When you first joined the working world, did you ever stop to think about what you wanted your career to look like? Not many people do. They might know what they want to do, but they don’t always stop to consider how their career will look. And something that fits you and your life at 25 isn’t always going to work for you at 35 when you have a different life or priorities.
These days, the idea of a single linear career path is becoming increasingly outdated. Something that many people are glad about. Building a career that can adapt and move with you isn’t just possible now; it’s a reality, and it’s opening the doors for a much better fit.
Let’s take a look at how you can build a career that moves with you.
Get Clear on What You Actually Want from Work
This is one of the most important things you can do when building a career. You need to think about what your career means and need to offer you, not just taking the next logical step or convenient offer to climb the ladder.
You need to move past what looks good on paper or what someone else thinks you need to be doing and build a foundation that supports you and what you need.
This means asking some honest questions. What kind of work energises you? What drains you? What does a good working week actually feel like? And how far is your current reality from that? The answers might not change what you do immediately, but they will give you something to navigate toward rather than just drifting from one role to another.
Build Skills That Open Doors in Multiple Settings
The most portable careers are built on skills that are portable. Skills that offer value across different employers, sectors and settings rather than ones that only apply in a very specific context. The more transferable your skillset, the more options you have and the less exposed you are when things change.
Great examples of this are project management experience in marketing being transferable to working in an operational role, or even running your own business.
Or strong written communication built in journalism becoming valuable content work in PR or the ability to manage difficult conversations in any role — retail HR or teaching — being applicable for literally any other job role.
The point isn’t to become a generalist, it’s to recognise what parts of what you do have value beyond your current setting and then build on these alongside more specialist knowledge your current or intended field requires of you.
Think About Where You Want to Be, Not Just What You Want To Do
Career planning typically tends to focus entirely on the job. It’s about the title, the role, and the salary. But where you work, who you work with and what your day-to-day actually looks like can matter just as much. Someone who loves their work but is miserable in their environment is still miserable.
Think about the kind of setting that suits you. Do you work better independently or in a team? Do you need variety or consistency? Does geography matter to you? These questions can help you shape not just what you want to do but where you want to do it. Because the last thing you need is to get the job of your dreams and hate it due to the people around you and the working environment, not the work itself.
Know When It’s Time to Make a Move
One of the harder things about a career that moves with you is recognising when you’ve outgrown your current position or environment. What’s even harder is doing something about it. It’s easy to stay somewhere past the point where it’s serving you, especially when things are comfortable enough, and change feels uncertain.
That being said, recognising the signs before you need to make a decision is important. Knowing when you’ve stopped learning, or even wanting to learn more, when work no longer interests you, or when your circumstances have changed, are all indicators that you might be ready to move on.
When these appear consistently, it’s worth looking forward sooner rather than later, even if you’re not ready just yet. Knowing what job roles are open, the salary on offer and the requirements for different roles ahead of time means you can prepare yourself for when you are ready to make an application. For professionals in fields like physical therapy, occupational therapy, nursing or anything else that requires a specific skill set, finding a specialist staffing agency can open up options that aren’t always viable and give you a better look at what vacancies are open and what suits you the most.
Invest In Your Own Development
A career that moves with you requires you to keep moving, too. You cannot adapt and change if you’re not investing in yourself. You need to stay curious about yourself, your abilities and your field too. A willingness to push forward, ask questions and expand your horizons is essential here. The ones who have the most options are usually the people who don’t rest on their laurels and make it their mission to develop over time to support future goals.
It doesn’t always mean you need to get formal qualifications; you simply need to stay on top of what you need to know in your industry or what is changing, taking the initiative to seek out mentors who can work with you to improve or help you on your path or taking on work that stretches you in the right direction.
Surround Yourself With the Right People
The people you have around you have more influence than you might realise. A network of people who are doing interesting things or work, whom you can lean on and who know what you are capable of, is the most valuable professional asset you can have.
This is something worth being proactive about. Building your network over time is much better than using people when they will be useful to you. Find people whose work you admire, connect with them, look for work that interests you and network with those doing the work. Know who to stay in contact with and build genuine, meaningful relationship to support yourself and those around you.