Different definitions
The term career faces resistance from many who equate it with fast hierarchical advancement and big income. Because of the orientation towards social values, I call this an external career. I consider the inner career to be more decisive for personal satisfaction. This is oriented towards the personal needs. Of course, these can be the same as those behind the first mentioned definition. According to my definition, success is achieved by those who are able to realize their ideas concerning professional and private life. Therefore, a career looks different when people find meaning more important than visible success. Whereby conflicting needs occur at the same time. For example, someone may have to choose between working internationally and achieving a good work-life balance. I have noticed that my clients attach more importance to the meaningfulness of their work. They want to make a contribution to improving the world.
Personal and professional assessment
In order to arrive at your personal definition, a personal and professional assessment is useful to identify your needs. These express themselves as expectations of the job content and the job environment. For long-term success within the framework of strategic career planning, I recommend building the career on one’s own strengths. These can be seen in the values. For example, an independent person attaches great value to an environment with scope for creativity. In contrast, a person with a strong sense of community attaches great value to good teamwork. Often it is only in middle age that people notice that they are missing something. They then look for a change to a profession that better suits their personality and needs, which may be time-consuming. That’s why I recommend that you start thinking about your personal career plans early on.
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