Predicaments in making a career choice

The gamut of exercising a career choice goes much beyond choosing a job. And making a good career choice is a significant decision because eventually the type of life that you aim to lead will be contingent on it. As a matter of fact, a career is an enduring venture capital that calls for serious reflexion. The picture of a fruitful career starts emerging when you amalgamate your fortes with your passions. It should not be forgotten that the process of making a career choice is a continual one, with a horde of facets that warrant consideration to make it a sensible one. 

There are several factors that contribute towards a wrong career choice. The commencement of a successful career choice is concurrent with the time when you begin to be cognizant of your penchants and preferences on one side and disinclinations and antipathies on the other. Ab initio, it can turn out to be a muddled affair and hence and hence, keeping this in view, you should catalogue each and everything that can propel you in the wrong direction.

There are various issues that influence an incorrect career choice. People tend to fall prey to the lure brought about by the brand image or name of an establishment that could be a college or an organisation. There is also a tendency to not let go the first job opportunity simply because it offers prospects of good remunerations. And last but not the least, pulls and influences exerted by parents and others on career decisions tend to bring about a wrong career choice. All things considered, the likely causes of people making an incorrect career choice gyrate around rapaciousness, apprehensions, domestic responsibilities, shared or community soppiness and absence of adequate openings or prospects. Much in contrast with what people may opine, the best method to adopt when making a career choice is to allow your heart of hearts to shape your judgement.

Every single choice that you exercise has some sort of a purpose and meaning appended to it. The reality is that it is the purpose and meaning that actually propels your decision. In actual fact, no career decision is right or wrong; you simply have to go for one that matches your knowhow, flairs and capabilities. Various issues involved as pertinent to your knowhow, flairs and capabilities are:

· Knowhow: Sans knowledge, you will always be at a disadvantage. You will not be able to undertake any extraordinary task related to your field of interest. Possession of knowhow automatically impels you to search for a job in that specific area of work.

· Handiness: The handiness that you possess is of two types – physical and mental. However, both these categories are deciding factors for the advancement that you may make in your career. If you lack appropriate comprehension and skills on how to go about doing a job, the knowhow that you may possess is as good or as bad as non-existent.

· Capabilities: Your capabilities are not an aggregate of your knowhow and flairs. Capabilities are a sort of guarantee that you will be able to finish an assigned task, despite any number of hurdles. However, your capabilities may be constrained by various factors too.   

Your capabilities should serve as a decision making point behind your knowhow and which, in turn should augment your handiness on your job. Going beyond, your handiness should the deciding factor behind your capabilities. To illustrate the point, if you are armed with an MBA, you will certainly want to enhance various skills related to decision-making, administration and superintendence.

If you were to seek career advice from all and sundry, you will land in trouble alright. But if you allow your fears and apprehensions to take a front-seat, the problems will be further compounded. All your prospects, including the remotest one will stand collapsed. That you are stuck in a wrong job will manifest when your enthusiasm plummets and you do not feel like working. It also manifests when remunerations and pecuniary matters fail to inspire you or when you become a loner at your workplace.

The enigma of job discontentment is rather widespread. If you happen to make a wrong career decision, the alternatives available to you will be only two. You can take remedial action to reverse your decision or you must learn to persist with it. Only the bold and daring opt to liberate themselves by moving out of the trap; others come to terms with their ever-rising feelings of insignificance and unimportance.

 A good career decision includes the blend of your interests, your financial concerns and a complete job contentment. Your career is required to meet all your professional aspirations as well as take care of your personal life concerns. The decision that you make should invariably be prompted by the foregoing.

Blaze-trail your career aspirations

“If you are facing in the right direction, all you need to do is keep on walking.”

- Buddhist saying

There is nothing more gratifying and satiating than mustering up pluck and resolution to follow your career ambitions. If you afford yourself adequate time and plan properly, you can author your own success account.

If you feel that you are unhappy in your present job, the urge to give wings to your passions ought to become more intense than ever before. Career specialists opine that prior to getting on the highway to delight as distinct from the road to decline, you will have to remedy several issues.

