Your Career Path: Straight Ahead or Anything Goes?
One of my high school friends, let’s call her Jane, wanted to meet up with another friend named Eric. Here’s a little backgrounder on their careers:
Jane’s Career:
- B.A. in English, so she naturally went into the publishing world after graduation.
- After a few years working for a magazine, she decided to join the marketing team of a business process outsourcing (BPO) company. But she also does some freelance writing on the side.
- Now that she’s leaving that BPO company, she wants to try a variety of options that may not have to do with marketing or publications (probably in the IT world).
Eric’s Career:
- B.S. in Biology, but moved on to get his Master’s Degree in Finance.
- Has worked in banks since then, and is now VP of some department in one of the biggest banks in the country.
Eric, after hearing that Jane left the marketing world, scolded her along the lines of “What do you want to do with your life? You don’t know what you want!”
I felt that in this case, Eric was judging Jane too harshly. Especially since Eric’s job had such poor work-life balance, he didn’t know Jane as well as he used to.
But who’s on the right track, Jane and her diverse career choices or Eric’s calculated steps?
A Straight Career Path
A straight career path usually means that straight from graduation, you work for a company in a job that is relevant to the degree you recently acquired. From there, you go higher up the corporate ladder, and even if you leave one company for another, you are still somehow going up the ladder based on your job description and salary. Almost everything in your CV ties in neatly.
Advantages:
- It’s very easy to see what your specialties are.
- You can clearly position yourself as the master and expert of one field.
- Everytime you make career choices, it’s based on where the choice will lead.
Disadvantages:
- You limit yourself from finding golden opportunities in other fields and industries.
- You might not have as much creativity with designing your lifestyle and finding alternate activities to do with your time.
- A straight career path is often based on the false assumption that your personality, needs, situation, and desires won’t change (but they will).
A Varied Career Path
This career path tends to be more instinctive (or even impulsive in some cases) and leads you in unexpected turns. You may have gotten an MBA, but now you’re working on your second novel! If asked what you will be doing 10 years from now, your plans are dynamic – you have some ideas, but you’re not entirely sure. When reading your CV, a stranger will see that you’ve been working at a variety of positions among several industries and businesses.
Advantages:
- Unlimited sources of learning and applying what you’ve learned. Like the example of the MBA’ed novelist, he’d be able to apply his business and marketing knowhow to promote his books.
- You can easily adapt to changes in the business and economic world, giving you a wider range of opportunities throughout your career.
- Your make your career choices mostly because you believe that these choices have some value in your life, whether they bring you up a corporate ladder or not.
Disadvantages:
- To the untrained eye, you will look disloyal and non-committal.
- It’s hard to explain answers to the question “What do you do?” People often expect a one word answer, not “I’m a freelance writer on the side, but I’m also a marketer, although right now I just got a job as a programmer.”
- You might not get enough comparative (when compared to the straight career path people) experience in one field to be considered as an expert.
Now what?
We’re living in exciting times where the word “work” and “workplace” are being so drastically redefined. Work doesn’t have to stem from what you studied in college and it doesn’t have to be done in weekdays during 9am-5pm. The workplace doesn’t have to be a cubicle in a tall metropolitan building.
At the same time, if you’re comfortable with the 9-to-5 setup and a pre-designed career path, there’s a place for you in the business world as well. In fact, you’re still part of the majority.
In other words…
A straight and narrow career path is not necessarily better than a varied path, and vice-versa. There’s only what’s better for you.
What’s your career path like? Is it straight or varied? Or do you strike a balance between both?
Image credit: Photo by Reynaldo Ismael Morel from stock.xchng
It’s a bit ironic that the guy who started out in biology and ended up at a bank is scolding someone else for not having a direct career path.
I think there’s something to be said for trying out different roles and environments and learning what does and doesn’t fit. Some people take the “easy” route and stay somewhere just because it’s the easy or socially acceptable thing to do.
Neither are right or wrong…just choices. I knew exactly what I wanted to do at age 15. And, I’m still doing it! I’m the rare one, though. Very few of my friends were as sure of their career path and as a result, they have had some wonderful, rich life experiences.
To each his own…
To put this in a different framework, you could have the same discussion about the path to marriage. Dating only one person and getting married vs. playing the field and learning what you need before settling down.
You’re lucky that you knew what you wanted at such a young age and you’re doing it! I’m also fortunate enough to be on the same boat.
Thanks for sharing your ideas. I especially liked your comparison of the situation to marriage. :)