How fulfilling has your career been?

I find my career very fulfilling as I enjoy the technology field and I very much enjoy developing my team and helping people achieve their career aspirations.   The key is to find something that you enjoy doing, and it often does not feel like work. 

The thing I will stress is it really does not matter where you start out- it matters where you end up- in other words, where you begin your career may not be what you eventually end up doing.  For example, I have a degree in Marketing.  If within my 1st couple years of my career someone would have asked me that I would ever be in operations, I would have laughed and said no.  Yet as my career progressed and I discovered things I was good at and things that were valued in the business community, opportunities opened up for me outside of my initial interests, and I was able to take advantage of them. 

One of the fulfilling things I discovered as I became a manager was that I really enjoyed helping others in their careers and helping them reach for the stars.  It is a great feeling to see others reach their potential.

The key is to think of things that interest you and that you are good at, and also understand that that may be a moving target as you progress through your career.

Perfect

Hello Caden,

Great question and great answer from Jon. The key really is finding something you’re good at, you love to do and that someone will pay you to do. I’ve heard this referred to as the “Career Sweet Spot.”

I like Jon’s remark about the “moving target.” I majored in music in college then later switched my focus and finished my BA Degree in Organizational Management. I currently work as a Community Engagement Lead, in a role I love, leading employee engagement events that are making an impact and helping many people in our communities. I feel I’ve found a career sweet spot, but I’m also always looking to learn more, improve my skills and remain open to the next great opportunity. It also took me years, several job moves and a lot of networking to get me where I am now.

Something I didn’t know I’d be doing is using a lot of data for planning and evaluating the work we do. Last year, I took an online course that really helped me understand some tools and resources for analyzing and using data in my job.

Here’s an article on finding your career sweet spot and a quote:

 "God gave each of us an amazing set of strengths. Figure that out,” he said, encouraging the students to discover what they do best and what they love doing, and to determine what others will pay them to do. Quote from article and speaker Johnny C. Taylor, Jr. president and CEO of the Alexandria, Virginia-based Society for Human Resource Management.

Link https://news.miami.edu/stories/2018/12/find-your-career-sweet-spot.html

Best wishes to you in your career goals and future.