missing career front end – part 2 (job seekers)

Talking about the next set of issues currently in job seeking.

Now I know which job I want do and have a shortlist of companies that I want to work for, but what kind of career progression can I expect from the job role in a company? What about cross-functional roles, will I be able to gain exposure at more than what I start doing or will I be pigeon-holed? What is this company culture like, will I really like it there? What if I get bored on the job after a few years or want to do something different, what are my exit options? What have other people in this space done a few years after starting out in this role?

When do people think about higher studies in this career path? What kind of higher degrees are they getting? Does it really help them grow in the career path faster?

Do the campus company presentations cover the ground in so much detail – that is just a preview to the investment that you need to make with your career choice, just like the cover page of a mutual fund, it is up to you to dig deeper, go further and look for the answers you need before you take the plunge.

Where do you seek this information currently? Is there a good website which helps you get the career insights from people who have gone ahead in the career paths of your choice? What about the emerging career paths, where do you find information about these? Do share your opinion, I’m all ears….

missing career front end – part 1 (job seekers)

I spent a long time, after I started working, thinking about what to type into the search box at Naukri, Monster, HotJobs (take your pick!) and when I finally typed it into the box, I realized that I didn’t match the requirements (My aspirations differed from my experience).

In short, I have realized that the two pieces (of the many out there!) that are kind of missing in the job search platform are a) what is out there not just right now, but historically or in the near past in my industry/field of interest ? b) what is it that I can be good at and enjoy doing? or to turn it on its head and ask a) what is it that I love doing? b) what is out there that exactly or kind of comes close to what I love for me?

The latter part of the question goes something like this, now if I kind of know what I want to do and it is entirely different from what I did previously – how do I go about enabling that transition? And as most people are thinking, I’m willing to take the risk, I’m willing to put in the money, how do I know what is out there, whether I will really like it, will I fit in, what are the returns I can expect, is it worth giving up what I have now (however bad that maybe!), are there others who have gone this way and done this before?

All this and more…needs solutions. Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions on this and what you think can be done…