Pathway ID

Eureka!

I had a bit of a moment the other day.

I have previously been stumped when talking to people about what I do, for lack of any sort of position or identifier that combined my experience (and current employment) with my interest (and my future).  I had also struggled to reconcile my vision for where I was going with the experience that I have, as if I was looking to start completely anew.  That didn’t quite sit comfortably - surely I’ve picked up more than a few generic transferable skills.

I’ve been impressed by how well some people - like RowanKunz - have branded their expertise in a clear, simple and compelling way, without necessarily falling into a professional category.  I’ve wondered - is possible for me to have that sort of clarity?

Source: fd2s, on some random webpage

Then I hit upon a thread that draws my experience and thoughts together

systems of public administration

Now I know that might seem dull to normal people, but jargon aside I promise it’s interesting.  It encapsulates so much of what I have engaged with in the last couple of years, and it also helps describe the particular focus with which I engage the social and community sector.  I'll write some posts in the coming months about what it is and means.

I think it will be a very useful way to identify my professional interest, and brand my experience.

It will also be a guiding star for me to develop career pathways around - while I’ve had a sense of building on my skills by diversification, I haven’t been able to grapple actually making progress.  But now, I can work to a vision of being bloody good at public admin systems, making a contribution in an area central to addressing social challenges, yet not need to be boxed into the expectations of a profession.

The idea is yet to be road tested (feel free to comment!) so I can’t exactly proclaim it a successful strategy, but simply having some clarity of thought for me to understand where I am is immensely comforting so far, and I can see this eureka moment being very valuable.  How does everybody else approach what they do?  Have others found clarity amongst a mess of motivation, experience, and professional labels that just don’t fit?  Are people still struggling?

And does anybody out there have work for a public administration systems specialist?

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John Baxter
www.jsbaxter.com.au