What is Career Management?
Career management is more than just what you do to find a job it is about how you approach your work and your life.
How do you manage your career?
- Do you learn to flow with the changes that occur at work and in life?
- Do you commit to lifelong learning?
- Every now and then do you reevaluate your skills and interests?
- Do you have a “can do” attitude?
- Do you take charge of your career?
If you answered ‘yes’ to all of these questions you have qualities that will help you manage your career and find success in what you choose to do.
Sometimes people think that the terms "job," "occupation," and "career" mean the same thing. In fact, they have very different meanings. We will be using them to mean the following:
- A job is a specific position or work for which you get paid. For example, Maria’s job is as a math teacher at Central Middle School.
- An occupation is a collection of job titles that share job duties, skills, and training. People who work in an occupation do similar tasks and need similar training. For example, Maria and every teacher in all the high schools share the same occupation: secondary school instructor. Occupations also fall under specific industries. An industry is a broad term describing a workplace where many different occupations can be found. An example of an industry is healthcare.
- A career is a lifelong journey that includes your education, interests, jobs, occupations, recreational activities and volunteer work. Throughout your career you will gain many different skills, work in many different jobs representing many different occupations, and have changing interests including recreational activities.
Why should you manage your career?
The job market is not the same as it used to be. Today's economy is global; this means that local jobs and occupations are affected by the economy of other countries, not just locally. This impacts what employers want from workers. The types of work and training that were available to you in the past may have changed as well.
