Your Career Development - Essay Example

?Your Career Development Assignment no. id. No. This essay looks at the topic of career development and with the help of six exercises from the career work book; define a career for my own self. The essay will look into the details of making the right career choices and what where the decisions that I took in this regard. Furthermore, I will present an analysis of how my decision related to career has influenced my career prospects – both in the positive and negative ways – and what have I achieved so far. Introduction It will seem odd to say that I have quite a few MBA’s in my family and I have seen them struggle. Since MBA is a family thing I never had much of a choice, but when I got in and decided that I will make best of what I had; I also resolved in my mind that I will do more, and something worthwhile with my life and career, not sit around waiting for someone to offer me a job. Having my own business set up, however small it might be, was the ultimate solution for me. Hard work has never been bothersome to me, but to wait upon others to recognize my potential and tell me what to do is just not my cup of tea. I made up my mind with regard to my career before I joined the MBA, but I never meant to study to get a job, having a business of my own is the ultimate goal for me. My career anchors, lifeline, Wheels of life, strengths exercise and integration allow me to look closely into the choices I have made and the extent to which they favor my career choice. Personal and Career Purpose While thinking about the personal and career purposes I have to take family and work together. I chose to study MBA for lack of choice and to show respect to what my family thought best for me. Seeing the way many MBA’s suffer while waiting for a job I decided that I had to make myself self-sufficient, so much so, that I shouldn’t have to wait for a salary to run my house hold and to fulfill my and my family’s needs. Starting a business from scratch is no easy task, thus I decided to first take advantage of my MBA to gain necessary understanding of how things work in the business world. The course modules have given me an insight into the business world and have made me firm on my decision rather than weakening my resolve. Courses like entrepreneurship, HRM, Supply Chain have provided me with a clear and detailed understanding of the functionalities and complexities faced in the world of business. But I still believe that I lack in understanding of how to make things happen for me when it comes to starting a business from scratch and running it successfully. The severity of competition is becoming even more evident with the crisis threatening businesses all around. After an MBA, I consider it necessary to take courses that offer understanding of starting a business. Free courses and certifications are available online to take. These courses provide with all kinds of information on businesses, financing, accounts and marketing strategies (Norman). Online workshops along with videos from the IRS are also an instrumental tool towards gaining the understanding of personal business (Norman). Such courses and research are free and only require an investment of time. Significance of My Own Business My own business holds significance for me in multiple ways. I have always aspired to be unique and to stand out. I enjoy being unique and creating uniqueness. My business will be my own; unique and innovative. Allowing me the freedom of choice I crave. I realized also how much this business is significant to me as I studied about the recession during my classes and how people have been losing their jobs. So many jobless people and such limited opportunities, made me think of creating my own circle of opportunity which will not only make me self-sufficient but also will allow me to help other jobless people by recruiting them. My key anchors, independence, sense of service and entrepreneurship enabled me to realize how significant this venture is for me. Whose Support Will Matter? Rome was not built in a day and personally I think it was not built alone. Support varies and matter in all its variations: financial, emotional, moral, whatever kind it might be. The first and foremost support that will indeed be the turning point will be the family. I have never kept my plans of starting a business hidden under a pillow. My family was not initially enthusiastic about what I wanted to be but logic and reason have a way of making people understand. I also look forward towards not only their moral support but guidance from them as well. Friends are another important part of my support team. I intend to assign my friends with key duties in my business, as they are trustworthy and hardworking and never doubt my decisions. Implementation of My Plan What once has been a final goal, is now only a part of the process of achieving my goal. I believe in setting small goals that are realistic and achievable. After completing necessary education I intend to look for market opportunities. I am interested in doing what I love but not sell what I love as that can have detrimental effects on my business (Haden, 2012). For the time being I am thinking of clothing and male accessories. I intend to start with customizable shirts and jeans, prepared on per order basis. Starting a business will require less investment, no office, and staff, and leave a better margin of profit to expand my business. From there on I will on the look-out for opportunities to not only further invest in the business but also to expand it. Significance of a Recent Career Choice Although not a part of my plans yet recently I started working as an intern at a local store. I made the decision to gain an insight into the practical workings of a business and how a business is run and managed. Although working at the store challenged my key anchors and made me feel miserable as I was unable to take decisions which could lead to improvement of the business and also there was no room for innovation, a set decorum was being followed for the past many years; the anchors challenged the sense of service the most, when I saw prejudice and couldn’t do anything about it. I resolved to remember these experiences and provide good quality service to all my clients irrespective of where they are from. Values, Interests, Strengths and Motivations Once I have gained experience and knowledge in the practical field and completed my education, I intend to start my venture. This