Five career myths – debunked

When you spend your time focusing on your career there is a risk that you are not picking up on the signals that indicate that the very nature of careers is changing. So in this article we explore and debunk five widespread misconceptions.

Career chapters are sequential

Over the last few hundred years, the understanding is that you progress from a junior to a senior position within a profession or sector. You may start off as an account executive and end as the Chief Revenue Officer of a Fortune 500 company.

The reality is that having a career with only one income stream puts you at risk. Thus the growth in side-hustles. You may be an IT consultant during the day, but in the morning you run a drop ship running shoes retail business and in the evening you are a dub step - dinner jazz deejay. Over time, it becomes unclear as to which is your primary ‘career’.

Follow your passion

You are a highly paid lawyer / banker who hates what you do, but you are shackled by golden handcuffs. You believe life would be much more fun if you started your own YouTube channel that focused on your, recently acquired, interest in wellness.

If you follow your passion, you may discover that you are either late to the game or there is no market for the insights you have acquired from attending a few Pilates classes and watching maybe five Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson fitness videos.

If you can align your passion with market demand, a focused offering and competence, then following your passion makes perfect sense.

A degree guarantees a job

In many countries a degree can only guarantee debt. There is of course more to tertiary education than education, but it is an increasingly expensive way to fund your right of passage into adulthood or to plaster over your insecurities.

Some professions require a relevant degree. Be very careful about getting into debt on the off chance the market might pick up. If your heart is set on acquiring a qualification, then find an employer who will pay for it.

Loyalty is rewarded

My generation was told to demonstrate reliability by not job hopping. There was a danger that interviewers would spot that you were a flight risk and so you would fall at the first hurdle. Whilst a high employee churn rate is costly for the employer, increasing disruption makes this less of an issue. Employers increasingly value candidates with a broad portfolio of experience.

Also job hopping is the easiest way to boost your salary. Though viewing your career purely through a financial lens will make for a soulless existence.

Your career title defines your worth

For some people, their choice of career path was not their choice. Their parents, regarding their kids as social assets, pushed them into medicine, law and forensic anthropology. When the parents talked about financial security and career prospects, they were really talking about their own self-worth.

Such messages, eventually seep into the children’s psyche and so only the most self-aware dare veer off their chosen path. Your career is only one aspect of who you are. There was a time when the 24-7 lawyer or the sales professional who tries to negotiate with the superstore checkout operator would be seen as consummate professionals who live and breathe their work. Today they look increasingly sad. Not least because of the price they have paid in respect of their loved ones, personal health and for their role in upholding dysfunctional practices.

These are just a few examples of how the world of work is changing. More broadly, question everything in respect of your career assumptions.