Expect the Unexpected
A driver in San Jose, California has escaped serious injury after a heavy metal beam fell off a truck, bounced then pierced his BMW X5 SUV’s windscreen.
The driver was able to drive the vehicle to the shoulder of the road and no other vehicles were involved, fire crews said.
(Reported 13/12/2015 @ abc news)
Presumably the driver of this vehicle has a nice job … at least good enough to buy an expensive car. We can imagine that life for her/him was going smoothly as s/he journeyed through life and career. Then suddenly, out of the blue, something like this hits and everything nearly comes to a black end.
So what’s this got to do with career planning?
Unexpected things happen! For example jobs disappear; courses disappear; new technology changes the whole landscape; … And then there are heaps of unexpected personal things that suddenly happen in life and cause you to change direction.
So does that mean planning is useless?
No, not at all. But you do need Plan B (in case Plan A doesn’t work out). Good career planning software, and career guidance in general should provide suitable options. Career Voyage for example provides an abundance of back-up options for each individual.
You also need to think about this. In a rapidly changing world of work, “technical”, job-specific skills are becoming less important than attributes like these:
good communication good reasoning skills
good interpersonal skills critical thinking
conscientiousness collaborative
keenness to learn consultative
flexibility creative
team skills persevering
self motivating curious
resilient