Career

What am I going to do when I grow up?

No matter what age you are, you might find yourself asking this question periodically through your life, maybe even after retirement! The concept of a job for life is little known these days, and it’s almost expected that a career might entail any number of different workplaces, completely different fields of work, and further study or skills development. Career changes can range from small to monumental. They can be the result of any number of influences: evolving interests and skills, personal circumstances, adapting to a changing workplace environment or retrenchment. Also, many women’s careers are interrupted by child rearing and caring responsibilities, and women are more likely to take time out of employment and work part-time sometime during their career.

While we often think of career as relating to a paid profession, of course it can also relate to other pursuits which are part of our life journey. This might include voluntary work, caring responsibilities, sport and recreation, activities and hobbies, political and social activism... whatever stirs your passions and forms a significant part of your life!

Whatever form your career takes, and wherever you are along your life journey, it can be really useful to do some planning and to set some goals. If you’ve already done this, it’s valuable to take time to assess how your plans and goals are going, and reflect on whether you are where you want to be, or at least if you are heading in that direction. Sometimes, you find that your plans and goals change, so it’s good to do a regular check-in and update. In your planning and goal-setting process, it’s important to reflect on what your values are and where your strengths lie. This will assist you to make decisions that are good for you. (see Values and Strengths)

Here are some questions you might like to work through to help generate some thoughts and ideas, and assist you in determining where you want to be and how you’re going to get there. You can apply these questions to your career in whatever form it takes. No doubt you’ll come up with more questions and reflections.

• What do I want to do when I grow up?
• What does my career look like?
• Am I achieving what I set out to achieve?
• Am I happy?
• Where do I want to be in 1 year, and in 5 years?
• What do I want more of in my life?
• What do I want less of in my life?
• Is my career reflective of what I want and what I don’t want?
• Is there anything I’d like to change about my career? How am I going to make that change? Do I need to make small tweaks or big changes?
• Do I need help with career planning?
• Is there any education or training I’d like to pursue to further my career, to help me get the job I really want, or to help me start the business of my dreams? (e.g. night courses, tertiary study, online courses)
• Who in my network of friends, colleagues, neighbours, and friends of friends can I call, email, or have coffee with, who might be able to help me to get to where I want to be?
• What am I going to do next?

Career (46 KB)

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