The Lost Generation – Mentor Me?

Where do you fit in the world of work? How you can be useful? Will you ever find a career you enjoy?… Since The Lost Generation post, some tremendous work has been going on behind the scenes.  Read on.

We have a small team of very talented people pulling together research and ideas for content that could be the humble beginnings of a new kind of community blog. We’re focussing on telling your story and engaging people in the journey. We learn from each other’s experience, because nobody teaches this stuff in school.

We’re looking for people who need help.  So, do you need a hand?

Developing your career by thinking strategically

Turning up and getting paid is pretty demoralising unless it has meaning or purpose.  You want to go somewhere with your career. You can do this in a number of ways and there are a couple of demonstrations of how to do this below.  It’s important to understand that not every manager will appreciate someone going beyond their day-job.  As a rule however, it usually leads to success, and feeling better.  If you’re going to stand out in this economy, you’re going to have to do something different.

Adam is doing more than the day-job

Adam is converting his contract role into a permanent career opportunity.  After university he got a contract role as a Business Systems analyst.  A solid option in an uncertain market, with a good income.

“The problem with contracting is, it’s tough to really develop your career.  The problem with the role was all you do is firefight.  There is little scope to make a change, to make a difference.”

Adam became trusted by going that little bit further, and being helpful.  Being an Issues Analyst is a fairly isolated role, all you do is identify the problem.  Adam was able to find the wider business process problem and pitch his solution to Senior Management.  He now has an interview for a full time role.

Diego is transforming his career

Diego won an award in University for developing sustainable Architecture.  As such, he brought this passion to his day job, and looked forward to being able to contribute.  After 4 years in the industry his second company was handing him very basic CAD work, which he found boring demoralising and frustrating.

Diego felt constantly tired and ignored.  He like Adam, thought about the company’s bigger picture and presented solutions to Senior Management.  These were well received on their own merit, but ultimately fell on deaf ears “Nice idea, but we can’t do any of this”.

For Diego this was the final straw.  He’s now considering his options, and where these skills could be better used.  A very scary, and exciting time in our career.

What will you do?

It’s important to remember you won’t get all the answers from one blog post, but you can make a start.   Comment below and ask questions.  You’re not alone