The Challenge Of
Finding A Career

Is the process the same as finding a job? You know, scouring job listings, surfing career search engines, posting your resume online, meeting with recruitment agencies, boning up on your interview skills.

Finding a career is actually more fundamental and more complex than that.

A career is much more than how you fill your working hours. It is an expression of who you are as a person, what you stand for, what is important to you, and how you create meaning and purpose in your life.

Three Meanings Of Career

If you think 'career' and 'job' mean the same thing, here's some information that may surprise you.

According to Dictionary.com, there are six definitions of the word 'career'. The primary definition is the one we are most familiar with: "an occupation or profession, esp. one requiring special training, followed as one's lifework". As in: Fred and George pursued careers in law.

A secondary meaning of 'career' is course, esp. a swift one. A racecourse or horse race comes to mind.

Homestretch Buy From Art.com

Then there are the medieval origins of the word 'career'. The root for 'career' in French is carriere, meaning 'road', and in Latin, carrus, meaning 'wagon' (or cart, if you will).

What does all this have to do with finding a career, or discovering your dream career?

Finding A Career That Says "This Is Me!"

I love the creative interpretation of 'career' inspired by authors Figler & Bolles in their book The Career Counselor's Handbook.

Drawing on the origins and definitions of the word 'career', the authors suggest that there are three ways people find a career: the Racecourse, the Cart and the Horse. What you choose depends on what is most important to you.

Those who choose the Racecourse value Action, Ambition and Winning above all.

Those who choose the Cart ask: What's in the cart? What Value or Contribution is my cart carrying to others?

Those who choose the Horse value Personal Growth and Personal Excellence.

Racecourse. Cart. Horse.

Which picture describes you best?

Finding A Career: What's Your Story?

Here are some questions to help you reflect on how you came to be where you are now.

• What do you value most?
• What would you like your lifework to represent?
• Think back to when you first started working.

  How did you go about finding your career?

  Did you fall into your career?

  Did you strategically and systematically choose what you felt were your best career choices?

  Did you go with what others said was the right career for you, or were you mostly self-directed as you were clear about what you wanted?

• If you had a choice, would you change anything?

An Alternative Approach To Finding A Career

If you are open to a more deliberate and conscious approach to finding a career, I invite you to try this Career Choice Test.

Here's how to do the Career Choice Test.

Start by typing an open-ended question, e.g. What Are The Best Careers For Me? Take your time to reflect on this question. Do not rush, as it will affect the rest of the decision making process.

Next, key in all possible options and all relevant criteria.

Now, sit back and watch your decision outcome unfold. Be amazed by how the software processes, sorts and delivers your career options in order, starting with the one that most closely fits your criteria.

Do you have one specific career that you aspire to, that if you were engaged in it would give you the greatest possible joy and fulfillment?

Is it possible to enjoy more than one career at a time?

Are there different careers that fit best with the different seasons in your life?

Career experts say that we go through five to seven career changes in a lifetime.

Life Changes You

This makes sense when you think about it.

What excited you at 25 might lose its attraction when you are 40.

A change in life circumstances. Increased knowledge, education and awareness. Who you network and hang out with. The passage of time.

Chatting with a mom at school the other day, I learned that she used to have aspirations of working as a chef when she was young. What attracted her to the cooking profession? "It seemed so exciting!" she says.

Fast forward 25 years later. Now married and busy caring for her own brood, she doesn't think she would ever want to work in the kitchens - even if the opportunity came to her. "Too much hard work!" she laughs.

Whether you are drawn by one career or many, the important thing is to discover what it is (or what they are), and then work out how you can make it (or them) your reality while you have a choice.

Blessed is he who has found his work;
let him ask no other blessedness.

Thomas Carlyle