Understanding the career options through skills and competencies

Any career will require a certain skills and competencies to continuously grow and evolve. However, many a times we do not have clarity about these skills and competencies and choice of careers , even though there are several talks, books and articles on the same. I have tried to look at it from a different perspective – more of a philosophical view which is aligned to the way humans think and act.

Any job or career is designed to ultimately fulfil the needs of human beings. The industry per se which is serving the human being can be broadly placed in two categories of actions applicable to all humans. These include: Creation and Services.

Creation

Services

· Agricultural produce

· Food

· Manufacturing or conversion of physical goods – medicines, food, machines, automobiles etc

· Managing finance and systems

· Professions such as Doctors, Lawyers, Banking, Chartered Accounts, Publicity, Event…

On the left, we have examples of “creation” and it includes people who create something which is to be consumed by the us

On the right, we have examples of “services” and it includes supporting activities, post consumption.

Creation is essential and a daily need, while service is to ensure the sustenance of the human, on need basis. Each side has its very important role in the human ecosystem, and each has a different place in the value chain.The key differentiator is creator serves the “daily need” while service provider is “Need Based”. We need food every day but we do not need a doctor every day.

If we analyse the income levels in today’s world, those who are in the creation space have a lower net income when compared to those in the services space. But what we must also understand is that those are in the creation space have longevity, sustenance, scalability of operations and scope to earn while they “sleep”, whereas the service provider does not have the same success rate but higher benefits when it succeeds. The difference between average income and the maximum – minimum in the creation side will not be very high as compared to that in the service provider side.

It goes by the rules of the game – the higher the risk, the higher the return. The risk of success or finding a career in the manufacturing is lower than that in the creation.

The good part is that there is always a possibility to find a balance of both, and this is something which I personally have experienced. After 20 years in the creation side, I have started entering into the services side to leverage my value. Similarly I have seen those in the service provider skills domain moving into the creation arena and reaping benefits.

Finding the right career path is always a dilemma. Over the years, recognition of balancing the competencies with skills for building a sustainable career path is sometimes most of us miss out. Having transited nearly 27 + years in the industry, I share my views on how one can balance our careers over a period of time, and get satisfaction from both job and value.

So, what is the right career?

In my opinion, you can choose and start at any side of the human being, but in long term, be open to learn the skills and competencies of the other side, and find a balance of both which will give complete fulfilment from value and satisfaction.