You might have seen people who claim to have everything in life but are inwardly unhappy; people who are higher paid than expected yet do nothing more than fuss; people who have a high-status position with all the associated benefits but are dissatisfied. What about me? This post tells you about my career accomplishments.
Introduction
I am in the academic profession as a professor in an evergreen engineering discipline. It's not for a day or year but more than 40-years of teaching. No change in my career but a change of places from one country to another. People may think that the change of place maybe because I am dissatisfied with my performance or due to a lack of my skills or network environments. My career is because of my career interest and not because of any compulsion or situational demands; hence, no question of dissatisfaction. Though I was not born with skills, I developed the relevant strategic skills for my interesting career during my degree course itself. So, no question of lack of skills for a change of place of employment. I am a son of the soil; I know where the river begins and ends, and how rocks become gravel; thus, the network environment is not a factor in changing locations. Then, what else? The main reason is that I want to have a successful career that includes happiness and accomplishment.
Success and accomplishment
Success necessitates happiness and inner serenity, but accomplishment does not. I want to have happiness in performing my responsibilities as an individual, family and a part of the society and harmonizing with choices, behaviours, and employment options with my mission, passion, and ideals. Besides, I want to have accomplishments of obtaining competitive accreditation, high-profile employment, establishing highly prized professions, and earning top-tier wages and incomes. Hence, I took a bold decision to change the place of career servicing rather than the change of career. Countries provide different levels of earning for the same career, and it is wise to have a change of place to have career success. Many people feel powerless to change the place of employment; hence resulting in either career accomplishment or happiness only. Probably they may think that the known devil is much better than an unknown angel.
Wind can't be directed
I started my academic career in our country in 1979. I worked in Iraq, Brunei Darussalam, and Malaysia. Completed 41 years in total, 18 years in India and 23 years abroad. Still working in Malaysia. Employers in each country are different, as are their expectations and the calibres of their students. Hence, we have to sail along with the wind or one has to know the tactics of directing the wind to your favour. Starting from the assistant lecturer cadre to the highest academic and administrative rank as a college principal, university vice-chancellor, and syndicate member, I have my unique way of career activities and I am successful in it even today.
Sails can be adjusted
Wherever and whenever possible, I developed good communication skills (listening, speaking and writing), the capability to make conclusions and resolve problems, the capacity to plan, establish and prioritize work, leadership/management skills, and adaptability skills, etc. These are my capabilities for my continued success. Let's see some of them.
Forthright communication:- I am an extremely flexible professional-working on several diverse projects needs me to be adaptive. Due to my managerial expertise and efficiency, I can productively cope with multiple projects at once. As I complete the majority of my work alone, I greatly value input from my team members to ensure the quality and appropriateness of the work done. I update my higher officials/management on my progress regularly and solicit their feedback. This forthright communication facilitates me to complete tasks efficiently and accurately within the time frame.
Level of conversation:- With my forthright communication skills, I can work under any management style without any supervision. Once it is clear what my goals are and how the organization wants me to achieve those goals, I can do the job successfully.
Decisiveness:- I used to work at normal and assertive levels. Not at "passive-timid" or "aggressive" levels. I achieve the correct level of "assertiveness" by focusing my mind on the content of the conversation, not on the status or personality of the people involved in the conversation.
Work integrity:- I am always honest. Being honest or having integrity, in my opinion, means remaining consistent in the face of pressure to compromise. I value preserving the same moral code in all aspects of my life and it is imperative to me that I still stay true to my principles. I am working hard to demonstrate my integrity, accountability, and trustworthiness both on and off the job.
Loyalty to stakeholders:- I cite an incident to show my loyalty to the stakeholders: I developed confidence in the management of an engineering college when I was there as the principal. I solved the Labor Union problems (unusual in academic institutions, even in democratic countries) that had existed for more than eight years with my tactics, ability, and communication skills, despite the Labor Union people threatening my life. A huge amount of money on legal matters has been saved, and all students, staff, and the management were happy. This happened because of the trust the management had in me, my loyalty, communicating skills, and service to the social mentality.
