How to choose your career: Interview with Dr. Paula Caligiuri
In 2018, I published a book about how to choose your career. In 2024, I moved the content to this site. Below is the interview with Dr. Paula Caligiuri.
One of the main points you make in your work is that the old “psychological contract” between organizations and employees is gone for good. Can you explain what you mean by that?
Companies are under tremendous global pressure to compete. Salary and benefits can comprise between 20% and 60% of a firm’s entire operating budget—the largest operating expense for most organizations. When companies start hiring again, they are more likely to bring back skills (as needed)—using more contingent workers, part-time employees, and skill-based independent contractors than they had in the past. They are far more surgical about which critical positions they need to have in-house and which they can bring in as needed.
Dr. Paula Caligiuri
Of course, there will be many people in full-time jobs (and many full-time jobs returning), especially those who are central to the way a firm competes. If you want to work for a single employer (with the associated more traditional psychological contract), I recommend that you work in the unit most critical for the success of the organization. Be proactive and own your career destiny within the company, and self-initiate professional development and career moves that bring you closer to the strategic core of the organization. The greatest shield you can give yourself is to anticipate how your organization is changing strategically—and then build your skills in a unique way to move into a more critical role.
It is very important to remember that a job, as traditionally characterized by a 40-hour-per-week employment situation, takes the control from you and gives it fully to an employer. Your employer controls jobs and configures them, as needed, in order to compete. You cannot control your job, but you can control your career and, of course, your life.
Please tell us more about “career acts” and why you recommend them.
I strongly advocate a more self-directed approach to careers, where passions and talents are configured into multiple income streams or “career acts.” Just as the riskiest financial investment strategy is to have all of your money in one place, the riskiest career management strategy is to have all of your income from one employer. For some people, one secure and fulfilling income stream is fine, especially if you are an entrepreneur or are in a very critical role (and possess unique skills) working for an employer. If you do not fall into either of these categories, however, I recommend thinking about how to leverage your talents or passions into other income streams. Achieving greater job security and career fulfillment requires a change in one’s relationship with work.
Keep in mind that I am certainly not advocating that people work multiple jobs they dislike — that would be stressful and exhausting. And, of course, I fully acknowledge that working multiple jobs is, unfortunately, a financial necessity for many. This is not what I mean by career acts. I want people to generate income doing more of what they enjoy — which is energy giving and not tiring.
Psychologists have coined the term “flow” to describe the state people achieve when they are so enjoying what they are doing that they become completely absorbed in an activity. Flow occurs when your skill level and challenge level are both high — and it is a key to happiness. Those who are most happy with their careers often have difficulty answering the question “How many hours per week do you work?” with accuracy or full confidence. They value their time but often don’t count the hours they work, often because they lose track of time. Not surprisingly, many talk about enjoying themselves and losing track of time.
For example, having a profitable hobby can be one of the most enjoyable ways to generate income, especially if you can turn it into a small business. Who wouldn’t want to generate substantial income doing what they love? The world is full of people who have done just that—taken a hobby, originally enjoyed solely for personal pleasure, and turned it into an income-generating career act.
In my experience, many American workers feel anger and grief that the employment picture has changed in a direction they feel is less advantageous to employees. How do you recommend these workers shift their mindset so that they can be productive and successful again?
This is a tough question because there are millions of hard-working people who have been deeply burned by their organizations. They gave years of service and dedication and, in return, were downsized. I can appreciate the source of anger and frustration, but neither of these feelings will improve the situation, however appropriate they are as true emotions.
I am not trying to make folks feel worse, but I hope that if more understand the likely reality for the foreseeable future, then more will be able to adjust to it. The most secure careers will be ones that individuals control themselves. The mindset shift will need to be in the relationship people have with their careers.
I want people to own their careers. It is good advice for us to think about our careers as our number one asset and continually manage our skill set in that way. Professional stability and financial security will come from the skills you bring to prospective employers or clients. Your professional fulfillment and satisfaction will come from the career you build and continually shape. This is the mindset shift that needs to occur.
How could parents and schools do a better job preparing young people for the new reality?