You sure want to follow your inner desires. And likewise, you want to continue on your current career journey that ensures your pecuniary steadiness and stability in various other features of your life. But discerning the appropriate moment to decide on any of these issues can indeed be a very thorny affair. If you have to decide on the time and methodology to follow your career aspirations, you need consider several factors holistically. Some actions that warrant serious contemplation are:

· Evolving your romanticism to pragmatism by doing self-talk: You should devote more and more time to identify and recognise yourself as also your career-related ambitions, goals and  desires well. In your career journey, there is nobody who can replace you as the captain. You must introspect and talk to yourself. There are certain queries that are both your fundamentals and preconditions; and you ought to raise them with yourself. These important enquiries are:

Ø Is this only an erstwhile reverie or musing? Or is it a passionate and persisting yearning?

Ø In case you set out to chase your dreams straight away, what are the related finest and most horrible circumstances that you may encounter?

Ø If you were to stumble on the most horrible circumstances, do you have the resilience to pull through them?

Ø Is it that you are chasing a dream or trying to escape from a horrendous experience?

Ø What is that you are most apprehensive about? And can you look all such fears straight into their eyes and come out with feasible ways out of them?

· Taking stock of your money-matters: You must shed any misconception that you may have that it is only the rich who can dream big and achieve whatever they dream. You may still have pending obligations and may not consider it appropriate to abandon them. But you still have a number of alternatives to choose from. Perhaps you may conclude that keeping your present job is advisable and in your interests however, you can reflect upon the details of your new endeavour after working hours. You should devise methods to add up to your bank balance. In this context, you could review your expenditures and decide to do away with some of them that if not wasteful, can definitely be avoided.

· Seeking advice from all quarters: The aim of the entire exercise is to determine if setting out for your dream job is sensible or not. Advice from trusted people beyond your current field of work will offer you great perception on the pros and cons of your efforts. There will be many who would have done likewise in the past and are today successful. Taking a word of advice from them will stand you in good stead. You could also identify a guru for the purpose. Remember that we tend to get ensnared in our own visualisations of things and under such situations, external assistance facilitates picturing of a more truthful mosaic.

· Devoting efforts towards yourself & in furthering your qualifications: As far as your decision to chase your dreams is concerned, you are the most important player in it. You must understand that adding on to your qualifications is very significant. You must research to find out what special skills are essential in your new venture; and acquire not just one but a couple of them.

You should not be like a paper boat that bobs, dips and moves up and down the flow of water. Rather than count on luck and hope, you must take control of your career. You must define your aspirations and more importantly chase them in a pragmatic manner. Unless you know where you want to go, how will you ever get there?

The secret of success in life is for a man to be always ready for his opportunity when it comes. Aspects highlighted above are intended to serve as guidelines to make your decision-making process move forward. But when it actually comes to chasing your dreams, like others, you will have your own considerations to reflect upon and priorities to follow. It is you and you alone who can precisely state whether the opportune moment is now or may be, it will unfold sometimes subsequently. Remember that your hopes will never abandon you; it is only you who may walk out on them. Therefore, guard against any inclination to give up and simply blaze-trail your aspirations.

Headship attributes

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”      - John Quincy Adams

There is no organisation or company, a big corporate house or a small business, that can do without leaders. The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority. Managers are there to supervise and superintend, but leaders are required to not search for consensus, which a manager does anyway, but mould it. A leader actually represents a type of edifice and without which, organisations cannot progress. In fact, it is the quality of leadership, more than any other single factor that determines the success or failure of an organization.

Good leaders make their colleagues and subordinates people feel that they are central to all organizational matters and not on the fringes. Everyone gets to experience a feeling that his or her work makes a difference to organizational success. And when that takes place, employees remain focused and that provides their work an importance and purpose.

A leader goes all out to boost the self-esteem of people working under him. Increased self-esteem generates self-belief and if that happens, their accomplishments touch the sky. A leader leads from the front and enthuses others to do likewise. Leadership is all about the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence. A good leader lifts a person’s vision to high sights, raises performance levels of others to a higher standard and builds their personality beyond its normal limitations. In other words, a leader knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. On the way forward, he or she remains accountable for all actions, even if there is failure.  

