Before she became an actor, Tapsee Pannu was leading a fairly nondescript life as a software engineer, having completed a degree from the Guru Tegh Bahadur Institute of Technology in New Delhi. Life had other plans for Tapsee though, and when the opportunity presented itself to join the movies, she diversified, upskilled, and the rest – as they say – is history. Tapsee’s career is what we would call ‘squiggly’ today. A while ago, an ideal and aspirational career graph would be linear and upwards. Today though, success is not measured in this manner. The world is our oyster, and there is no reason why we should stay on the straight path, without taking a few detours to explore our other interests and strengths.
What Is A Squiggly Career?
The term ‘squiggly career’ was coined by authors Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis, when they wrote a book titled ‘The Squiggly Career’. They say, ‘Careers used to be about climbing a ladder; they were predictable, linear and we knew what was coming next. Now everything feels much more uncertain. We all know what it’s like to feel overwhelmed and stressed in our jobs, and we’re looking for more freedom and fulfilment from the time we spend at work. We came up with the idea of the squiggly career as a way of describing our new reality. All careers today are squiggly, which is why it has never been more important to prioritize your own development and design a career that works for you.’
Why Women Are Veering Towards Squiggly Careers
Women can benefit from squiggly careers because they offer a more flexible and personalised approach to professional growth and development. Helen and Sarah say, ‘A more diverse workforce has two significant implications for your career. The first is the increasing expectation and need for individuals to take active ownership of their career development. Organisations used to do a lot of hard work for us, mapping out things like career paths and promotion plans. Organisations once told us what to do and where to go, but now we need to be able to answer those questions for ourselves… Work is now more project-based and job specifications become out of date almost the moment we start a new job, as we adapt to meet the needs of our organisations. The acronym VUCA – volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous – is sometimes used to describe the environment we’re now working in, and doesn’t feel like the pace of change is about to slow down. In a constantly shifting work environment we have for new skills, build relationships, communicate effectively and adapt to ongoing shifts in our day-to-day role and responsibilities.’
The Benefits Of Squiggly Careers
Diversification: Traditional careers can limit people’s growth and capabilities, where change is the norm and different experiences are vital. Squiggly careers can help you diversify not only your career, but also help you build a robust network across various industries and field.
Adaptability: Squiggly careers wire us to pivot and embrace the opportunities that come our way. They make us more creative and innovative in how we approach different problems. They also create resilience in adapting to different roles, job sectors and even locations.
Job Satisfaction: Although the primary motivation for every job or career has to be driven by economics, squiggly careers veer away from habit or compulsion. Instead, they’re entirely self-driven by one’s personal interests and individual motivations. In such a scenario, job satisfaction is also likely to be higher than normal.
Broader Skills: When individuals grab opportunities that come their way, they’re likely to learn different skills along the way, coupled with valuable work experience. There is then a varied set of accomplishments to add to one’s resume.
The Challenges Of A Squiggly Career
With a squiggly career, your growth often tends to be lateral rather than upwards. This means traditional promotions might be replaced with new skills and experiences. Along with benefits, squiggly careers have some challenges as well.
Redundant Skills: Some skills may be non-transferable from one industry or company to another. You may not be able to apply them practically, and may have to let go of them. Be prepared for this, and look at it as a learning.
Negative Perceptions: If you’re constantly shuttling between jobs and careers, without any goal seemingly in mind, you might be perceived as lacking commitment and focus.
Job Security: Traditional companies and careers value longevity of service and commitment to long-term goals. These jobs tend to be more secure than those which are dynamic and constantly changing.
Frequent transitions may seem like a careless thing to engage in. But when they’re backed by the right reasons and driven by your own needs and circumstances, your career trajectory could play out perfectly. So go ahead, and embrace the squiggle!