Career Development

Proverbs 22:29 (NKJV)
²⁹ Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before unknown men.

A person without a commitment to personal development will never have reasonable career development. Let your development be discipline-driven and not envy-driven. If the only time you think or wish for development is when you see another person’s success, then you are likely to be envy-driven. Career development requires a lifelong discipline. 

Canadian Standards and Guidelines for Career Development Practitioners in 2012 defined career development noting that “Career Development is the lifelong process of managing learning, work, leisure, and transitions in order to move toward a personally determined and evolving preferred future.” It is a continuum of interactions between self-assessment, career awareness, goal setting, skill training and performing. Your personal growth and satisfaction on your job should determine your passion for development. You must be continually improving, changing for the better within and outside your organization. If you don’t change, you will be changed.

Carter Cast said, “We are now in the era of do-it-yourself career development,” so take a personal responsibility to develop yourself. Whatever you are doing in life, if you don’t have a library for it, you can never truly succeed. Invest in books, go for training, and don’t wait for your company to send you.

Note the following vital tips:

      1.      Love to learn and grow. Commit to a lifelong learning.

      2.      Love what you do or do what you love.

      3.      Prayerfully get a career mentor or coach.

      4.      Let money be your least motivation.

      5.      Have a vision of what God want to do with your career.

      6.      Develop a SMART plan.

      7.      Be strategic about your development plan.

      8.      Go for value and not title.

      9.      Learn mastery in something every day.

      10.  Invest part of your monthly income in self-development.

      11.  Do a constant self-evaluation.

      12.  Hate mediocrity and commit to excellence.

      13.  Hang around developing friends.

      14.  Have some rookies you are mentoring.

      15.  Be yourself, but be your best self.

Conclusion

            Always remember that you are on a mission to the world through the instrumentality of your career. It is your platform to serve God and fulfil your purpose in life. Therefore, it should be chosen carefully and pursued to the apogee so that you can be a great influence for God in this world. Friends, may the LORD clear every confusion in your path and give you grace to be the very best you can be for God in the name of Jesus. I celebrate you. See you at the top.

Adesina Abegunde.

CAREER CHOICE

Genesis 2:15 (NKJV)
¹⁵ Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

Luke 2:49 (NKJV)
⁴⁹ And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?"

Introduction

            Hi, so glad to know you are reading this piece. How will you choose and develop your career knowing it will significantly define your life on earth and eternity? A dictionary defines career as “an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life and with opportunity for progress.” I really love that definition. Career also means profession, occupation, job, vocation, calling, employment or line of work.

Jesus, at the age of 12 knew His career: it was His Father’s Business. Someone once said that in Genesis, God gave man three “Ws”: worship, work and woman. Meaning the first thing you must pursue as a youth is to know God, worship Him, love, serve and chase after Him. After that is work, your career before thinking of who to marry. So briefly, we will look at few things on how to choose and develop your career.

Career Choice

Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)
¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 33:3 (NKJV)
³ 'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'

Very crucial in the overall success of a person’s career is the initial choice process or the eventual need to change career. Some people choose a career and stick to it all their lives and some due to one reason or another will have to change career. In any of these circumstances, a process of choice becomes very important because a career defines the life of an individual to a great extent.

Foundational to career choice is KNOWLEDGE. For you as a Christian, you must possess good knowledge of the following:

1.      Your God (Daniel 11:32): make efforts to know God, how to hear from Him and how to decode His will in matters of life and godliness.

2.      You (Your Self): Socrates said “Man know thyself.” Who are you according to Scriptures? Who are you according to your SHAPE? What are your interests and inclinations?

3.      Existing Industries: educational, engineering, information, commerce, science and technology, religion, legal, governance, transportation, fashion, film and entertainment, and many more.

4.      Existing Careers: in very industry, there are different careers.

5.      Existing Opportunities: in every career there are different opportunities or prospects.

Several forces influence the choice of career such as: divine guidance, divine interruption, parental influence, family trade, need for survival or economic realities, popular opinion, circumstances, privilege or opportunity, ignorance, interest, social prestige, hero worship, fear of choosing or irresponsibility, friendship, exam grades, exposure, location, and lots more. You must be careful not to allow negative or biased forces to determine your course in life.

Lastly under career choice is the need to prayerfully seek both divine and human guidance in choosing the path of life you want to take. Jer. 29:11 and 33:3 show that God has something in mind for you and He will release it if you seek Him. Also, in the multitudes of counselors there is safety, try and seek guidance from the right people, not your mates who do not also know where they are going.

Adesina Abegunde.