No need for metaverse, cheer physical reality

No need for metaverse, cheer physical reality

“The 3 C’s of Life: Choices, Chances, Changes. You must make a choice to take a chance or your life will never change.”- Zig Ziglar

At crossroads of our life journey, we get to make small casual choices, take end of the road turns, but sometimes decisions are huge and disruptive. It is up to us on how much of the change we seek. Regarding career, there used to be limited option and as borders have opened, trotting the world became easier. The average job tenure for Gen X workers in EU was around 8.5 years in 2020, while baby boomers stayed at one workplace 12.5 years on average (Eurostat “Labour Force survey”, 2020). As some of the positions are becoming redundant due to Digital Transformation (e.g. Administrative and Executive Secretaries, Accounting, Bookkeeping (WEF, the Future of Jobs Report, 2020)), people seek for self-realisation. Now more than ever we can fulfil our needs just like we would do on the SIMS.

After 7 cumulative years in industry, working as a Teacher, Project and Product Manager, in employed or co-founding positions, I have spent a year in Australia trying to figure out my next steps and find my calling. After over 300 job applications, these are a few insights that guided me towards career in academia.

1. Reflect. I believe this is the hardest but the most crucial step of the whole journey – pause for a moment and connect the dots. One recruiter helped me by asking to list the tasks I liked and didn’t enjoy doing at each workplace. I believe there is no perfect job that has no chores, but these questions narrow down the search. Later on, I discovered that a few more things are as vital to identify: an environment that helps you thrive (solitude, crowd, international, etc.), strengths and personality traits that make you flourish, and finally, extremely important things to you in the workplace. This reflection should not only help you understand yourself but also your career aspirations, reducing the surrounding noise to inner silence.
2. Play. When life happens, we tend to forget our inner child, but this is the place where all the secrets are and this is the person that holds the key to the problems one has created. I have learned that the career that is meant for you is not the hardest or most serious one, but the one that is fun in daily tasks. Ambition, challenges and personal / professional development are important but only as long as this brings you joy. Life is a sandbox, and we are just kids playing. Think for a moment, what was the game you liked most when you were a child? The answer might give you useful hints for the future career. E.g. My favourite toy was a teacher’s journal.
3. Use resources. Internet with its collective knowledge and science research offers plenty of resources for solving any problem. So why not take self-discovery as a projects or scientific study? There are coaches that can guide you through the journey, podcasts and literature to learn from other mistakes and discoveries, finally, there are tools tailored to find specific answers like ikigai or SWOT. In the end, there are so many options and solutions that we only need to ask the right question and be determined to find the answer.
4. Listen. There is so much noise in our surrounding that the actually important skills nowadays are critical thinking and filtering. Foremost, we need to hear ourselves (previous steps can help on that). I love the saying that “the self should not be found or created, but heard and discovered”. When in line with the self, you might start paying attention to your environment. Hear what people who know you and occurring life events try to tell you. Life sometimes tries to tell us something, but our stubbornness does not allow us to see it. In my case, my family and relatives were calling me professor for as far as I can remember, and I was getting coaching jobs from random people in my network. Again, having clear questions and ability to trust the process can open serendipitous opportunities.
5. Dare. Have you ever had shivers because of applying for a dream job? I had when sending my first email to my research supervisor to be. There is no point applying for hundreds of jobs if the job description and idea of working there does not give you shivers of excitement. This is a first step towards your future, so this must be thrilling! As our energy is in high frequency at that moment, there is no other option but getting the acceptance – we attract same frequency as we share. Our desired change sometimes requires lowering the ego and to start over. That is extremely hard but essential for career shifts. In a long run, purposeful and sincere career choices take you further and bring financial success as a byproduct.
6. Validate. Some career change choices are built, some are snapped, but as startup world and transformations in business teaches – incremental and validated steps can save the day. Therefore, it is advised to test yourself in the new field and aspired role, the game might be different there, so it’s good to know the rules and take informed decisions. So, internships or temporary non-binding roles can not only answer your questions and see your fit, but also open opportunities for faster, smoother and more fulfilled integration in the new world. As for me, I have started my career in academia as a Junior Researcher in a pre-PhD position and I could not be happier. This experience opened many doors for me and surrounded me with like-minded people that made me feel home.

As a junior researcher at EINST4INE, I did a research not only on state-of-the-art practices and supportive mechanisms managing Digital Transformation across industries, but also on career in academia, preparation for a PhD, and integration in a different country, learning the rules of the life game board. Not sure whether the wind will be favourable for me continuing on this path, but I know myself and my strengths better now to say that academia is my fit. I hope these insights will encourage you to drift towards your fulfilment.