The economic impact of the global pandemic continues to unfold.
Career choices are being changed by design or by necessity.
If you take a new, possibly more junior, unrelated job to address immediate financial needs, what does that mean for your career? If you have to retrace old ground to relaunch and reinvent what does that say about you?
Reflecting on the real, hard career choices many people are making reminded me of conversations I often had with entrepreneurs and start-up businesses when I was working in the business mentoring space.
Some people spoke of feeling disappointed by needing other means of income. Feeling it was somehow a failure. When in reality, by taking this route of self-investment, they are in effect being their own Business Angel.
Angels: Business and Career
The Google-iscious definition of a Business Angel is…
“… an individual, who invests their own money, and time, directly in unquoted companies in the hope of financial gain.”
You see, not every start-up or idea attracts investment from outside. On many occasions people start while already in a full-time job, take part-time work, invest their own savings in getting things off the ground.
Plus they invest plenty of their time of course.
The same applies to careers. Not every step is a giant leap upwards and life is not always helpful or kind. To cope and deal with the challenges this creates, you sometimes have to make shorter term decisions which address much shorter term needs.
You may have immediate needs for yourself and your family. Maybe you have to temporarily put aside longer-term career aspirations.
Does taking these steps mean you’ve failed? Does it mean your career is on hold? The answer is NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!
My thinking is that you are, in essence, becoming your own Career Angel.
You are being proactive, investing your resources where you need them, making decisions to secure future opportunities.
Everything you are doing has value to your career as long as you…
5 Career Angel Tips
- Remember this is not the end of your career; it’s a temporary phase. Don’t get stuck in a rut; keep your options open
- Recognise the difference between a short-term job to fill a financial gap and a job which aligns with your career aspirations
- Appreciate and record all new experiences and skills. They all have a place somewhere in your career story
- Acknowledge that, by making choices and judgements to solve short-term challenges, you are demonstrating your adaptability
- Remember everything you do has value and can be leveraged; can be used as a springboard to something else
Being a Business Angel requires tough choices to be made in order to realise future rewards. Being your own Career Angel is the same. Even though it might be tough at times, the rewards won’t be far away.
Header image thanks to Insung Yoon on Unsplash
Career Energiser 
Please leave a Reply