Good leaders are in great demand and all large establishments seek them. Their indispensability is beyond any doubt because of their capability to motivate others to work. What are the qualities that go in to make a good leader?

· Pre-emptive disposition:  Leaders are supposed to be positive, upbeat and anticipatory individuals. This essentially implies that they can envision things and think in advance to preclude interferences and interruptions. In addition, their judiciousness in delegating work is of a high level, meaning that they can allocate tasks to others appropriately keeping in view all parameters of the assignment at hand. As motivators, they arouse and foster gusto amongst team members to work collectively to attain any shared objective.

· Selfless approach:  All leaders make special efforts to achieve anything. The efforts are invariably more than are expected of them; and can range from extending support to an individual for a personal problem to beating their brains out and putting blood, sweat and tears to accomplish a given task. They are not people who regard their job as one with normal daytime hours; a flexible approach is their forte. Unblemished honour, integrity and rectitude are also their strongpoints.

· Self-awareness:  All leaders are cognizant of their own capabilities and vulnerabilities as also of their respective teams. They act like friends, philosophers and guides; and encourage and motivate people because of their people skills. Acting on the strength of their capabilities, leaders train people under them to overcome their vulnerabilities and limitations. Aware of the fact that they cannot always be correct, leaders pull together appropriate people to discern popular opinions and trends. They use such findings to highlight failings and drawbacks in their teams; and propose suitable instructions to overcome them.

· Flexible attitude:  Because of their ever-readiness to embrace change, leaders find their feet effortlessly in new environments. It is a known fact that the singular factor that keeps any organisation renewed and at its best is change. It is change alone that offers it a cutting edge and steers it away from insolvency and economic failure. Good leaders invariably regard change as a test and accept and support it unreservedly.

· Farsighted outlook:  Leaders are real creative thinkers and futurists. The knowledge that they possess and the familiarity of various aspects to their credit facilitates envisioning and generation of imaginative and ingenuous explanations, resolutions and results – something that ordinary individuals cannot. Their foresight and perceptiveness is the causative factor in identifying new potentials and prospects as also means to make headway for their attainment.

All leaders are righteous; they are not simply efficient, they are just and upright. They adhere to moral values in framing their goals and exercising swaying techniques with sureness. Thus they empower their juniors and colleagues with confidence and pride. Good business leaders always create ideas and concepts; further they enunciate, passionately own and ceaselessly drive them to logical conclusions. And in the entire process, they are not bystanders. If at all there are glitches and hitches, they do not play blame-game, but instead find solutions. Their standpoint is that a vision without execution is just hallucination. In short, they are the inspiration and directors of every action.

Methods to invest in your career

It is your responsibility to unearth your strengths to be able to enjoy a vanguard position over other competitors in your career race. And unless you harbour a sincere commitment to invest in your career and superintend it, you will reach nowhere. If you do not invest in your career, you will be like a person who is on a boat but with no oars – you will keep drifting. Your career journey will be one that will leave you guessing at every stage about what is to follow.

Investing in your career is a long drawn-out process and calls for farsightedness. Its end result should not be lost sight of – it could well be increase in performance levels, prospects for promotions, increase in income and even change to everyday life standards. Career investments should be in harmony with your ardent hunts and eventual career aspirations. You need to be on the lookout for various opportunities and clutch them for your personal growth.

The important point to guard against is any inclination to be swayed by what others are doing for their careers to an extent that you become disengaged from yourself. If you get carried away, you may suffer from ‘career unease syndrome’ and which will make you detest your job and become discontented. Therefore, you should know yourself well – what motivates you, to be precise. Getting to know yourself may take time, but when you do have a fair idea about yourself, you can decide on the investments required to be made in a prudent manner.

When you invest in your career, the returns that accrue consequent to improvement in you that is brought about are exceedingly high vis-à-vis any financial investment. From increased lifetime earning power and unimagined opportunities, to protecting yourself from unemployment and the satisfaction that comes from personal growth and success, the returns are enormous.

