I love patterns. Not visually speaking I mean (though who doesn’t like a nice striped top), but I mean the ‘implicit’ patterns. Those trends, lines of dust that are sprinkled throughout our lives. They are like messages on a greeting card. If you pay attention to them and their meaning, you can get many insights to better guide your future decisions. Here I am looking at the things that repeat themselves over in your career, and what you can learn for your next professional step.
Let’s start with spotting your career patterns. Though it is easier with many years of experience, you can start as soon as you have had a repetition of events i.e about three roles. First list the industries and countries you worked in. Qualify the places you worked at with their size and type (agency, consultancy, organisation, NFP, own business..). Then write down the main reason why you took each role. It could be as obvious as money, skills development, responsibilities, or location or it could be a lot less obvious. So what was the real reason you picked each role?
Next up, write down the key reason why you left each job. No sugar-coating or giving the ‘appropriate’ interview answer here, what was your personal reason. Be honest, even if it is about personal feelings like frustration, anger or boredom. Or did you leave several times without a job to go to? Did you leave to prioritise family or a partner? It’s not always coming from a lack by the way. It can also be a habit of change, a need for new challenges, or an incredible opportunity coming your way.
Now comes the interesting part. Can you connect some dots? Are there some common points in what made you choose a job? Leave a job? As you think through, you will probably start to see a story shaping up. We all are creatures of habit, and we tend to repeat the same behaviours until something really drastic happens that makes us reprogram our way of thinking. You could also observe two distinct patterns, separated by an event in the middle. If you struggle to see patterns, share with a close friend. It is often easier for someone external to spot them for us, as opposed to us who are quite close to our own reality.
In my own and my client experience I have seen some clear career patterns. We quit bad bosses. Or when we get negative feedback. At times we leave when we feel out of our depth from a skill point of view. Or we resign when the culture is horrible. We quit when we see someone else do it, that we follow. Sometimes we end up leaving when we are sick. Unfortunately we can get made redundant several times in a row, as hard as it is to endure. Or we close our businesses after too many customer complaints.
Here is the liquid gold when it comes to patterns: they keep on happening until you learn the lesson you need to learn. These patterns are the best learning opportunities for you to grow in your career. What are they teaching you about yourself? Or, put it the other way, until you address them, they will keep unfolding. And the same results will unfold. So wouldn’t you rather learn?
The patterns you have experienced are the reflection of what’s happening inside you – your beliefs, your fears, your thoughts. You eventually create the same circumstances around you, often quite unconsciously. You might burn yourself out through every job, because you always put others and the work first. It could be that you escape bad managers, because you cannot deal with confrontation and tensions at work. Another situation could be that you follow others because you lack self-confidence. Or the very classic one of taking the first job you find to get out of your previous one. Some people always pick large companies because they feel safer and less visible within the crowd. Or they pick the public sector because they want job safety above all. These are all general examples to show you how to analyse what’s under yours.
On the other hand, you might be very confident and always get job offers coming your way. You might be open to possibilities as a general way of being, and get headed hunted every time. You could also be great at interpersonal skills that you always find your next role through your networks. The lessons here are more about what you need to continue doing, as these have built capabilities for you over time. And how you can give back or train others, because of the knowledge or expertise you possess in that space. Some people find their purpose that way. They look at what they have been very good at over and over, and find a way to monetise it or work more within that space.
So I hope I have convinced you to look at your own career patterns, and see what they are telling you. It can be quite fascinating to learn from your own journey, to potentially change route ahead. We otherwise think that everything has happened quite randomly, whilst it actually is the result of our patterns. You can also check if the same pattern shows up in other areas of your life. In that case, you would definitely achieve great results by learning the lesson and moving on, so you can get what you want.
Finally, knowing your career patterns will help you immensely next time you are faced with another potential repetition. Or when you are tempted to jump ships (see my article on the topic here). You will be aware of why this is coming up, and this is a great way to avoid making the same mistake with roles, companies or clients. If you learn from your patterns, you will upskill and overcome your challenges. Two things that will make you better at your job and enjoy it more. So put your research glasses on, and look through your past, to design an amazing career future.
