So What the Heck is a Career Anyway? Part II: A Word by Any Other Name... Might Actually Sound Better

The term, "career" can mean just about anything these days, and to say the term comes loaded with baggage is an understatement.  That is why, when I tell people I'm a career coach, I get reactions as varied as:

"Oh, really?!  I (or my son, daughter, mother, aunt, uncle, friend, cat...) definitely need to talk to you!"

to

"Oh."  (As in, "Oh.  Did you pick that one out of a hat or something?")

to

“Ohhhh.” (As in Ohhhh... you’re one of THOSE people who are going to tell me to do what I LOOOVE and sing kumbaya and make no money and be happy about it. This is typically accompanied by a subtle roll of the eyes.)

I have searched high and low for various definitions, derivations, musings, and general nonsense about careers, and this is what I've uncovered:  the word "career," solely from a dictionary's point of view, centers around three words:  permanency, longevity, and commitment.

Sounds kind of daunting, huh?  No wonder adults, young and old alike, feel intimidated by choosing a career.

When I work with clients, I don't even bring up terms such as the above.  Instead, we simply uncover what they enjoy doing and determine what they are exceptionally good at.  Does commitment follow?  Absolutely.  Does this result in permanency and longevity?

Hmmm...

I'd prefer to use the term, "growth."

Growing entails learning, evolving, making mistakes, re-adjusting, mastering, and, ultimately, succeeding. However, this evolution needs some scaffolding to make the process efficient. I therefore help clients find the one brilliant spine or cohesive glue, if you will, that binds their cognitive abilities, skills, preferences, and passions together.  Once that spine is in place, their professional lives can naturally unfold and flourish. 

Successful careers are living expressions of our brain and body.  They may shift as our needs and lives change, but their essence remains.  This essence must be discovered, cultivated and put to use in order to meet the needs of others as well as our own needs.  They may take the form of one straight and narrow path or a combination of paths that we creatively weave together to satisfy our different interests and skills.  And though different types of people are obviously drawn to different kinds of paths, ideally all of these paths bring our talents and interests to life in the form of a career.

All that said, I won't throw out the dictionaries entirely.  I've decided that as far as a dictionary definition is concerned, I'm going to pay homage to the origin of the term "career", which stems from the Middle French "carrière," meaning "course" or  "passage."  Moreover, "carrière" continues to be the French word for career.  (Most likely because the New French found no need to change what the Old French had started.  And hey, it sounds pretty.) 

I personally find "course" and "passage" appealing for a number of reasons:

1) they allow for a broader understanding of the word "career"
2) they just sound a little less daunting, and I'm all about taking the daunting out of life in general
3) they mesh well with the idea of growing and moving forward, all within a given path

So perhaps I should try calling myself a "carrière coach", making sure to amp up the rolling r's in the middle.

That'll put an end to the bad "Oh's."  And begin the new phase of people just looking at me kind of funny.