How Do You Make 'Good' Career Decisions

How do you make ‘good’ career decisions? How do you increase your career LUCK? Listen, Understand, and Connect, Knowledge. This is what career advice is supposed to develop with you. Developing your capacity to really Listen to your story, how you describe yourself, your chances, the self-talk you have about your chances.

Developing your understanding and awareness of how you view yourself, the stories you tell yourself. Career advice connects your self-awareness, with your next steps to build capacity ‘with you’, and ‘within you’ to manage your career. This is the connection between the knowledge of yourself, knowledge of the labour market from a careers advisor, with your capacity to research and uncover your own knowledge about your career choices.

From 17 years in Career advice in Ireland, my role is to be a mentor. Walking with you through your journey from confusion, illusion, decision, doubt, towards belief, identifying challenges, breaking career goals into sustainable steps.

I have worked in a placement focused role, and I have worked in a capacity building career advice and mentoring role. Placement is short term and places the power of decision with the career worker.

Career advice and mentoring works more in partnership with you. This approach develops your career management skills to be an active participant in your career decision.

What type of support would you rather be part of?

Do you want to be passive in your decision, to be ‘told and sold’, or do you want to be placed? Would you prefer to be an active participant empowered to Listen, understand, connect, knowledge of your hopes, fears, challenges, opportunities, choices, and owned steps to career development?

Giving your career choice to others may afford you a choice to blame others if things don’t go the way you want, or if things don’t work out.

Yes, in a world of possibilities and changing circumstances, you may get things wrong, make mistakes, or circumstances beyond your control alter your choices.

Perhaps a deeper reflection is will you own what needs to be done, take ownership of taking steps in your situation to develop it further towards your success?  Being empowered and owning your decision, retains your autonomy and ownership over your change. In my experience some people don’t want to take on this ownership, seeking directive advice, to be placed.

As an ever-evolving society we look to AI to tell us, the media to sell to us, and people tend to be in such a rush to get to a decision they barely take the time to pause and sit with their decision.

You are writing one chapter in your career at a time. Your decisions and development takes the time it takes for you to develop in your way, at your pace.

If you fail, pause, reflect, restart taking your learning forward. If you succeed draw your learning, reflect on what worked, and continue to build on little wins, step by step.