Having a Great Career

 

To have a great career you must consistently do a great job. And doing a great job requires you to have the necessary technical skills required for the job. That is important. It is non-negotiable. You cannot expect to do a job let alone a great job without the required skills. Identify the gap in your skills and work towards closing it.

After this, you must know everything that is related to your job. You must have the required information with you or at least know where to get it.  For example, say your work scope involves purchasing electrical tools, apart from being to source quality tools with minimum cost. You must the knowledge of who, what, where, why, when and how the tools are used.

Now that you have the knowledge of your job and everything that is related to your job, you must look into the human aspect of your job. The soft skills.

You must be able to communicate effectively with everyone. Your message, both verbal and in written form must be clear. You must say what you mean in a way that is understood by your audience.

If you lack communication skill, you must address this. In fact, even if you think you have perfect communication and other soft skills (very few people do), you must make a habit of attending communication workshops, trainings and seminars every year to keep learning and reminding yourself. And talking about trainings, you must attend technical ones as well.

You must be honest to yourself and identify your weakness and take actions to rectify it. There are countless courses; both paid and free, physical and virtual, that you can attend. Develop yourself, don’t wait for your employers to do it for you.

Okay then, you have the technical skills and the soft skills covered. What else is there to do a great job? There is one more. The most important one.

The most vital part of doing a great job is the intention.

You must have the intention to do a great job. Having the skills makes it possible to do a great job, but you must first want to do it. The spark must come within you. Don’t confuse motivation and intent. You can keep yourself motivated by reward of recognition or monetary gain. Intention is different. It is something you decide for yourself deep within your heart.

Once you have that; with the necessary skills both technical and soft, you are on your way to have a great career.

And yes, you must have the intention that you want to have a great career.