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Q&A: Finding a Career that is More than Just Going and Coming from the Office
Hi Tammy,
I’m from India. I’m unable to sculpt my career path and am just going and coming from the office. I’m an Information Technology engineer in India’s most respected software company. How can I decide my way?
Please help me.
Oh dear – I’m sorry to hear that your work experience is not proving to be stimulating or engaging for you. I strongly believe that everyone deserves to enjoy their work – life is too short, and work is too large a component of it, not to find something that you are excited about.
I talk about this in Plugged In and have developed some self-assessments that you might find helpful. You can download them from this website.
Try to pinpoint the characteristics of situations that you do enjoy – outside work, perhaps in school, or sports, or any other sphere of activity where you have a passion. What exactly are you doing when you feel completely focused on the task, when you perhaps lose track of time, when you’re “in the flow,” as some would say? Then consider whether you can identify work experiences that would have similar characteristics.
For example, maybe you get really excited when you’re interacting with a lot of people, while your current role involves primarily independent activity. Or that you thrive on time-pressured challenges, but your current work is focused on a long-term, distant goal. Whatever you conclude, these considerations will help guide you as you evolve toward a more satisfying role.
It may be that you will need to look for options for work that are quite different from what you’re doing now. Or, once you have a clearer understanding of what you enjoy, you may be able to request roles within your current firm that are better aligned with your interests.
Whatever you conclude, I hope you’ll continue to look for work that you find personally stimulating and rewarding – and that you succeed in your search.
Sincerely,
Tammy
Filed under: Career Strategies | Published: 05/13/09
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