Career Development for Individuals

“Choose Work That Fits YOU: Maximize Your Performance.”

The point of this article is to inform the reader of the importance in finding a career that fits them. It encourages people to continually asses the work they are doing because people and organizations are always changing. Farren also provides a career fit model that shows the different areas that make up an ideal career. These areas consist of: you (your values, interests, and beliefs), business skills, leadership skills, professional skills, team skills, profession, industry, organization, and, job/position. The article encourages the reader to be true to themselves in their career choice.

1.   Farren, Caela Ph. D. “Choose Work That Fits YOU: Maximize Your Performance.” Mastery Works Inc. (2007): 1-9.

"Leverage Organizational Change: Five Ways to Enhance Your Career."

This piece highlights five different ways to enhance your career. It lays out each step clearly and then goes on to examine them with more depth. The first step is to showcase your contributions to the company or “do your own PR” and don’t expect that everyone will notice your contributions. The second step is to get on projects that enhance your visibility and contribution which may take a little extra volunteer work. The third step is to do a professional audit, ask how you are doing against your peers.  The fourth step that this article talks about is energy and support- be prepared to go the extra mile for the company. Finally, the fifth step is to take care of your mood and your health and be conscious of the image you are projecting.  

2.  Farren, Caela. Ph. D.  "Leverage Organizational Change: Five Ways to Enhance Your Career." Mastery Works Inc. (2006): 1-4.

“Development through Work and Play."

This article argues that we are much too serious in our career development and that a work-play integration is necessary as human beings. The article focuses on five  different propositions that integrate work and play. 1: fuse work and play conceptually over a life span. 2: Imbue development career theory with a work-play fusion. 3: study work and play across the life span. 4: Investigate work and play within the life span. 5: Consider a work-play fusion in self-concept development.

3.  Hartung, Paul J. “Development through Work and Play." Journal of Vocational Behavior 61 (2002): 424-438.

"How to Stay Stuck in the Wrong Career."

This piece argues that traditional and conventional methods to changing your career do not work. According to the research done prior to this article, the author claims that “doing first and thinking second” about career changes has a more positive outcome than the traditional forms of career change. The author also writes that in order to successfully change careers it has been more beneficial to take a leap into the unknown rather than trying to strategically plan out your next career move. Finally, it talks about the importance in the knowledge of a person’s working identity: their sense of self in professional roles, action, and applying effort to reshape identity.

4.  Ibarra, Herminia. "How to Stay Stuck in the Wrong Career." Harvard Business Review (2002): 1-10.

"How Leaders Create and Use Networks."

This article claims that networking, although uncomfortable to some is vital to the success of leaders, especially leaders in new roles. The lack of networking in your career can be detrimental to your job. It identified three distinct forms of networking- operational, personal, and strategic that can help with growth in a person’s career. The first helps them manage internal responsibilities. The second helps increased their personal development and the third helps opened their eyes to new business directions.  

5.  Hunter, Mark and Herminia Ibarra. "How Leaders Create and Use Networks." Harvard Business Review (2007): 1-7.

“Interview with Barb Sandford.”

This is an interview with Kenneth A. Tucker, a Gallup consultant, writer, speaker, and expert on helping others use their talents and strengths, to share strategies for using talents while managing weaknesses. This interview by Barb Sandford pinpoints ways to highlight your strengths and manage your weaknesses. Tucker identifies talents as regular patterns and weaknesses as non- patterns. Furthermore, the interview touches on how managers and leaders not only need to own their own talents but also the talents of others and talks about ways to do this.

6.  Tucker, Kenneth A. “Interview with Barb Sandford.” The Gallup Organization (GMJ) 2000: 1-4.