What are the areas that you feel are worth investing? Have you already made any investment; if yes, what has been the return? What are your present attention spaces? If you are willing to give the matter serious consideration, you need to:

· Invest in your fortes: This implies utilising them more than ever before. You should become more and more alert to your intrinsic strong suit that permits your abilities to flourish and prompt you to invest in them. You should keep your wits about and note how others are going about investing in their careers; a cognizance of such dynamics will help you take better decisions. However, the bottom line should be to get happiness in your career by giving wings to your fervencies and strong points.

· Invest in your brain power: If you invest in your brain power, the implication is that you apply your knowledge to situations on ground. The start point is acquisition of appropriate savoir faire that will catapult your career forward; remember that learning is an eternal process. You cannot afford to harbour a presumptuous approach and discard any initiative to superintend your career vigorously. The foregoing calls for remaining abreast with all developments and building good associations with pioneers. It will be in all fairness to seek outside help to identify what and how your competitors are striving to get to the place that you also want to be in.

· Invest in appropriate associations & connections: Whatever relationships and networking you may enjoy, it is important that you remain responsive to them. The best way is to have your own advice-giving panel. You must discern your sphere of sway – their individual position today, the manner in which you are being directed and if your investment in them is apt to serve your career interests. On the top of your agenda should be efforts to widen your contact base, nurture it appropriately and keep it dynamic continually.

· Invest in a mentor: You need to keep your initiative going. Given the likelihood of having to manage multifarious responsibilities, it will be difficult to maintain focus. Your career management procedures should form a part and parcel of your objectives and daily schedule as well. A mentor will help you strengthen your sense of obligations and provide you with various tools to be steadfast.

· Invest in your domestic sphere: This entails creating a good work-life balance. You simply cannot afford to disregard your domestic obligations and concentrate only on your career imperatives. Your family and friends has a significant role to play in your career success; at times when you get stuck, they will come to your rescue. It will be your own kith and kin who will always stand by you and hence investing in your domestic sphere is worth the effort.

  All careers are dynamic and require intentionality. You could be at the start point of your career or could have travelled some part of your career journey. Whatever stage be it, you need to generate meaningful metrics - the skill to categorize the most important parts of your job and then transform them into measures of progress that can steer your efforts. In essence, you need to assess and leverage your strengths; develop practical plans; and accelerate your progress. That is what career investment seeks to attain.

Have your way with words & boost your career

Are you apprehensive of speaking at workplace? If yes, then be informed that nearly three-quarters of all working people are in the same boat, given the fact that the job market is difficult and people are fearful about consequences of unemployment. However, the most appropriate moment to speak up is during turbulent times because organisations are frantic for new ideas and means to rationalise working methodologies, increase profits, institute interior economy drives and improve client satisfaction levels.

There are many people who find it difficult to assert themselves when face to face with their boss; even doing so in the presence of their colleagues seems like a colossal task. Feelings of inadequacy and lowliness overcome them. Prompted by our upbringing that stressed courteousness and politeness during our formative years, we generally refrain from any supercilious and smug conduct. But the fact is that to have a strong opinion of your own strong points and possessing the capability to voice them to others, particularly seniors at work is neither supercilious nor smug.

One of the recipes for success at your work and in your career is knowing how to speak your mind in an accurate, brief and concise manner. You should not have any inhibitions to voice your views because when you speak up, the advantages that accrue far outweigh the disadvantages. How do you then have your way with words? Here are some tips:

· Discern your strengths & capabilities: To know your plusses, you should reflect on various assignments that you undertook fruitfully and your specific abilities and contributions that went in to make them successful. You must scan your day-today work schedule and identify the potencies demonstrated in them. It is also necessary that you catalogue all your exploits and feats, big and trivial. Mulling over them will serve to retell you of your potential and experiences. Thereafter, when you go over your fortes; this will offer you a picture of what you actually seek to do in life.

· Direct your attention on matters that you excel at: You must find ways and means to generate work around your strengths and focus points. It is essential that you maintain constant touch with your employers to facilitate concentrating on issues that are your forte. You must jog your memory about what you do well and direct your efforts in improving upon them.

