Career paths which are dominated by knowledge workers all have one thing in common. The personal interests of the individual drives their career.
I have heard about and personally experienced the “choose your own path” phenomena of consulting. Wherein you can express interest in a certain type of work and network with managers and principals in order to get staffed on projects that align with your interests and expand or deepen your skill set.
In academia, professors take a more committed approach by diving into something they are interested in and then framing key questions which drive their research efforts for the next 3-5 years. This is a cycle which can continue for an entire career.
Some people are lucky enough to know exactly what they want to do and have the drive to keep pursuing it regardless of any setbacks or challenges. Most of us have to discover what we are interested in and align that with a career path.
Identifying your interests
The first step is to identify your interests. To help you do that, here are a few questions you can ask yourself:
- What do you spend a significant amount of time and money on?
- What holds your attention?
- What types of content do you consume or newsletters do you subscribe to?
- What are you curious about?
- Where do you find purpose in the work you do?
- Which parts of the work do you feel a physical or emotional connection to?
These questions will help you to identify how willing you are to commit to something for a significant period of time. The goal is to become conscious of the types of activities you lose track of time doing and where you will have the natural curiosity to generate the most questions or ideas.
With some initial answers to these questions, you can begin to ask your why. I call it the ‘reverse 5-whys’ since you are working up towards a high-level understanding rather than drilling down to find the root cause of a specific problem.
Charting a career path
A career path is not a linear journey, but rather a series of funnels where you gain exposure, experience, and expertise before repeating the cycle based on opportunities that appear or that you create.
When I was transitioning out of academia and into consulting my inability to see a clear career path was initially worrisome. In academia, the path to becoming a full professor is clearly outlined. In consulting, the path to becoming a partner is also outlined. However, it is common for people to take other paths after gaining experience in consulting. These alternative paths are more numerous, easier to pursue, and doing so is an accepted practice within the industry.
Identifying these numerous pathways is both exciting and terrifying. The challenge lies in matching opportunities with your interests to chart your own career path.
You can think of your career in 5-year chapters. This is enough time to build expertise and contribute to an industry. Over a 30-year career you have 6 chapters each with a beginning, middle, and end. These chapters can be used to build on previous experience, or to reset your path by taking on something completely new or by going back to school.
As you transition through your career, here are some career chapter questions to ask yourself:
- What skills do you need to develop, refine, or perfect?
- What knowledge do you need to obtain or enhance?
- What is the fundamental knowledge and understanding needed in the industry?
- How long will it take you to become an expert in the next chapter?
- What credentials are required in your industry?
Seeking opportunities based on a first principles approach
History has shown that at the end of your career there will be jobs available that didn’t exist in the beginning of your career. A learning mindset is needed to stay current and relevant. However, the types of problems solved will fundamentally be the same. Thus, identifying job roles and opportunities based on first principles can help you structure your approach for your next chapter or your entire career.
First principles thinking is a bottom-up approach to thinking about problems starting with the most basic elements or fundamental truths.
Using this way of thinking you can start to understand how you fit into your industry and try to secure a role that matches with your preferences and interests.
This is a preliminary list of guiding questions to show you how this type of thinking can be applied to a job or organization:
- What are the key features of work that won’t change?
- Solving problems
- Communicating information
- Innovating/creating
- Completing repetitive tasks that can’t yet be automated
- What are the key positions that will exist?
- Decision makers
- Thinkers
- Teachers
- Doers
- Why do businesses exist?
- To fill a need / gap
- To solve a problem
- To provide options to consumers
As you begin to explore job options, or to plan the next chapter in your career, ask yourself these questions to identify the type of work, your role, and the people you want to collaborate with.
Summary
Finding the perfect job is an intentional effort. As you identify your interests and passions, you can identify the type of work you should be doing, and match your skills and expertise to the job. Every time you get promoted, change jobs, or jump companies you should be trying to make that match better. Once you are out of school, you have a lot of freedom and flexibility to shape your own unique career journey.
It will take some time before you find your perfect fit. Introspection at the beginning and end of every chapter will help guide your actions and decisions.
Best of luck on your next career chapter!
Andrew Kuczmarski is a PhD candidate at the University of Delaware whose passion lies at the intersection of science and business.
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