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Has your career followed a path or a journey? Webster defines path as “a course of action or conduct,” and journey as “any passage from one stage to another.” For me, path means something you plan for and take action to achieve. Journey, on the other hand, means something you do as you go along. At least for my career journey, that is certainly the case. Career paths are taken by those individuals who have always known what they wanted to be when they grew up - doctors, lawyers, nurses, teachers, etc. For the rest of us, me included, we have taken career journeys. We didn’t (and may still don’t) know what we wanted to be when we grew up. Sometimes this can cause stress because we’re supposed to know what we want to be…right? Not for me. Career journeys are for the free spirits. We’re flexible and we go with the flow. We follow the opportunity, evolve and develop as we go along. In today’s job market there are numerous classes, workshops, and seminars to help us figure out our career path. If this is where you are, I would challenge you to reflect on your entire career, back to your first job. Look for the obvious common threads throughout your career, consider those things that come naturally to you, things you have enjoyed the most, when considering your next move. Follow me as I take you on what has been my career journey. I, like most girls, started out baby-sitting. HATED IT! That is what kids my age did for extra money. It didn’t take but a couple of baby-sitting jobs to realize that this is NOT how I wanted to earn money. One day I was reading a magazine and saw where you could earn extra money selling greeting cards door to door. Now that sounded more like it! I liked the cards and felt much more comfortable selling to the neighborhood vs. babysitting. My next job was working in a grocery store/gas station and loved it. I learned how to stock shelves, make change, pump gas, and check oil long before I was able to drive. (This was before I reached middle school.) In high school, I spent two years working in a music store where I learned more about dealing with the public, ordering, inventory, and management. Following that was waitressing at the beach. (I wanted to live there for the summer and had to work.) After college graduation my career journey consisted of: working at the Clerk of Superior Courts Office, selling computers, personnel agency, Chamber of Commerce, and then came a recruiting position within the Healthcare Industry. I spent the next 13 years in the healthcare industry working within Human Resources. Titles included: Regional Recruiter, Sr. Regional Recruiter, Director of Recruitment, VP of Recruitment Services, and VP of Human Resources. Then it was time…it came…time to start my own business. Of course this was after three mergers/buyouts and two layoffs in 13 years. During the past couple of years I have supplemented my new venture by teaching, something I thought I’d do in my ‘older’ years. This, I’ve discovered is my passion - teaching new concepts, helping people to understand themselves just a little bit better, helping individuals focus on what their next step should be. You can see how this could certainly be defined as a journey for me. When I was in undergraduate school I thought I wanted to write computer programs…a long way from where my journey has taken me. As I review my journey, each of my jobs, positions, and responsibilities has led me to where I am now. All the problems and day-to-day challenges in management have added to my experience in preparation for today’s challenge and opportunities. Looking back, I should have viewed the daily challenges as training…for what the future held as each challenge strengthened my skills and me. As you go through your day, with all its challenges, look to each as an opportunity for the future. You are in constant training to become what you want to be when you grow up…just don’t forget to do it and enjoy the journey!
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Bevery
Weber, MBA, SPHR, has more
than 20 years work experience in public, private, and nonprofit organizations.
She has held various senior level management positions and currently serves
as President of Spectrum Consulting Services, Inc. a consulting firm that
offer services in the areas of Career Assessment, Coaching, Training and
Development, Recruiting and Human Resources. 