Coping with uncertainties & insecurities in your career

Given the unemployment that exists in our country, all our career decisions are awe-inspiring. This phenomenon is more pertinent when you attempt to cope with changes in the job market with practically no surety of moving forward. Considering the uncertainty that prevails and the risks associated with them, it is evident that our moves are directionless, though we make our route-charts as we keep going. That is why people do their utmost to make a related career out of often apparently unrelated jobs.

Your tomorrow will not be as it was in the case of your parents. The days when one joined an organisation and retired from it are gone. And this fact makes it inescapable to restructure your approach towards career management so that you are able to cope with various qualms and its associated perils. Some new schools of thought on this issue are:

· You need to possess capabilities to transfer your acquired knowledge to resolve workplace glitches.

· Your employment will be project-oriented and hence part-time or contract assignments will be its key feature.

· To be able to cope with changing parameters of employment, you should be venturesome enough vis-à-vis your expectations; you may not always succeed, but will nevertheless have to keep progressing by refocussing and redeploying.

· You need to be fully aware of your fortes and identify areas where they can be optimally utilised.

· You will be required to remain firmly at wheels and use your authority to proceed on a new course altogether.

The connotation of career development today is settling on a broad turf and instituting a determined advancement strategy that should include possible job prospects and relentless learning efforts. If you look around, you will perhaps find many people who have changed jobs and even careers, not on their own choosing but more because of imposed inevitabilities. And in a number of cases, such changes were affected at very short notice.

Career management is not a static process, but is unendingly dynamic and constantly rolling. Besides entailing effectual use of analytical skills and wherewithal at one’s disposal, there is also the need to take calculated risks. It is all about development of prospects that exist around people in their environment; and which need to be discerned, clutched and exploited. At first sight, this may appear to be very practical, but when you go about translating it into action, there could be serious snags. Because you would be trudging on not very well defined path, your self-assuredness will have to be of a high order so that unilateral decisions that you make are sound. You will have opportunities and you will have to build your self-trust through them. To be able to deal with risk and uncertainties, you should:   

· Re-identify your fervidness: When somebody tells you to give wings to your passions, there will be many who will contest it. You ought to know what inspires you the maximum. Something that perhaps was your passion earlier will over a period of time stand transformed into your very objective. Getting to know that objective will help you update and enlighten your career decisions and current prospects. All this may call upon you to move out of your comfort zone so that you can see the changing world realistically and take necessary initiatives, to include bold decisions.

· Don’t shy away from seeking assistance: This is where your networking will come in handy. Even if it amounts to taking help from professional counsellors, you should not hesitate to do so. Outside help and advice will go a long way to modify, hone and perfect your tactics and outlook alike.

· Treat all encounters as learning experiences: You should always be keen to learn from any and every thing that you do – job, apprenticeship and even honorary work. It is essential that you evaluate the outcomes of all your decisions so that you can apply them niftily on ground. That is how you will be able to take better decisions in the future and ensure that you do not miss out on newer opportunities.

· Be ever ready to accept change: Remember that your career will always be subject to changes. Therefore, you need to be flexible and buoyant to embrace them. The resilience that you display will help you overcome the unexpected. You will thus accept your new reality, even if it is less good than the one you had before.

What lies ahead is always mystery. You have to acknowledge the inevitability of uncertainty in your career and knowing how to cope with risks associated with it is the only way out. Life does not provide warranties and guarantees; it only provides possibilities and opportunities for those who dare to make best use of it. You need to develop confidence in your own decision-making and be ready to take the next step.