How to choose a career? A lot of you have this question in your mind. Many of you have asked me related questions in person or via message or email. There is no magic formula for career success. It will require talent, hard work and a bit of luck. In addition, if you have a simple framework to refer to - that makes the job much easier. With that objective, I’ve have created a simple 3 Factor model to help you with your career choice.
PCO Model for Career Choice.
PCO = Passion + Capability + Opportunity
- PASSION:
Passion is the key factor that drives us. If you are passionate about something you automatically spend more efforts and end up learning more. You won’t need an external motivator to do something you’re passionate about. But how do you know what is your passion? This requires some experimentation. Please try out different fields and activities at a small scale by doing some courses or projects. If you find there is something which you inherently enjoy and don’t get tired doing - that is a good indicator of your passion for the thing. For example, Cricket was the passion of Sachin Tendulkar, Tennis is the passion of Roger Federer and Music is the passion of A R Rehman.
- CAPABILITY:
However, passion alone is not enough for a successful career. You’ve to get the job done and get it done well. So, spend time finding out your strengths and weaknesses. You should play to your strengths or capabilities. These are the things you’re really good at. To figure them out look back at your past performances and you can also take honest feedback from your close friends, colleagues or managers.
- OPPORTUNITY:
Along with Passion and Capabilities, figuring out the right Opportunity is very important. While deciding which is a good opportunity please consider 3 aspects - a) Learning, b) Earning and c) Growth. There should be good opportunity to learn and earn in your chosen field. If you are in a growing field or industry then your growth becomes relatively easier. You can ride the wave for faster growth. For example, in the last decade, Technology has been a fast growing field. So whoever joined the Technology industry grew with the industry. At present I see Data Science and Digital as two of the fastest growing fields. Please keep scanning the global and local job markets to get an idea about where the present and future opportunities will lie. Don’t be too short-sighted here. Give due importance to future growth along with present growth.
When you have found out all three i.e. Passion, Capability and Opportunity, find the intersection among the three. The industry and roles that lie in the intersection of the three will give you a very good idea about what career you should choose.
Hope this PCO Model for career choice helps you in your career. If you have any suggestions or queries please let me via comment or message and I will get back to you. All the best for a great career! 