Adaptive to circumstances:- There are times, of course, when too much pressure can lead to stress. However, I am very good at managing several tasks and meeting deadlines; this talent prevents me from becoming excessively anxious. I normally adapt to circumstances rather than stress. That way, I can handle the situation without being overstressed. For example, while lecturing, if a student talks needlessly to his neighbour, it disturbs me as well as the entire class, resulting in stress for everyone. I won't get angry; instead, I used to tell the class that for my talking I am higher- paid, whereas you pay a tuition fee and talk for nothing – money spent should be justified. I quote this in a jovial way with a smiling face. All students, including the concerned ones, enjoy and control themselves.
Proactive:- I am proactive in learning, volunteering solutions, and putting in overtime effort. I am always service-minded, and voluntarily offer my services without any expectations and hesitations. I am dedicated to my job-no definite working hours, no stagnation, quality-minded, team spirit, and simple. My practice is that there is no point in insulting the learners/employees/co-workers for their ignorance; instead, provide proper training and mentoring to help them understand the concept.
Persistence:- I stand for persistence, hard work, and never taking shortcuts. I always decide what my career should be, and what my future ambitions are. I work hard to meet my goals without any stagnation and shortcuts. I have my commitment (not by a dream, but tasks based on my skills & ambitions and lessons from experience) to growth, lifelong learning, and continuous accomplishment. Because of this determination and hard work, I earned a Ph.D. and became a distinguished Professor at the international level. Besides, I have become the Vice-Chancellor of a deemed university, and Syndicate Member of a public university in India.
Conclusion
One of the most significant decisions you will make in your life is deciding on a career. It can't just be about figuring out how to get by. Although some people can decide on their careers without having to think about it, this is not the case for the majority of people. As your career comes with you for about two-third of your life span, the best way for you is to make a well-thought-out decision before the career begins. Be positive about your decision and at the same time know the reality that the wind can't be directed but sails can be adjusted.
Are you confused about how to choose a career and is it creating a lot of tension in deciding about where to go? Read this article to get an idea in short about how to think and decide about your future career.
The author is having vast experience in his teaching field and has managed his assignments in different roles. He has a strong vision of how he can inspire his students and is aware of the different approaches making him successful in the different assignments.
The author has explained the salient points that, if followed, would produce a significant result in the life of an academician.
The author has presented a nice advisory in this write up for career developing and career sustaining.
In todays competitive world making a career is a tough task but the only answer for this lies in hard work and persistence of achieving the objectives. Doing work is one thing but doing it better and better day by day and innovating things for better performance and then jumping to greener pastures is what helps in making a satisfactory career map. Another complexity that has come in the business world today is that people have to change their expertise and other skills based on the changing dynamics of the business world. An opportunity might come where one finds that one is missing one of the skills which is vital for that particular position and stands at a crossroad as what to do. Some action has to be taken if the opportunity is to be availed and the simplest thing that comes to mind is acquire that skill either from an online mode or some physical mode from an expert on the matter. All this requires time and patience and of course hard work on the go. So, as said, if there is a will there is a way, one can toil hard if one is really determined to do so. There are some electrical engineers who became expert geological investigators and there are cases where a chemical engineer chose to become a geophysical prospector. So, with the basic academic background one can earn laurels in any area provided one is ready to spare so much time for the efforts and hard work as required for attaining those dream positions. Self confidence is a must and the most essential entity in such cases and one has to keep asking oneself that if someone can achieve that level why one cannot.
A good article from the author. Our active life will be spent in our careers only. Our aim should be always to excel in our lives and to make a mark of us in the place we work. That is why one should have an interest in the work one is doing. Then only one can excel in his work. We can decide what is our interests and search for a job that suits our interests. Another way is to develop an interest in the work we are doing. These days jobs are very less and selecting the job we like is a very difficult proposition. So one should develop an interest in the job he obtained and try to excel in that.
Personally, I am lucky enough to get the qualification in which I am interested. After that, I decided on my career path and again I am lucky to get a chance to work in the area of my interest. I could perform well and to the satisfaction of the organization. That is why I have seen good progress in my career and achieved whatever I thought. I am a satisfied person now with more than 40 years of service in the area of my liking.
The author is having vast experience in his teaching field and has managed his assignments in different roles. He has a strong vision of how he can inspire his students and is aware of the different approaches making him successful in the different assignments.
The author has explained the salient points that, if followed, would produce a significant result in the life of an academician.