Making a Career Choice
Posted on February 08, 2017 by SKG Kartha, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.
People usually make salary the criteria in job search which may not be the right approach
It is interesting to meet with candidates who turn up for interviews. The thing that I most look for in a potential candidate or a colleague is what is it in them that they have to offer to the team. I rarely get to meet candidates who are excited to offer their uniqueness. Instead, I usually run into candidates who are willing to mold themselves into the job to get a career raise – which to them is a better salary.
Do such jobs really offer a raise in their career? Just like me, most hiring managers do not get excited about candidates who are willing to do anything that is asked of them. I have found that such candidates soon run out of steam and look for their next “career raise”, sooner than later. The job they end up performing rarely excite them enough to come to work. They are forever in pursuit of their elusive “ideal job”.
I am now privy to the knowledge that each of us have a certain uniqueness within us. Studies and research have concluded that our uniqueness is as rare as one in about 33 million. That is simply awesome and unbelievable. It is beyond imagination that the chances of running into another person with similar traits as mine is as rare as that. This is true for each one of us. I wouldn’t go looking for that person. It would be a waste of time!!
The money we make from our next job is not indicative of whether we have achieved a “career raise”. It is compensation for what we are worth. Our ideal job should be the one that gives us the opportunity to offer our uniqueness in performing that job. From that position, no one can replace you in that position. Anyone would be willing to pay you anything to retain you in that job. That is the job that will also fire you into jumping out of bed, excited to get to work each morning. That job would simply give you the opportunity to be yourself, to be at your creative best and to create value for your colleagues and for the organization.
Take a closer look at yourself. Who are you now? Who have you decided to become? Make this a conscious decision. Make that decision carefully and powerfully. Ask yourself the following questions:
Is this the best you can be?
What person do you need to be to become the person you want to be?
What new knowledge do you need to acquire? What new skills do you need to develop or learn?
What are the kind of people you need to be with?
Then get to work.
It is believed that only the top ten percent people in any profession command all the money they deserve. Use your uniqueness to be one of them. Only then will you will be in the right job and command the right compensation. Don’t accept the job that is offered to you. We don’t need to try so hard to fit in when we have been created to stand out. Find the job where you have something unique to offer and then go about doing it with the zeal and impatience of an artist who is giving the finishing touches to his latest masterpiece.