· Set objectives & periodically evaluate your achievements: You must earmark time to yourself for introspection; this could be on a weekly or even a monthly basis. During such time when you are one to one with yourself, you should evaluate your accomplishments and inputs. It is necessary that you set objectives and which should be utilised for making optimum use of your skills, particularly and more habitually at your job.

· Remain upbeat and harbour a constructive disposition: Having laid hands on your strengths, your self-assuredness level will rise tremendously and you yourself will let them get in the vanguard. You will find asking for whatever you desire and seek quite comfortable stress-free affair. On the contrary, if you remain ensnared in the chains of dread and distress, you will be wedged stiff and unable to avow yourself. You need to remain upbeat and focus on the emboldening sense that is given rise to by knowing your plusses. It is only when you endorse your capabilities that others will do likewise.

· Don’t be wary of differences and opposition: There is absolutely nothing wrong with differing with others in views, but being displeasing definitely is. You should be reverential and deferential. Lending your years to others should be habit. Most importantly however, you should concentrate your attention and efforts on truth and objectives; and never on individual characters.

· Learn to decline when you feel the need to do so: There will be times when you will find others trying to dominate you. Under such circumstances, you need to maintain calm and find out alternatives to deal with them. You will need to find out what they precisely seek and accordingly offer recommendations; finding a middle ground will also be a viable option as also settling for anything on a reciprocal basis. It is necessary that you remain on the lookout to transform a losing situation into a winning set – something that will stand you and many others to advantage. Therefore, there is nothing wrong in declining; doing so can actually lead to a high state of output.

You must stop thinking that you are not good enough; in fact, you are stronger than you realize. You need to stand up for yourself and speak up. If you do not do so, you are letting somebody else win.

Learning leadership from armed forces

“The safety, honour & welfare of your country comes first, always & every time. The honour, welfare & comfort of the men you command, come next. Your own ease, comfort & safety come last, always & every time.” Thus was expressed the precept of military leadership by Field Marshal Sir Philip W. Chetwode. The words are even today worth their weight in gold and are enshrined at the Indian Military Academy to serve as motivation for everybody in uniform.

While the fundamentals of military leadership and business or corporate leadership may appear to be same, there are for certain, monumental differences in so much as application and enforcement is concerned. There are scores of lessons that can be learnt from the military and which can be adapted as functioning tenets in the corporate world.

Military leadership is the manner of impelling others to accomplish the mission by providing validation, bearing, and inspiration. Your basic responsibilities as a military leader entail accomplishment of an objective and ensuring the welfare of those junior to you. Towards this, the most elemental but vital organisational system that is made use of is the chain of command. Command refers to the authority to be exercised officially over juniors that is vested in a person accruing because of rank or appointment. Chain of command, on the other hand, implies a sequence of commanders who have direct command functions and primary charter to attain all assigned objectives; care of personnel and material assets also being their responsibility. Considering the foregoing, the duties that are required to be performed by a military leader can be detailed, dictated and implicit ones.

The importance of ethics in any conduct needs no emphasis. Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics. Professional military ethics symbolise loyalty to your country and organisation; your obligations and calling; and your self-sacrificing service. In all these, the requirements of your country, organisation and subordinates invariably have a higher priority than you. To be able to go along such ethics, everybody who wears a uniform must have four values:

· Courage: Physical and moral courage are inherent to functioning.

· Forthrightness:  It is a necessity to be upfront, amenable, truthful and genuine in all dealings with juniors, colleagues and seniors alike.

· Proficiency: Adeptness is essential in requisite professional familiarity, discernment and dexterities.

· Obligation: Everybody is obliged to contribute for the attainment of all organisational objectives; and also fulfil all national and organisational values.

The effectiveness of leadership at all levels manifests itself in the form of high morale; pride in and loyalty towards the organisation; prompt obedience to orders and initiation of action in the absence of orders; and organisational ability to accomplish mission. Therefore, it is no surprise that military leaders imbibe certain character traits, notable being confidence, pluck, uprightness, resoluteness, initiative, self-discipline and fellow-feeling. Accordingly, inter alia, the following tenets that have stood the test of time are invariably followed:

· Proficiency, self-awareness and self-improvement.

· Intimate knowledge of subordinates and ensuring their welfare.

