My career has been quite adventurous even though I still feel like I have not started. I have served organizations in several roles ranging from Customer Relationship Management to Public Relations, Brand Management, Human Resources Management, Media Production, Event management, Sponsorship Sales, Investor Relations, Business Development, Key Account Management, Management Consulting to Hospital Administration.
Some roles were assigned to me, while some others -I took on myself. At some point, I began to feel like a failed talent. People accused me of wasting my diverse skills and talents while my peers who had just one skill or one focus area were flourishing with speed.
I almost agreed with these voices until in 2017/2018 I began to see opportunities that required my “chaos by design”. However, I would not advice anyone to be like me. Rather I would recommend you take the following steps so you can go much farther even faster.
- If you find yourself in a job or role you do not enjoy, or you are struggling, speak up. Talk to your supervisor, a peer you trust, a career counselor or coach but resist the urge to stay silent and despair in a job or role you can neither flourish nor grow in. I had this experience at my first job in banking. My older brother was a successful banker who loved his job in commercial banking. He made it look like banking was fun and easy, so I desired to be a banker and as soon as I got a chance, I applied to a bank and got a role in retail banking. It was horrible for me. It started with the clothes, I loved to see them on others, but they were just too many layers for me. Then the job itself was a chore. I liked my colleagues, I enjoyed serving my clients and hearing I had hit my monthly target – escaping the major disgrace just before they fire you – but beyond those things, everything else was a chore. For me this was enough sign for to plot my exit. Years later I heard Ibukun Awosika share her story; a graduate of Chemistry, who started her career in an accounting firm and quickly moved on to discover architecture and furniture making, today she sits on the board of several companies including First Bank Nigeria Plc. Where she is Chairman. Imagine if she had remained at the accounting firm, struggling and grumbling.
- Pay attention to the parts of your work you enjoy or find extremely easy. These are your strong areas and even though it is important to strengthen our weaknesses, I have observed that individuals who have enjoyed great careers, focused on their areas of strength, and played down on their weak areas by either collaborating, delegating or outrightly avoiding such areas. Discover your strengths and seek opportunities where these strengths are the major requirements for output and success even if it means taking some seeming steps backwards to move forward. At some points in my career, I have forgone a promotion or taken a pay cut so I could move into my preferred areas of interest, years down the line I can tell you the sacrifices were worth it.
- Sometimes the problem might not be the job itself, it might be the factors around the job. It might be the sector, the organization or even your boss. It helps to periodically review what is working and what is not so you can continuously improve your career experience. I learnt the hard way to always choose the boss consciously I report to if I had a choice. A colorful career can be dampened by other factors when we are not deliberate about our choices.
- About those weaknesses, if they cannot be downplayed or ignored, you can volunteer for low priority but important projects either at work or outside work where you can make your mistakes and build your muscles. As you grow in these areas, be sure to quickly blend into your daily work so you gain mastery and demonstrate your capabilities, someone at the top might just notice your growth and extend you a hand up the ladder of progress for your hard work.
- Seek the help of a career coach or counselor on time. This will help you be more deliberate and precise about choosing your opportunities and motivate you to place value on yourself early.
A fulfilling successful career is possible and if you are willing to make it happen, it can be yours.