Does your career start after your education? Does it start during your education? Or does it start at the beginning of your education?
I would argue “None of the above”. Your career, defined as ‘a course of progress through life’, starts when you’re born – or even before you’re born if you believe in epigenetics (as I do).
According to the Systems Theory Framework of Patton and McMahon (1996), pictured above (slightly adapted by me), there are a wide range of career influencers that come from within, from without or from somewhere in between.
These career influencers might be from within you, such as your personality, personal characteristics, preferred skills and interests, or they may come from those around you, such as your teachers, supervisor, parents, colleagues or friends, or they may be forced upon you by outside forces beyond your control, such as political or economic changes that occur within your country.
Let’s look at these influences in more detail:
YOU: Your qualifications, skills, interests, values, gender, health or personality are just some of the internal factors that shape the kinds of careers that interest you. For example, maybe you were interested in animals when you were young, which inspired you to take Biology at school and then in University and even to do a Biology-based PhD.
The type of skills you like using and other factors such as your values, can affect the kind of role that interests you or the sort of company you want to work for, as described in a previous blog. Your personality might determine the way in which you like to work, such as being in a team, working behind the scenes or being customer-focussed, etc.
PEOPLE: You are surrounded by people near and far. Some are close physically and emotionally, such as family, friends or colleagues, and have had an influence over you for a very long time. At the other end of the spectrum, other people are remote and unknown to you, such as social media connections. Everyone, including you, has an opinion about all sorts of subjects and you may actively seek their advice about your next career move. In addition, you may aspire to a role model, perhaps, you’ve visited a careers event and been inspired by a professional already doing the job, or maybe you’ve had a long-held child-hood dream job in mind, from seeing or hearing about it on TV or other media.
The people who influence your career choice change as you go through life. If you’re a doctoral or postdoctoral researcher, maybe your supervisor has a weighted influence on your career choices, or perhaps you are trying to aspire to a similar career as a former colleague, who’s now working in industry. [My advice would be to try to seek out a professional career coach or adviser to receive a truly unbiased interaction, helping you to be the central influencer of your career].
EVENTS: You are not in control of local, regional or world events and sometimes you need to flex and adapt to them. For example, the values of your organisation may change, perhaps the research project you wanted doesn’t get funded, and, even more radically, war may break out or freedoms might become more limited by governments. In this case, you will need to rely on your own experiences, resilience, your connections and your own character.
If you’re PhD qualified, you should have acquired a good set of skills, such as practical and functional techniques, the ability to adapt and learn, resourcefulness and problem-solving, communication and collaboration, etc. When your environment changes, you will need to draw upon these strengths to flex to whatever is required, whether it’s working remotely, applying your skills to a different research field or career sector or moving to another country.
CHANCE: Unexpected happenings and opportunities, chance, luck etc., can change your career direction instantly. Sometimes you need to flex to accommodate unexpected happenings, such as meeting someone at a conference or online, finding out about some information or being offered a post ‘out of the blue’. In these cases, the ability to make a quick decision, guided by your instincts or gut feelings, may be the difference between success and a missed opportunity. Many people talk about turning points in their careers – such as those featured in Nature Cell Biology – most of which have involved an unexpected moment – you may even have experienced one or more already during your own career.
Career influencers are constantly changing, ebbing and flowing, expanding and contracting. They are not static and change throughout the course of your life. Your preferred university degree subject may stem from a favourite teacher, leading you down a career path that could have been completely different had the art teacher been more affable. You may change the direction of your career, when you realise that you’re missing using your more creative side, and combine this to become a science communicator. Later in life, you may prefer to live in a place that means you need to change careers, perhaps you’ll need to learn a new language, take further qualifications or train others.
Who knows! It’s all part of the grand scheme of life…. the important thing is to be aware of what’s influencing your career and to weigh up yourself (or with the help of a professional careers adviser) what is the best decision to make at that particular time.
Related blog: SWOTTing up on your career