· Dissemination of requisite information on a timely basis.

· Setting and leading by examples.

· Participation in training as a team to facilitate development of sense of responsibility.

· Employment of teams to be done in accordance with its capabilities.

· Seeking responsibilities and taking responsibility for your actions.

Prerequisites apart, a military leader is essentially a public servant trusted with the responsibility of the country’s defence. And this accentuates the necessity of professionalism in the armed forces. Further, it is the armed forces as an institution that are intrinsically responsible for the life of its personnel. Professionalism calls for a military leader to be able to provide direction, purpose and motivation. And towards this, he should be an individual of impeccable character and capable of sorting out complex principled quandaries. He should be an illustration of individual values.

In armed forces throughout the world, the dignity of individuals is upheld. A leader never eats before his men nor does he rest before them. Should a mission fail, no blame is apportioned to a senior nor is it passed down to subordinates. And of course, there is no place for bias, favouritism and nepotism in the armed forces. Important motivational imperatives are:

· Individual needs have to correspond with organisational tasks.

· Individual and team conduct that support organisational tasks should be rewarded.

· Disciplinary action should be initiated against individuals whose conduct goes against organisational tasks.

· Leaders at all levels should lead by example; this boosts morale and camaraderie. Use of statistics for the purpose should be avoided.

· Subordinates have to be kept in the loop about forthcoming happenings.

· Welfare measures should free subordinates of worries on their personal front so that they can focus on their jobs.

· The tasks of subordinate should be made as stimulating, stirring and consequential as possible.

· No form of detrimental tête-à-têtes or conduct should be stomached.

Can the experience of the military be translated in the corporate world? If supervisors, managers, directors and CEOs take cues from the armed forces on how to lead, there is no doubt that they will excel as individuals and their organisations will prosper.

Career planning & queries you must raise with yourself

“A dream written down with a date, becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by action makes your dream come true.”

-        Simi Ngr

You may have graduated or could still be at college. In any case, it is essential that you have a career planning scheme in place. It is crucial to be aware about yourself – who you are and what you seek to do – before you actually set out to embark on a career path. The challenge that exists today is that most college students are short of the desired level of consciousness and appreciation about themselves. They are thus not really geared up to design a career plan that will be appropriate for them. Why students, even people who have been into a job for a couple of years are flummoxed with regard to the type of personality they are and what work they should be doing. In fact, they are constantly attempting to be what they are made-up for and indulging in activities based on what others perceive as suitable for them.

The unfortunate fact is that if we plan a career for ourselves keeping in view who we ought or aspire to be, we will invariably be restrained and inhibited. Come what may, we cannot be such a person. Hence, a career that may be apt for a make-believe or made-up person may not be apt for who we actually are. When we engage ourselves seriously in career planning, it is inescapable to devote adequate time to comprehend who we essentially are and what we really want to accomplish in our life. It is only if a well-defined and positive representation is discernible, that we can move ahead with the gambit of career planning that fits us and our personality well.

Unravelling the truth about ourselves is possible and calls for intense introspection and querying. You need to subject yourself to a detailed question and answer session to know precisely who you are and determine what you seek to do. Some pertinent questions to which you need to give honest answers are:

· What is that fuels my fervours, ardours and zeal?

· What are the issues in particular that enthuse and motivate me?

· Who are the category of people who characteristically take up a career that I intend to purse?

· Can such people be friends with me, even if I do not take up a career that they are into?

· What are the basic academic qualifications to start the career that I want to embark upon?

· In case I am not fulfilling the qualitative requirements, am I prepared to study further? If yes, then up to what level can I study?

· Does the career in question offer adequate prospects for growth on personal and professional planes?

· If everything is in my favour, what is the eventual position that I would like to attain?

· In the pursuit and interest of my career, is having a family advisable?

· Given the known working conditions, will I be able to attain a good work-life balance?

· Does my career and job necessitate being based elsewhere and whether I am willing to move there?

· Will I be able to acquit myself well in the job?

· Will members of my family, friends and acquaintances approve of my move?

· Hypothetically speaking, in case I am advised to not take up the job in question, will I acquiesce to it?

