Blog Post: Seeking Stability for the Self-Powered Careerist

I spent last weekend in Washington D.C. at an ASTD Leader's Conference.  It's an inspiring place, and a great city to hold a conference for leaders. 

The opening keynote was Dr. Beverly Kaye, author of Love 'Em Or Lose 'Em, and Love It, Don't Leave It.  In this session, she asked the room of workplace learning and performance professionals (i.e., trainers), "We spend so much time developing others, what are we doing to develop ourselves?"

Dr. Kaye looked toward Generation Y, or the Millenials, for the wisdom of the emerging workforce.  More often we find these people saying: "I won't stay if there are no opportunities for me to grow here."  Dr. Kaye calls them self-powered careerists.

In this evolving workforce, Dr. Kaye sees a business world in which Enrichment is the most important aspect of a job in the coming years.  She sees that job satisfaction will come from a triumvirate of characteristics that address the employee:

Skills, which strengthen one's competence,
Values, which bolster one's commitment, and
Interests, which enhance one's enjoyment of the job. 

Dr. Kaye isn't the only one seeing the value of the self-powered careerist.  Petti Van Rekom and Ann Coil, guest speakers of ASTD-OC's Career Management Special Interest Group, ascribe to the idea that we are all "Self" employed.  That is, we are each the leaders of our lives. We are consistently representing our selves, and analyzing how we fit within an organization to which we belong.

Dr. Coil, this month's Career Management SIG guest speaker, recognizes that even as we adapt to the changing job market, we seek a constant to guide us in our career navigation. She has identified something that can serve as this guide, something that helps you maintain control of your career. Your own personal MasterWork©.

Dr. Coil developed the MasterWork© concept from 20 years of experience guiding people to change, re-direct, and manage their careers. According to Dr. Coil, we all have a MasterWork, our own personal fingerprint for attacking projects and solving problems. Defining our MasterWork© – what we do best and most enjoy doing – gives us a powerful tool for responding to changes in the workplace so we don’t get derailed, no matter who initiates the change.
 
It’s a foundation that anchors our career decisions and a beacon that points us in the right direction in all kinds of market conditions, so we can craft a satisfying and rewarding career and land on our feet when we need to.

P.S.: You can learn more about this month's Career Management Special Interest Group here.