A Career Planning Guide: How to Base It on Your Life Stage

A Career Planning Guide: How to Base It on Your Life Stage
Jobstreet content teamupdated on 10 March, 2022
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Many career planning templates ask you to list your skills, strengths, interests, and your five-to-ten-year goals. These are legitimate self-assessment factors you need to realise to map out your career arc. However, there is one question that is often lacking: Which life stage are you in now?

Your progress in the professional world is closely linked to the life stage and career season you are in. Personal finance advisor and entrepreneur Ramit Sethi describes these career seasons as natural. "They change over time, and you may cycle through them more than once." He says, "Whichever season you find yourself in at any time will have profound implications for the jobs you look for, and even the way you search for your job."

According to Sethi, you go through three general career seasons: growth, lifestyle, and reinvention. Each of these brings specific priorities that, ultimately, influence the direction your professional life will take. In other words, Sethi believes that planning your career requires input from your head and your heart. Only then can you find fulfilment.

Now, the trick is to determine which season you are in. (Here is a hint: This will require a high degree of self-awareness.)

Growth—Moving up the career ladder

"When I look at the people I went to university with, I see them getting promoted to management positions, growing their network, and making so much money. I want all that, too."

If you are in the Growth Season, you are focused on getting ahead of the pack. Your motivation is professional recognition, learning all you can, and adding zeroes to your salary. To accomplish all this, you put in the necessary hours and work as hard as you can. This is the season when you willingly put in overtime hours, work through holidays, and watch your bank account mature.

"For some of you, this sounds terrible," says Sethi. "For others, this is exactly where you are. That's the point. The right career season sounds exactly right to you, and wrong to everyone else."

Your job arc, then, must begin in industries that provide the most growth in terms of salary level.

According to JobStreet's 2021 Job Report, the following five industries provided the highest percentage growth in salary from Q1 to Q3 of 2021 for entry-level employees:

  • Accounting / Finance: 7.1%
    • Entry-level salary (SGD): 3,000
    • Senior manager salary (SGD): 10,800
  • Computer / IT: 8.6%
    • Entry-level salary (SGD): 3,150
    • Senior manager salary (SGD): 10,750
  • Engineering: 6.4%
    • Entry-level salary (SGD): 2,500
    • Senior manager salary (SGD): 9,250
  • Manufacturing / Building and construction: 4.7%
    • Entry-level salary (SGD): 3,100
    • Senior manager salary (SGD): 9,000
  • Sciences: 8.1%
    • Entry-level salary (SGD): 2,500
    • Senior manager salary (SGD): 8,450

Lifestyle—Maintaining work-life balance

"I do love my work. But I'm raising my family, and I can't do that properly while working 60-hour weeks, too. So I need a job that gives me the option of flexibility. I have to downshift for my family."

If you are still wondering which season you are at, take note of your keywords. "Notice these phrases," says Sethi. "They instantly tip us off to the lifestyle season: flexibility (or flexible schedule), downshift, [and] family."

Your goals in the Lifestyle Season lie less in your career growth and more in being there for your loved ones. While you appreciate your work and the opportunities it brings, you have different priorities now. These go beyond your needs. You want to spend more time with growing children, be with your partner more, and build a life outside your work.

This is a valid need that many Singapore employees likely aspire to. According to a study done by cloud-based security firm Kisi, in 2020, Singapore was the second most overworked city in the world next to Hong Kong.

It is not all doom and gloom, however. Singapore employers are regularly encouraged to ensure their employees' work-life balance. Even the Ministry of Manpower has put programs in place for this. To help employees manage their work responsibilities, the Ministry has put out a Work-Life Harmony Report. It is a collection of recommendations for employers on which work-life strategies they can implement for their employees' well-being.

If you want a change of pace at work, talk to your employer. Chances are, they are just waiting to hear what you need.

Reinvention—Shifting careers for a fresh start

"I've been writing for magazines and websites for 20 years now. I used to be good at it. Now I have a very difficult time focusing and organising my thoughts so that I can write coherent articles. I feel it's time to transition to something else, though I'm not entirely sure what that is yet."

Employees who find themselves in the reinvention season are ready for a change, says Sethi. "You want to totally reimagine and change the course of your career, usually by switching industries," he says. "'Fresh start' is a phrase that is typically used to describe this season."

Employees who are in the reinvention season, by definition, have been in one industry long enough for them to want to reinvent themselves. That is why it is easy to get caught up in the idealism of a new start in your professional life. So you do not stumble, make sure you do the shift with both eyes open and, more importantly, a plan.

Aside from personal fulfilment, you must also consider several other factors:

  • Will this new industry give you income and growth opportunities?
  • Do you have enough transferable skills to succeed in your new career?
  • Are you financially ready to take the plunge?
  • Do you understand that likely, you will be starting close to the bottom of the ladder again?

Perhaps, as a precursor to the big transition, begin by making small initial changes. For example, you could try for opportunities in the company you currently work for. Or you could downshift to fewer hours to make time for postgraduate studies. Alternatively, you could use your free time to learn new skills. There are plenty of online courses you can take. SkillsFuture, for instance, is a quick programme that can help you brush up on your technology skills.

A series of little hops can prepare you for the eventual giant leap.

Which season is right for your career development plan?

Each season has its own merits; no one season is superior to the others. When determining which one you are in, Sethi suggests focusing on yourself. "You choose what's right for you now," he says. "While it makes sense to want all of these things to happen simultaneously, some [aspects] are just more appropriate for certain seasons." The season you need to respond to is the season you are currently in right now.

Make a list of your priorities. As you grow the list, you will notice a pattern of needs emerges. Take note of these needs—they will point you to which season you are in.

There is no need to force changes in your career if you are not ready for them. The key is to wait for the right time. "We naturally move in and out of career seasons as we get older," says Sethi. As you do, listen to yourself. Your career plan completely depends on your season.

Are you thinking of doing an overhaul of your career? Find more expert advice in JobStreet's Career Resources Hub.

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