If you are nearing the end of your studies and still haven’t decided what to do with your career, there is no need to panic … you are probably still settling on your working identity.
And you are likely to be doing so for the rest of your working life. Participants in a recent ATMC/Employability.life Job Pathway webinar heard that with life experience will come shifting goals and changing attitudes and motivations.
WATCH THE FULL “DEVELOPING WORKING IDENTITY: HOW TO BECOME A TRUE PROFESSIONAL – LAW” WEBINAR HERE.
Melvin Tan, a talent consultant with over five years’ experience in the human capital field, ranging from talent acquisition and talent development, told the Working Identity webinar audience to expect many changes along the way, both through life and on their chosen career paths.
“How working identity works is, you don’t just focus on one thing or profession or goal your entire life; you actually change along the way,” Melvin said.
“As you explore new things and as you see new things, you will start to reinvent yourself. You will start to find meaning in yourself, which will motivate you to discover new things.”
Sayak Bhattacharya is a corporate (M&A/private equity) lawyer with a particular focus on domestic and cross-border private equity and private corporate M&A transactions, joint ventures, fund-raising and reorganisations. Sayak was another guest on the Job Pathway “Working Identity” webinar and reassured viewers that he certainly didn’t know his own personal working identity early on in his career journey.
“The reality is, when I was a student, I had very little idea of what I was going to do, or where I was going to end up,” said Sayak, who is also experienced working across various sectors including tech (SaaS, bio-tech and fintech), energy and infrastructure, automotive, manufacturing and consumer goods.
“I’m sure there are a lot of people in the same boat; you are doing what your course says and where you end up is a problem for your future you – which is partly correct.
“What I would change about my journey would be … there are mentors and there are resources everywhere. I think personally I would have benefitted had I reached out to working professionals in various careers a bit more to gain first-hand an idea of what they actually did in their jobs, before sitting down and having a soul search and deciding if that particular career really appealed to me or not.”
The ATMC/Employability.life Job Pathway Webinar Series continues each Thursday 10.30am IST/3pm AEST.