The Cure for the Common Career
By Peter Weddle
Weddles.com
It’s become a cult sensation. A homeopathic migraine headache medicine has launched a television ad that is … well, more than a little strange.
The ad opens with a women rubbing what looks like a glue stick across her forehead. Then, a bright yellow arrow appears and points at the spot while a voice intones “HeadOn. Apply directly to the forehead.” “HeadOn. Apply directly to the forehead.” “HeadOn. Apply directly to the forehead.” The metronomic chant is followed by a brief explanation that the product is a non-prescription headache medicine that’s available at retail stores. And then, it’s over.
The ad is so off-beat and so out-of-the-norm that it’s become fodder for late night comedians, the subject of a blog frenzy, and even the lyrics of a rap song. All of which got me to thinking. If such a simple format can catch people’s attention for physical headaches, maybe I could use something similar to catch their attention for career headaches. So, here goes:
HeadsUp. Apply directly to your career.
HeadsUp. Apply directly to your career.
HeadsUp. Apply directly to your career.
This message is a non-prescription cure to what ails the common career. Career malaise affects every field of work, every salary level and level of experience, every industry and every location in the country. Its symptoms, unfortunately, are familiar to many of us; we experience them as sudden and repetitive job loss. Basically, we lose our immunity to unemployment. Our careers suffer from a lack of job security.
So, here’s my HeadsUp: Don’t try to cure what you can’t control. Jobs are the property of employers. They create them, and they can (and do) change, combine, relocate, and eliminate them at will. You can be the best performer and the most loyal employee in your organization and still find yourself experiencing career cardiac arrest or what the world calls termination of employment.
What, then, should you apply to your career to protect it and you? What will cure the ache in your work? My simple formulation has only four components:
- First, focus on protecting your career, not your job. Your career belongs to you; your job belongs to your employer. Jobs may come and go, but your career is yours forever. Moreover, your career is as fragile or as robust as you make it. You can strengthen it, increase its endurance and enhance its capacity to reward and satisfy you. Or not. The choice is yours.
- Second, don’t outsource the protection of your career. You decide who’s going to be in charge of the health of your career. You can cede control of that effort to employers or you can accept the responsibility. The only way to ensure protection, however, is to do the job yourself. You must go to work as your career’s primary care giver. Why? Because only you truly care about what happens to it. Your employers care about what happens to others—their shareholders and owners—but you have a clear and vested interest in a healthy career.
Third, building career health is not a second job; it’s your first. We’ve all been told that it’s up to us to manage our own careers, but we often treat that responsibility as a part time or seasonal job. We get around to it only when our “real” job—the one that belongs to our employers—permits us to do so. And that has it exactly backwards. You should take care of your own career first. You should make it your #1 priority to hone your expertise in your field. Strive always to be the best you can be in your profession, craft or trade. That won’t prevent employer-instigated layoffs and job changes, but it will ensure that you are always employable, always able to bounce back and find a job that meets your needs.
Fourth, a healthy career is achieved through contribution, not capability. Capability, your expertise in your occupational field, is absolutely essential to continued employment. It does not, however, guarantee it. Why? Because, employers care about not only what you can do, but how well you actually do it on-the-job. They look for performance as well as potential. You can have state-of-the-art skills in your field, but if you don’t transfer that expertise to your work, you won’t make much of a contribution. And, it’s that contribution that gives you your value as an employee or employment candidate. Deliver a meaningful and generous contribution, and you’ll enjoy a robust and generous career.
There’s no patent pending on the above formulation, although I have given it a name. My HeadsUp for a more satisfying and rewarding work-life is called Career Fitness. It’s the cure for the common career.
|
Peter Weddle
Email |
Peter Weddle Biography:
Peter Weddle is a recruiter, HR consultant and business CEO turned author and commentator. Described by The Washington Post as "... a man filled with ingenious ideas," he has earned an international reputation, pioneering concepts in Human Resource leadership and employment. He has authored or edited over two dozen books and been a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, The National Business Employment Weekly and CNN.com. Today, he writes two newsletters that are distributed worldwide and oversees WEDDLE's LLC, a print publisher specializing in the field of human resources. WEDDLE's annual Guides and Directory to job boards are recognized for their accuracy and helpfulness, leading the American Staffing Association to call Weddle the “Zagat of the online employment industry.”
View All Articles By Peter Weddle
|
View Author Profile
|
Printer Friendly Version
|
