Spanning the Decades:
Career Advice for Every Age and Every Stage
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.
His acts being seven ages.”
—William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 2 Scene 7
Whenever anyone, including my students and my coaching clients, asks me for career advice, my answer is always the same: “It depends.” And what does it depend on? A lot of different, individual factors. But among the most important considerations is: Where are they in terms of Shakespeare’s “seven ages”—and at what stage are they at in their career?
While there is, of course, no “one-size-fits-all” answer, based on my personal and subjective experience here’s my best career advice for every age and every stage:
Teens: The Age of Exploration
When you are in your teens, you don’t know what you don’t know. So, try to gain as much exposure to as many different types of experiences as possible. This way, you can get an idea of what you may be good at and what you’re not, as well as what you may like to do and what you don’t. Don’t be afraid to try or to fail. That’s what these years are for!
You should try to learn as much as you can about the realities of the workplace. Find internships, take temp or entry-level jobs, do volunteer work, and ask questions. Lots and lots of questions. Don’t feel that any question is dumb, or that any job is beneath you. At this stage of your life, everything is new and, therefore, a learning experience. If you go into every situation with a positive attitude, you’ll be amazed at how much you can learn and how fast you will grow.
20s: The Age of Experimentation
Now that you have a better sense of what’s out there, take a more targeted approach toward finding your niche. You are still exploring and experimenting, but the stakes are a little higher now than when you were still in school. You want to do well, gain experience, build your network, and show that you are capable of producing real results.
Take chances, but be smart about it. And don’t burn any bridges or do anything rash that could potentially come back to haunt you one day (including what you put out there on social media). You are now establishing your reputation, building your résumé, planting the seeds for your career, and—as Steve Jobs once put it—asking yourself how you are going to “put a ding in the universe.”
30s: The Age of Self-Actualization
At this point in your life there is, hopefully, some connection between who you are and what you do, as well as having developed a strong sense of your “personal brand” and your “Eye-denity”: the way you are seen by others.
One way to explore your personal brand is to think about how you want to define yourself: What do you want to be known as, “the Guru of” or “the Go-to person” for? Then, figure out what you need to do to make that vision a reality. Ideally, you want to be working in a field that you are good at (and/or aspire to be great at) and cultivating skills that you like or love. You want to be setting yourself up for success and becoming a subject matter expert in your field, while still creating opportunities to take risks and to grow.
You may have greater “adult responsibilities” now, so it may also be time to start thinking about and preparing for the future—financially and otherwise. The key is to be proactive in figuring out what you need to do to maximize your performance, your productivity, and your potential, both in your career and in your personal life.
40s: The Age of Expertise
Ideally, you’d like to now be settled into a career with a proven track record of success, a positive professional reputation, and a network of contacts. (And not just online “connections,” but true, real-world relationships.) Building on the results you’ve produced, and with an eye toward the future, your thoughts will likely turn to further developing your leadership potential while continuing to hone your personal brand—both internally within your firm and externally within your industry.
But what do you do if you’ve had a setback and/or your career train has gone off the track? My feeling, from personal experience, is that it’s never too late to reinvent oneself. As the saying about best-laid plans goes, they often go awry. Like getting knocked back to the starting square in a board game, you may occasionally need to return to the ages of Exploration and/or Experimentation again and start anew.
However: there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that (!), as it happens to most of us at one point or another. The good news is that, this time around, you get to leverage the wisdom of your experience as you set out in search of new horizons and new possibilities.
50s: The Age of Mastery
Here’s where and when you can up the ante of your reputation: based on years of experience, you can now market yourself as a credible subject-matter expert in your field. You’ve earned it. But it’s equally important to keep learning!
Remember: “In an ever-changing world, if you’re standing still, you’re falling behind.” Everything—technology, the marketplace, norms, and expectations—changes more quickly and more frequently than ever before. The shelf-life of knowledge is shorter than the expiration date on a container of milk. So it’s a never-ending, twenty-four-hour-a-day race just to keep up. But you must try, as there is no other choice if you wish to stay relevant and valuable to others.
Your strength, at this stage, lies in combining your years of experience with your ability and willingness to proactively stay ahead of the curve. You may also be thinking about what you want your “leadership legacy” to be…and, if so, this is the time to start thinking about what you need to do between now and the future to make that vision a reality.
60s+: The Age of Wisdom
You’ve seen it all. Or have you?
As the world’s changes seem to accelerate, we see something new every single day that we’ve never seen before. You want to make yourself marketable by branding yourself as a sage, and yet have the humility to look to those younger than you as your teachers. You want to be a mentor, and yet be open and willing to be mentored and coached yourself.
With that combination of attributes, you will have much to contribute and you will stay relevant and in demand. You want to experience the excitement and satisfaction of continuing on your own journey of development while, simultaneously, taking the time to pass the wisdom of your experience along to the next generation. It’s also something you can take pride in, as you bear in mind my maxim that “Wisdom is where Knowledge and Experience meet.”
A Few Thoughts to Keep in Mind as You Transition from One Stage to the Next
Bear in mind that this is all just one person’s totally subjective broad advice, with which you are entirely free to agree or disagree. It is quite freeing, though, to remember that there are no “shoulds.” For example, “At this point in my life, I ‘should’ be further along in my career.”
The reality is that career paths take us where career paths take us. Just as in Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,” our journeys are ultimately shaped by the choices we made…and the choices we didn’t. Despite the common metaphor, most careers don’t resemble a straight and linear “path” so much as a roller coaster ride of ups and downs, starts and stops, twists and turns, and victories and setbacks.
President John F. Kennedy wrote, “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” As such, with that realization in mind, a successful career journey seems inextricable from a life-long love of learning; a spirit of proactivity; a sense of resilience; a positive attitude of gratitude; and a growth mind-set that keeps you continuously looking—and moving—ever forward…at every age, and through every stage.
In Review
The Big Lesson: Considering where you are in your life and your career will help you to frame your situation with greater clarity and insight, as well as to make better career-related decisions.
The Big Question: In which stage of your career are you right now, and what can you learn from this framework that might guide you forward?
Your Big Insight:
Your Big Action: