely alter your outlook towards things to make your life jealousy-free. Given below are six reasons why jealousy rescinds career advancement and hence the need to restrain it:

· Absence of competitive spirit: When you concentrate only on emulating others, you fail to be spirited. Your zeal takes a beating and so does your career. Lack of a competitive spirit makes you believe that others are a peril. You miss out on spotting opportunities, leave aside clutching them. You become visionless.

· Latency of genuineness: If you have to do something, you must come up to it, which you cannot because you focus on what others are instead of yourself. You must endeavour to add a tag of worth to your name to get yourself noticed.

· Problems in generating impetus: If you steer away from your own exclusivity, you simply cannot steer yourself with zeal. Impetus is brought about by virtuous opportunism and concentration; and which calls for consolidating your expertise and focussing on attaining the best.

· Inability to make friends & exchange ideas: If you are jealous, you can never foster camaraderie and mutual faith. Friends and friendship will always elude you. You must ponder over how you can share your swaying capability with others rather than centring on impediments brought about by jealousy when meeting them.

· Loss of self-belief: If you are plagued with acrimony, you will not find any reason to count on yourself too. To be successful in your career, you have to count on yourself and if you do not, you cannot promote yourself or your skills. Resultantly, you restrict your own prospects of growth.

· Wearing down of happiness & dignity: Jealousy and dissatisfaction are complementary. When jealousy overtakes you, you become despondent and your self-assuredness gets eroded. You get stuck in a self-created muddle that retards all growth prospects.

You will always encounter people who will be several shades better than you. Your objective should be to enunciate your exclusivity and utilise it for gainful purposes on a daily basis. After all, your life should not be wasted in comparing yourself with others; instead, you should utilise every opportunity that it affords to learn from others, as perhaps they do from you.

Discovering & seizing career opportunities

The world is all openings, prospects and strings of tension waiting to be struck. But striking them is possible only if you can see and identify them; and which is possible only if you adopt a cautious line of action. If you genuinely seek to switch roles or move ahead in your career, you need to know how to track and trail opportunities that go well with your personality and skills. But this is a long drawn-out process and calls for forbearance and tenacity.

Opportunities do not come with their value stamped on them. They have hair in front but are bald behind. How do you discover and seize career opportunities? Here are some tips:

· Harbour the correct outlook:  The world around you is saturated with opportunities and you have to be perennially on the lookout. You need to cultivate this as a habit. Whichever opportunity you discern, make a note of it; the list can always be pruned subsequently.   

· Hunt for veiled opportunities:  There will be many openings that may not be advertised publicly, including some in your current organisation; you should always be on the lookout for them. Increasing your contact base and interacting with people should also be high on your agenda so that you remain abreast with all developments. If necessary, assistance in introduction to people who matter can also be taken. You could even think of doing some professional work without compensation for public good; besides affording you knowledge and experience, this will help you expand your network and in the process identify new openings.    

· Know your fortes & limitations:  It is essential that you understand your plusses and minuses to discern opportunities that go with your personality and qualifications. To be able to know your fortes, you should recognize tasks that you take pleasure in while executing, those that you tend to avoid or those that you can accomplish better than others. There will be certain principles and standards that you subscribe to and which others may be lacking; a discernment of these will help you identify opportunities relevant to you. You must also catalogue prominent people whom you know and who could be used to exert influence, if the need arises. The opinion of others should not be disregarded and hence, you must know how others perceive you. You may have specific inherent traits that go against you; it is necessary to reflect on them also. Having identified your fortes and limitations, you should reflect on the possibility of converting them into prospects by making the most of the former and jettisoning the latter.

· Pinpoint elements relevant to you:  What are various issues that hold relevance to you? Aspects like lifestyle (present and desired), salary package, job satisfaction, life and career objectives and prospects of acquiring additional qualifications need to be considered by you to discover a work that is best suited for you. And most importantly, you must consider if the opportunity at hand is exciting and stimulating or not. There could be several other factors that you may consider and which will help you trim down your preferences.

· Trim your preferences:  Having understood your fortes, weaknesses and inclinations as also opportunities available to you, you need to shortlist the finest opportunities. This is necessary to prevent pointless exertions. You must ponder over each opportunity, what it routinely entails, how it measures into your life and the returns accompanying with it. You also need to simultaneously think about on the modus operandi to be adopted for clutching it along with an introspection of your capabilities and additional skills required to facilitate drawing utmost optimum benefits. No endeavor is without hazards and you must reflect on them too. After a holistic evaluation, you will be able to identify the best opportunity available to you.

· Get ready & make a start:  The opportunity having been identified, you have to get on your marks and go. The best way of doing so is to integrate it in your individual objectives. You can then mull over various actions required to be taken by you to derive full benefits. Should it be necessary for you to acquire additional qualifications or expertise, you must appropriately do so. If the opportunity happens to be in the organisation which you are currently serving in, you ought to focus attention to create impact to boost your success prospects. 

Any effort made or time spent to investigate career opportunities will never go waste. Remember that they will multiply as they are seized and will die when neglected. And the doors of all opportunities are always marked ‘PUSH’. Push yourself forward and you will succeed.

What do you want to do in life?

The above is a question of the ages and is relatable to everybody. A child may respond differently to a person in his or her mid-twenties. The response of a person in his or her mid-thirties may be totally different to that of someone approaching fifty. While child may dream of becoming a locomotive driver, a pilot or even a footballer, a person who has been in work for a decade or so would feel that he is well over that stage. 

The state of markets and belt-tightening efforts worldwide has impelled the hunt for worthier, superior and lucrative employment. The situation could actually be more problematic than what perceived. But then all clouds have a silver lining. If you recollect the workforce that existed during the depression, you will realise that a number of people had to wash their hands off their jobs; they simply had to forsake their professions. However, and luckily though, work is not seen a profession that one ought to be wedded for life.

Of late, changing careers has become a trend and young people do so several times even in their first decade of work. Alterations, modifications and deviations are accepted customs and models today. The ability to remain open to change and adapt to it is generally appreciated as the benchmark that moulds people for success as they set out on a pre-decided career map.

Today, career options are countless and in fact, flourish as a mode of life. In the light of this startling fact, workplace problems are very routine and have come to be an inseparable part of our culture and social order. You will find scores of people who battle with doubts related to their career trump-cards. They are plagued with uncertainties and talk about initiatives that they ought to take to move ahead in their careers; entrepreneurs do likewise about their businesses.

So, how do you respond to the question of the ages, your own age notwithstanding? Here are some guidelines:

· Fervour & ardour vis-à-vis title & status: What is it in work that arouses your feelings and boosts your enthusiasm? It is not the rank, standing or importance of the work that actually matters. You should be able to identify specific areas of specific tasks that you have accomplished or those that you feel would be terrific to be associated with. Those are the urges that you ought to be craving for and seek in any type of work that you undertake or want to undertake.  

· Dogging of personal catalysts & facilitators: How can you improve by making fine adjustments to your previous or present work so that you are able to convert them into a launch pad to leap forward from? You should be absolutely clear about what you can seize today to refine your own private folder that could assist you to validate the worth that you can contribute in your company. 

· Your disposition gives you scope of freedom: You could be working anywhere in any designation. Whatever and wherever they be, how can you derive satisfaction – both physical and mental? You should be able to spot minimum three or four aspects of your work routine or for that matter even your job hunt efforts that could be put to an optimistic twist. Since all dispositions and outlooks are transmittable, you must improve your capability to discern and concentrate on upbeat aspects, even if the venom of deleterious issues seem to be unsurpassably immense. You must transform yourself into a progressive, constructive and optimistic person that all employers vehemently seek to hire so that positivity pervades their environment.

· Steer & traverse the networking calling: Any proposition to seek help of those whom you hold in esteem is worth its weight in gold. You could ask them specifics of what you should be knowing or becoming adept at. If they harbour genuine concern, they will be more than willing to join in your efforts and help you in getting to know people who matter. You should spare no efforts in this regard.

It is important that you be an exceptional form of yourself rather than an inferior form of somebody else. Though you cannot alter wind direction, you can always adjust your sails to reach your destination. In other words, you should be well-prepared to toss the life you planned to gain the life that lies ahead of you. Remember that change cannot be dispensed with and to deal with it, a flexible mind and willingness to learn are inescapable.

Have an edge over other job-aspirants

The current times are witnessing very rapidly emergent market drifts. Coupled with them, intense contests are also there and these have led to swelled up numbers of job hunters. The job hunters are also of two categories – one who are unemployed and two who are looking for a job change. However, companies regard all job aspirants as simple job seekers and deliberately or unintentionally tend to underrate them. All job hunters are seen as people out to press their case for employment; this evidently leads to judgments that typically reduce the adeptness and know-how of applicants.

The above makes it necessary to take steps so that you do not project yourself as another person out to get a job and alter the manner in which potential businesses and companies look at and consider your profile. What should you be doing in this regard? You should restructure your curriculum vitae as an open-minded individual and continual student out to drive your career.  The following is recommended:

· Trail existing drifts & developments:  A large majority of job seekers suffer from a fallacy that mention of past experience in their resumes will invite favourable attention of prospective employers. Conventionally, organisations have been seeing courses attended and qualifications of candidates together with their practical experience as an important consideration for recruiting the best individuals. However, fast shrinking global markets has given birth to an intense competition by multinational companies and which has resulted in a severe modification in both their predilection and recruiting processes.  Today, companies seek to recruit people who possess knowledge and can apply the same to their work. The judgement to recruit is regardless of the quantum of training courses that you may have attended or the experience to your credit. The mandates and ultimatums of fast altering and fast emerging markets are gradually rendering hitherto fore useful training courses and experience as meaningless.     

· Incorporate incessant learning in your curriculum vitae:  You should guard against depicting your curriculum vitae in a thorough configuration. It is essential that you discern prevalent knowledge inclinations and subscribe to training courses that are relevant to your field of work. You could embark upon them while you are out job hunting and incorporate your endeavours in your resume. This will portray to your prospective employer that you are well-versed with latest technology and that you are making serious efforts on your own accord to upgrade your knowledge with progressive skills. Your image will thus be transformed – from that of another person trying to get a job to a specialist – and resultantly, other things being equal, you will draw favourable consideration.

· Embrace effective career management: Till not very long ago, if you served a company with hard work and devotion for long, you were rewarded with better roles and greater responsibility; you thus enjoyed inherent job security. Under such a system, career management was largely organisational obligations. However, today, things are quite the opposite. With increasing reliance on technological advancements and fluctuating requirements of clients, organisations are unable to prognosticate the strength of their human resources even six to eight months ahead. Decades of hard work and devotion can only be imagined by you; a flood of temporary jobs have been a fallout of altering market trends. Under such a situation, you should stay updated with prevalent market trends and be in firm control of your career. Hopping jobs from one organisation to another is what you should do without reluctance but with due deliberation till such time you feel satisfied and an optimistic result is perceived.

Your very career advancement can take a beating if you are not in harmony with the speed of technological progress. You must learn to become practised, skilful and proficient in your own field so that you come to be regarded as a hard-earned and indispensable strength of the company that you work in.

Remember that intelligence is your ability to be flexible and change. But given the changing market trends, ability being able to catch up with the demand for it is a difficult affair. You should be proactive enough and be at the wheels of your career. And when you find the ability to believe in yourself and also believe in your capabilities, the sky will become an infinite expanse of both opportunities and possibilities. You will be able to build a great career for yourself. And since no one rises to small expectations, be a person of ability rather than an ordinary job seeker.