· Are there any aspects related to the career in question that are particularly not appreciated by me? If so, what are they?

· Is the remuneration package being offered or that will come to me in subsequent years adequate to let me carry on with a lifestyle that I want to lead?

The responses that you make to the above queries will prompt you to reflect on the effect your choice will have on various facets of your life. If you deliberate over who you are in the context of your career and life, it is unlikely that you will err in making a choice. You will also not falter in your performance even if you happen to be in a line that is not your cup of tea. It is always good to delve into such matters now rather than repent a decade later when it may not be possible to switch careers.

If you are able to find a career for which you are tailor-made and then go about it with sincerity and hard work, there is no way by which you can fail. But finding the right career is essential and once found, it will be smooth-sailing with your industriousness taking good care of everything.

Keep alive your gung-ho superiority at work

   A prolonged employment in one position tends to make you self-satisfied and oblivious of the fact that there is improbability and insecurity all around. You simply allow yourself to become excessively relaxed. You have to be prepared for all contingencies and hence, it is inescapable to preserve your strong-willed and high-spirited advantage. You need to be always in the race and in good form. How can you do that? The following guidelines will be beneficial:

· Improve your expertise: You should always be keen to enhance your professional skills and knowhow. That calls for acquiring new ones too. Learning is an eternal process and if you think that you are a know-all type, you are sadly mistaken. Perhaps you are not truthful about your abilities, competencies and potentials. The world is moving at a rapid pace and with technological advancements, newer ideas are being searched and studied constantly. You need to look for different opportunities to put into effect different skills and procedures; and at the same time shoulder additional accountabilities or give a go to latest technology.

· Capitalise & empower yourself: You can hone your professional proficiencies through different means and which call for sparing time, efforts and resources. You should not expect that your company will do it for you. Reading books, attending seminars and participating in workshops are some of the actions that you ought to take as part of your self-investment initiatives. And if you do not, you are not an earnest and resolute professional.

· Take membership of professional clubs: When you join a professional association, you are in the company of people on the same wave length and thus earn entry into the realm of familiarity and knowledge. You thus strike astounding connections with individuals who will help you draw on breaks and facilitate your progress in ways not even visualised by you. You will get trained by way of interactions and availability of learning material. However, keeping in view the vast number of such fraternities, you need to be faddy and join those that are well-involved.

· Do some social service: Working willingly for any social cause will foster feelings of empathy in you. Tons of experience will come to you that can be put to good use at your workplace and in the process, give you a high degree of contentment. Your efforts will be of a different kind and may entail some element of discomfort, but then progress always involves discomfort. Contingent on whether you associate yourself with an NGO or a volunteer group, you will get to know people and who can be of help and influence in your professional field.

· Widen your contact base: Networking need not be done with the objective of helping in your job hunting efforts. You need to include in your contact base people who are trustworthy, convivial and genuine. Your relationship should not hinge around receiving or rendering help in any form; in fact it should be based on identity and not proficiency; assistance will always follow if the relationship is friendly.

·  Improve your headship qualities: At work as also anywhere else, you will have to find opportunities to head assignments and projects. You may or may not harbour an intention to grow into a formal leadership role. But practical acquaintance with leadership responsibilities will make you go through different skills and which will benefit you immensely in the attainment of your career aspirations. You will make your presence felt and be able to carve out an image of repute – both necessary attributes to maintain a competitive edge.

· Dare & defy yourself: You should challenge yourself repeatedly on both your individual and professional planes. Towards it, you must strive for growth opportunities, even if they are seemingly not pertinent to your career. The greater your knowledge and the wider your vista, the more contributions you will make at work. And the best part of it is that the benefits will keep accruing and delivered to you in a form not anticipated.

One of the surest methods to gain a competitive edge is by learning how to make the most of your time. Through continuous learning and personal development, you can keep up with and reach the zenith of your job, career and speciality. Remember that your attitude, resolve, strength of mind and the ability to place your objectives above anything else matter most in your career. You must find something that fuels your passion. In doing so, you will emerge to become an improved, superior individual. And going by its enlarged connotation, you will also become a professionally more competitive person.