decision will allow me to work without being under the constant pressure of the bosses and cherish the values that I deem necessary in business, like equality of service, ethics, and truth. Unfortunately, it does not allow me to enjoy other motivating activities in the wheel of work cycle exercise, like having the ability to be innovative and creative. As for Wheels of Life; I can give my family their due time and also enjoy the hobby of travelling once I have established my business – both of what have unhealthy spokes currently. Though starting a business is very tough task and sparsely does one get time to fulfill other activities, but my decision will allow me to grow on my career path and at the same time. Since I am easily demotivated by hurdles and blockages, this decision proves to be a good option there as well. While it is obvious to me that I have my own style of working without being placed under many restrictions, working under someone will allow me to learn to discipline my urge for autonomy. Unfortunately this idea can delay my chances of working in a real work environment, but at the same time holds benefits for me in the longer-run; as my strengths such as independence, lax working habits (no stress), innovation, and patience are all tested while working for someone else. These strengths are mostly perceived as excuses not to work, by others; as I came to learn during action learning colleague discussion. I have to work on these strengths in a way that they do not present a negative image of me, as a negative image of me will in turn reflect negatively on the business I do. Nonetheless I did make several mistakes as obvious from the lifeline exercise. I had previously perceived doing business so easy that I started on this project before my MBA but that landed me into deep depression since those dreams were unachievable and strongly shook my morale. Now, I feel that goals should be more realistically set, so that they enable me to achieve them easily and you don’t end below the lifeline. With every success you will feel your morale boosted and a surge for even higher goals will be felt within. I also feel that my habit of being relaxed and patient should remain the same. But I need to work on remaining calm and patient when things are not going my way. Since I cannot work under strict authority, doing a business lets me set my own rules, but that can also be detrimental for every business and needs strict governance. Learning Goals and Process for Achieving Success I have set my learning goals clear cut so that at every step I know where I stand. As discussed in the position paper, I like creativity and constructing new ideas. I had set myself the goal to start seeing the negative side of creative ideas as well which has enabled me to better my decision making power. As a result of this improvement I started working as an assistant in a store so that I can learn to overcome hurdles in business. As I had related in the position paper, that dreaming big was ideal as it made achieving smaller dreams easier, I now have a shift of feelings. Dreams and goals should be precise and smaller so that achieving those gets easier. This has a huge impact on the psyche as with every success you feel a rush of adrenaline pool your blood and your morale boosted. Additionally, goals should be reviewed off and on to keep a check that you are not deviating from your path. The Human Resource at UC Berkley suggests that you define your career success and analyze whether you experience growth in your current job or not (Berkeley, 2013).I have learnt to ease my flexibility. One cannot succeed if he does not step out of the comfort zone. Showing flexibility towards working conditions lets you learn. My career development agenda is very simple and realistic. I have set myself small goals like starting from home/garage, which is easier to achieve so that at every step I know where I lack and where do I excel. My career development agenda involves taking up business from the base of it and then expanding the diameter of my innovative capacities. I plan to move on to local consumers followed by national and then international market. Starting from scratch will enable me to learn and make support circles. This expansion process will allow me to expand the horizon of my knowledge as well as my career and provide me with better chances for a bright career since I do not believe in shortcuts. Conclusion Putting information on paper has enabled me to gain an understanding of myself as a person, and a professional. Where I have been introduced to my fine qualities like innovation, patience, and flexibility; which work really well for a business, I have also come across qualities that can be detrimental for my future plans. Though creativity is partly inborn, one can always polish it further to get an advantage out of it. The Take Charge America describes scrapbooking and tinkering with old cars as the driving forces behind many profitable businesses (Bechtold, 2008). So far, personally I do feel that I took the right career decision on the right time and in its right direction. This will never make me feel burdened with work, since it will never really look like work to me – it’s a hobby! The personal satisfaction I will achieve at the end of the day is again for people who are lucky enough to make the right career choices. References BECHTOLD, A. R. (2008). Will work for fun three simple steps for turning any hobby or interest into cash. Hoboken, N.J., John Wiley & Sons. Berkeley (2013). Goal-Setting: Developing a Vision & Goals for Your Career Plan | Human Resources at UC Berkeley. Retrieved from http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/learning/career-development/goal-setting/career-plan-vision on 22 April 2013 MORRISEY, B. (2012, December 20). Advantages and Disadvantages of Freelance Work. Retrieved from http://www.afreelanceworker.co.uk/advantages-disadvantages-freelance-work.html on 22 April 2013 Norman, L. Courses on How to Run a Small Business. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/how_6717318_courses-run-small-business.html on 22 April 2013 Haden, J. (2012). Do What You Love? Screw That. Retrieved from http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/worst-career-advice-do-what-you-love.html on 22 April 2013 Helpguide (n.d.). Finding the Right Career: Choosing or Changing Career Paths. Retrieved from http://www.helpguide.org/life/finding_career.htm on 22 April 2013 Read More