Key Career Considerations – Ryan McManus

In this blog I will be sharing an insight into what factors I will be taking into consideration when setting my aspirations/ career goals/ path.

I should have set some specific aims and goals and have planned my full career out, but I haven’t.  Whether this is because I feel like it is impossible due to the fast moving industry I am in or whether it is a time consuming exercise that will be done and then not followed… I am not sure.

I am still an apprentice and every role I do, every person I speak to, every friend I make could change my career path instantly. Therefore I am taking every day as it comes and putting my full effort in to every task I compete.  I feel that if I don’t put in sufficient effort at this stage of my career, I will miss opportunities to get noticed, learn and most importantly, Network.  I am an apprentice and will take every opportunity to ensure I have as many career paths open to me as possible.

I am not planning to go through the whole of my career without long term goals. I think when my apprenticeship is over I will have to think very hard about the career path I would like to follow.  There are a few things below that will help me determine what my goals and aspirations will be and what career path I will take.

Key Career considerations:

What am I best at – For me, the top factor which will determine my career path and influence what I want to achieve is my skill set. Always play to your strengths. I am not talking about specific things here but high level areas like am I technical or client facing, am I good at sales etc.

Where is the money at – I am not going to hide it, money does drive me. I will have to balance where I want to end up and how far I want to climb; with how much that role impacts my social life/ family (when I have one!).  I will consider whether my industry is where the money lies, whether people at the same level ln the same sort of job are earning the same sort of wage.

Hours– What hours will I have to work in the career path I have taken?  Career paths with constant weekends or nights may be a factor that I will have to take into consideration.

How easy is it to climb – I like responsibility, I like to climb higher to gain more skills and experience. I will be looking for a career path that allows me to grow/ transform and looks to be the future career path for growth and opportunity, not just the one that appears to be doing the best currently.

What is the future – As mentioned above, I will have to think about if the career path or a similar career path will likely to be successful in 20 years’ time. It’s not the end of the world if it isn’t as people change within industries all the time but if you are an expert in the same industries for many years then other career factors like money may be easier to reach.

Job security – I will be looking at how secure my job is likely to be based on the path I choose and how high I want to climb.

 

Long/ short term factors:

Location – My career planning will probably not dive that deep, but in terms of roles –  the location of the roles will be a huge factor to where my career ends up. Do I want to work abroad – will my company enable me to work abroad, do I want to work in a City, do I want to be in a particular location etc.

Mobility – At the moment mobility is not an issue; I work away in different locations and away from home 5 days a week. However when I settle down and have a family, will being mobile start to affect my decisions in my career planning?

Social – The job I’m in, the responsibility I have, the location I am in, the people I work with. Does it offer what I want in social terms? What I am after now may not the case 20 years down the line. I like to go out at night, have meals, socialize with other apprentice/ graduate/ colleagues, play football,  play golf, play badminton etc.

Atmosphere and working environment – When trying to enjoy the role and job you are in – the place you work and the people you are working with. If you don’t enjoy where you work and the types of people you are around then your job satisfaction could be severely impacted.

Social:

I want to go travelling around Europe.  – I need a job with good pay and that will support that ambition.

I want to go skiing in 2016 – I need a job that will allow me to have time off in a particular time of the year.

I need to save for a nice car and a new house – I need a job that pays a fair amount of money for the job I do and the value I add.

 

My key ambition and aspiration is to climb in a company to gain more knowledge/ experience,  get more responsibility and as a result earn more money, whilst at the same time ensuring I enjoy life to the full! I am sure that the things mentioned above will be big factors while trying to achieve that aspiration.

I am a firm believer that you should work to live and not live to work!

Hope this blog helped!