Parents should help cultivate a sense of self-awareness in their children, especially in their children who are teens and young adults. Parents can point out the positive trends that they see in their children with respect to their skills, abilities, and tendencies for how they like to work. Also, parents can cultivate an ownership mentality whenever it is age appropriate. Parents should reinforce to their older children that they own their decisions and control the results of those decisions. The future workforce will require that your children can self-direct their careers and not fully relinquish this control to their employers. It is a good mindset to shape early in life.
You write about choosing paths that are best suited for one’s own talents, interests, and values. In your opinion, what are some of the best ways to conduct this self-assessment?
The title of my book Get a Life, Not a Job underscores my belief that you should design your career around your natural talents, abilities and passions, your values, and preferences for how you like to work. Everyone is different. Career acts can take a variety of forms from small businesses through profitable hobbies. After dozens of interviews for Get a Life, Not a Job, those with successful portfolio careers were as diverse as the people who occupy them.
Examples of career acts include an eBay business, part-time job, profitable hobby, non-executive board seat, franchise, authored book, affiliate links on your blog, weekend jazz trio, etc. The possibilities are endless but are all rooted in what you enjoy doing, your talents and the way you like to work. Self-awareness is a big—but not often easy—first step. Ask yourself: What do you enjoy? How do you like to work? What are your talents?
You’d be amazed at how many people cannot answer these questions. To assist you in answering these questions, the U.S. Department of Labor has many tools available for career self-exploration and matching. These tools are well researched, and extremely valuable in this process of career self-discovery. An example is O*NET OnLine.
Unrelated to the Department of Labor’s tools, there are personality assessments available for purchase. While commercially available, many of these have free components. If you don’t mind answering a series of questions and receiving a few rounds of marketing e-mails, you might be able to gain additional insight about yourself and how you most would like to work.
When people get stuck when trying to make career decisions, what do you advise they do to resolve their indecision?
I advise people to try things—to try a lot of different things—to get a sense for what they are enjoying. Many people cannot name their own natural talents and abilities and the things they do better than most people. Career indecision often follows from a lack of self-awareness. Abilities and talents are often confused with degrees, job titles, or experiences. This misalignment also adds to career indecision. Just because you can do something professionally doesn’t necessarily mean that you are meant to be doing it.
Your book talks about multiple career acts and also cautions against overworking. Can you suggest some practical strategies for juggling several employment commitments?
Lack of time and debt are the two greatest pitfalls that prevent people from starting a new career act. Many Americans watch a lot of TV, surf the web, and shop recreationally. Changing a few habits will free some time and money for many people to start doing things they enjoy — that also builds income. The average American feels overworked, but watches between 10 and 30 hours of TV each week. Most people watch TV for a relaxing escape — which they wouldn’t need if they were happier in their careers.
Debt forces us to make career decisions out of fear. We start to chase the promotion or bonus in jobs we don’t like to begin with. Young adults are, on average, $21,000 in debt when they graduate college, forcing them to accept whatever job they can find. As soon as they start working, they take on more debt and five years later they end up with a nice car, a nice place to live — but fully beholden to an organization and a career they don’t like. They find themselves chasing promotions to keep up with their expenses. It becomes a vicious cycle.
Break the cycle. If you ask people who really love their careers, they often can only guess how much time they spend working each week. It’s exactly the opposite for those who are unhappy in their careers.
Any other advice?
The most common characteristics among people with fulfilling multiple career acts are high energy, a healthy self-awareness, and optimism. They tend to have a strong passion or talent that they have configured into multiple income streams. All people can build these in themselves, but it does not happen overnight. I’ve never been a big fan of the phrase “work-life balance” because the word “balance” sets up a win-lose competition, usually for time. I like the phrase “work-life harmony” to describe the state of maximizing both the desires you have for your career and the desires you have for your personal life.
I believe work-life harmony is attainable even in this difficult economy, especially among those who have taken greater control of their careers, designing their lives to include their careers — and not vice versa. It is not easy but it is attainable. Great careers are a process that you control and not an outcome that your employer controls.
Paula Caligiuri, Ph.D., is an industrial-organizational psychologist, author, educator, consultant, and speaker. She is also the President and Co-Founder of Skiilify, a platform to build cultural agility and career success.
