Do Not Aim To Just Land A Job, Build A Career Instead

By Author: Pradeep Negi
Total Articles: 1
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Initially when you are looking for a job, there is an overwhelming feeling to apply for jobs in bulk, as they say – “safety is in numbers.” A student job search for seasonal jobs conducted in this fashion is still understandable, but as a grown up, experienced person one should not be acting naively. For a seasoned person a job search should be full time job in itself, and if the market is tight, one should plan and strategize to be able to taste success.
In order to be able to make the right career choices, you have to decide what all goes into shaping up a career in the very first place. A framework is required to manage your progression in your chosen vocation.
If we look closely, looking for a job in a given field is all about landing a position by beating the competition. Well there is more to it than meets the eye, the job is an activity, through which you earn money, but it will not take you very far in life, at the most it is a short term strategy, a regular activity in exchange for payment.
A career on the other hand is a continuous and connected process of employment opportunities where you ...
... keep on building skills from previous stints to propel you into still higher paying work opportunities with far more prestige and perhaps more interesting problems to handle.
It is important to bear in mind when you are looking for a job, do not just apply for a job as any fresher does during a student job search. Come to think of it, lot many things go into choosing the right career. First and foremost it is your interest in a field, which needs to be augmented with the right education and skills.
Simply looking for a job without goals, values, and vision is akin to student job search; you have some engagement, which provides you with some earning, only in the short run. The process is not always satisfying, and is not sustainable for long. Therefore, whenever you apply for jobs think long term. Try and fit it in your pursuit of a lifelong ambitions, it should be a progression towards attaining lifelong goals.
Define your satisfaction criteria in such a manner that you find the daily work satisfying, the immediate money, even though it may seem to be a great deal is not going to be good enough when compared to future happiness in the form of a successful career in the long term vis a vis just a job.