Preparing For a Life With Multiple Jobs and Careers

In his ASU commencement speech this week, President Obama urged graduates to be prepared for more than one job or career in their lifetime. His recommendation was "to keep gaining new skills - possibly even new degrees; and to keep taking risks as new opportunities arise."*

Although our leaders in various fields have been expressing this for years now, I meet many people who haven't quite stepped into this career paradigm shift. The fact that many aren't sure how to prepare themselves for job and career transitions is understandable since we live in a demanding and transforming culture with few rituals, road maps, instructions, and support for people during or regarding change. There is a growing amount of information, expertise, and support for people IN career transition, but on a foundational level, how do we stand in this new paradigm powerfully so that job and career transitions start to become more organic and fluid?

Acceptance: To prepare ourselves as career marathon runners who'll likely make many stops, we first must step into accepting and absorbing that a career paradigm shift is happening within our culture as a whole. Although it can be difficult to imagine changing careers for many reasons, assessing whether this is likely to be a reality for you is ultimately the more empowering and energizing place to operate from. The problem with ignoring or denying something that is likely to occur is both that we loose the ability to steer our own lives and we often find ourselves ill prepared for change that comes our way.

Preparation: To elaborate on one of the essential points of President Obama's speech - staying in a place of learning and discovery in your day-to-day life is vital. This learning may mean an additional degree, broadening your skills within your desired field, or engaging in extracurricular learning activities. Whatever you choose to explore, the more you connect yourself to learning and growth-oriented activities you love, the more likely you will start to create possibilities for new jobs and careers in areas that you deeply enjoy in your life. In both my work as a business executive and in my work as a Life and Career Coach, I have met numerous people who's thriving careers sprung from a single extracurricular class, hobby, or life-long interest that was initially pursued by carving a small amount of time out of their schedule.

Flexibility & Openness: Getting comfortable with change is vital as well. If you've ever taken a first yoga class, you'll remember what it's like to marvel at the flexibility of others around you while you struggled to sit comfortably. Remaining flexible and open to career development opportunities and career change in general takes practice, practice, practice, but the more you practice, the better and stronger you feel. So, try and embrace new technologies and new ways of doing business, accept new work assignments, and stay open to job and career changes...the more you do, the more one thing will start leading to another naturally, and the more fluid transitions will be.

A Longer Vision: Start to think of your degrees and job experiences as important personal building blocks rather than things that define you within a singular career. In addition, imagine the kind of life and financial security you'd like in retirement and keep this image in mind when you make job and career decisions going forward. A long-term career vision that is rooted in what you really value and desire for yourself will help you plan and strategize for your life.

Risk-Taking: Take calculated risks when appropriate in your career. Whatever shape this takes for you, we frequently make our biggest leaps when we take risks. So, before you run from the risk, think of your long-term vision, enlist support and explore all the possibilities around this. There may very well be a way for you to take action with limited risk, and this risk may turn out to be the best opportunity you've ever create in your career.

*from the transcript posted on "The Huffington Post," May 14, 2009.

Maria McKenna is a Career Coach with the Institute for Coaching.

Preparing For a Career Discussion With Your Manager

In order to have a productive career discussion with your manager, it is important for you to prepare and think through some key items ahead of time. You want to be in full control of your career path and the best way to do that is to approach your manager with confidence and conviction around your career goals. To prepare for the discussion, start by answering some basic questions about yourself and your career:

What is your personal mission statement with regard to your career?

This response should focus on what you hope to achieve through your career.

What are your values?

This response should include your top five values in your life. The importance of answering this question is to be sure your career goals match your current values. For example, if you value innovation, that influences your career choice and objectives.

What are your motivators?

This response includes examples of what motivates you. Is it fast-paced work with short

deadlines? Is it structured work or flexible work? As with your values, you want to be sure your career objectives align with your motivators

What is your short-term career objective?

This response should be about where you see yourself in the next 12 months. If you want to be in a new assignment, then you should state that, as well as what that assignment could be. If you want to remain in your current role but perhaps take on additional duties, then include that information in this question response.

What is your long-term career objective?

This response highlights your ultimate career objective. Some people do not know what this is but if you do, it is important to share it with your manager. This helps your career plan to be tailored towards reaching your ultimate career objective.

What are your strengths?

This response focuses on your current strengths that you can leverage as you grow in your career.

What are your developmental areas?

This is about the areas where you need to grow so you can reach your career objective.

What are you willing to do in the next 12 months to reach your career objective(s)?

This response should focus on some specific, tactical items that you can work on over the next 12 months. Consider this your action plan to reach your objective.

After you have these questions answered and feel comfortable with your responses, it is time to share this information with your manager. Ask your manager for input on your career objectives and whether they feel these are reasonable and achievable. Ask them for input on your strengths and development areas and also request their support of our action plan. This will aid in your ability to be successful in reaching your objectives. By taking the time to answer these questions and prepare for your career discussion, it will be much more productive and, hopefully, a more engaging discussion for both you and your manager.

Andria Corso is an award winning career and leadership development coach and Strategic HR consultant with areas of expertise in career and leadership development, talent and succession management, and executive coaching. She is currently the owner of C3-Corso Coaching & Consulting, ( http://www.andriacorso.com ) an Executive Coaching & HR Consulting firm that specializes in working with clients to reach their highest potential. Andria has over 15 years of HR leadership experience insider Fortune 100 companies, including 11 years inside Lockheed Martin Corporation. Andria specifically works with clients on career transitions, career advancement & career development so they can reach their highest potential. She is the author of: From Gatekeeper to Trusted Advisor: Success Strategies for Today's HR Professional, which was published in 2010.