Career. You building your career is something you would be looking forward to from a long time. Everyone dreams of a great career. You even work hard to get the dream life you wanted, and that is through your career. The path you take to be who you want to start from your education and ends with your job. Everything in between is your career. So, what exactly is a career?

The career is an individual’s metaphorical “journey” through learning, work and other aspects of life.

There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word “career” as a person’s “course or progress through life”. This definition relates “career” to a range of aspects of an individual’s life, learning, and work. “Career” is also frequently understood to relate to the working aspects of an individual’s life. A third way in which the term “career” is used describes an occupation or a profession that usually involves special training or formal education, considered to be a person’s lifework. In this case “career” is seen as a sequence of related jobs, usually pursued within a single industry or sector. A career has been defined by organisational behaviour researchers as “an individual’s work-related and other relevant experiences, both inside and outside of organisations, that form a unique pattern over the individual’s life span.”

With increasing competition in today’s era, it is very important for each child to recognise their passion and interest to pursue their career. Education is the stepping stone for one’s career, hence success. By the time a student reaches High School there is a frantic search to define, discuss and decide which career path to choose. Students clearing boards face a great dilemma and the biggest question hounding them is, “Which career is right for me?” or “How can I find out the best career option for me?” The frantic search for that ‘perfect career option’ for each one of such students is an uphill struggle as the modern information age has opened up uncountable possibilities in all fields.

The digital age has brought a paradigm shift in the way an individual perceives career and work options. The fixation for traditional career options like Engineers, Doctors, Chartered Accountants, Lawyers, etc have fizzled out and unconventional, skill-oriented jobs and businesses have captured everyone’s imagination.

There are many benefits in having a career purpose. Here are just to name a few.

• It will inspire you to do and be more in your job, which will light you up and make your life come alive. You’ll make more progress in your career too, because you’re engaged and interested in what you’re doing. In fact, being fully engaged in your work will lead to more opportunities for progression than any amount of sheer hard work alone.
• Even if you don’t feel fulfilled by your work, don’t dismiss what you’ve achieved so far. Look back at what you have studied and what you’ve done. Recall the times you felt most engaged, motivated and inspired to do your best work. If possible, look for opportunities to do more of that work in your current role. It’ll give you a boost and help you escape your rut.
• After gaining some experience, you’ll have a better sense of what you want – or what you don’t want – from your career. Once you pinpoint this, you’ll find a renewed sense of direction. You may find you want to earn more, have a better work-life balance, do more creative work or take on more challenging projects. Maybe you need to switch from working at the computer all day to spending time with clients or suppliers. Sometimes a simple change can make all the difference to your sense of fulfilment and purpose.
• You might be looking at the point you’ve reached and feel it’s too late to make a switch or change how or what you do. But if you keep exploring, you never know what you’ll find. So don’t settle for what you’ve got and don’t give up on finding your career purpose and work that makes you happy. It helps you find yourself and your career.
• Taking up an internship, paid or unpaid, in the interested field is the best way to attain a wealth of experience and insight and therefore, internship forms a very important part of career planning. What may seem quite luring from the outside, but may not be very promising when you actually work on it. Being young you have all the time on your side to shift your focus and scale yourself to follow another career path.

In conclusion we’d like to say that it’s important to remember that when you know what makes you happy, you can find ways to get it more easily. What’s essential is that you allow yourself to stay in a creative mental space so you can see which opportunities are open to you. And the more you enjoy your job, the more you’ll see chances to gain even more satisfaction from your work. The result can only be a happier and more successful you. So if you believe happiness at work has eluded you, perhaps now you’ll find the motivation and inspiration you need to take that first step towards creating more of what you want in your life and work.

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