Thank you to Dale Briers for providing a guest blog post!! Dale works as a Career Practitioner for a Western Australian State Government organisation that offers Career Development services to the public. He has also formed a LinkedIn group called Collaborative Career Conversations.  

“Prior to my current role I was involved in the operational delivery of health services in the Australian Defence Force for over a decade. As such, I have had the good fortune to meet many dedicated health professionals.

My conversations with these health professionals often lead to the reasons as to why they had chosen the career path they were in. Often, there would be common themes – family background – interest in science or health subjects from school – a commitment to help others – cultural expectations etcetera. What I often took away from these conversations was the significant investment of time and energy required to become a qualified health care professional.

Moving forward to my current role; whenever I first meet a new client I thank them for their time. This is not a general pleasantry. I am truly aware that the person that I am meeting with is about to spend a dedicated period of time working on their Career Development strategies. The outcome of this work is to develop a plan of action for the future. Creating this plan requires an individual to seriously consider the intrinsic motivation and values that underpins their career choices. If we look at it from an objective and analytical perspective it might be considered as a “Return on Investment” (ROI). What do I have to put in regard to what I get back?

Subjectively this ROI is far more complex than that. As a Career Practitioner I often speak to my clients about the workplace values they hope to have met in the occupations that they are thinking about. From that perspective another component to contemplate is the opportunity to find “purpose and meaning” in the vocations that they are considering. Suddenly it may feel like the pressure of the career decision is starting to rise and the stakes are getting higher. This decision making process then entails the necessity to research the occupation area to gain a rich depth of understanding of career information and associated education and training requirements. This leads us back to my previous comment of thanking my client for their commitment of time in regard to commencing the Career Development process. I know that a significant amount of work is required to make an informed career decision. This is even before the client has started to take action on the decision!

So, how long can it take a health professional to gain the required level of qualification and education just to be able to work? For some this may be several years of dedicated and demanding study and workplace learning. If you have not thoroughly used some form of research and career development strategies; what is the likelihood of success in your study? Have you truly considered the ROI and what you are investing of yourself to gain the success you are seeking? Accessing career development services may maximise your ROI by an early investment of your time in your Career Development research and subsequent contemplation.

Accessing information from the ‘My Health Career’ site is a great opportunity to gain this type of information. Another general resource that may offer some information is the ‘Collaborative Career Conversations’ group which is accessible through Linked In. The greater the depth of career research the more potential you have for a positive ROI in your career decisions.

Good luck and best wishes for your research and future career decisions.

Regards,

Dale”