Get Career "Strong" in 2025
Take time to reflect on what your next career season should bring
We are firmly in fall in Middle America. Most leaves have fallen, leaving ruby red and golden yellow carpets for kids to dance on joyfully.
While kids dance, prance, and pick through the last of the Halloween candy, some adults prep for Thanksgiving and winter. My father-in-law and I were recently chatting about all the requisite household winter prep tasks. Things like purging irrigation systems, raking leaves, and more are common. Our discussion reminded me of my first career path as a golf course superintendent.
Fall - My Favorite Time To Reflect & Explore
I remembered some of the pre-winter prep we did: fall fertilization, irrigation winterization, and goose shit patrol. (Canadian Geese have a seemingly endless supply of poop they love to deposit on fine turf grass greens. It’s very annoying.) I remembered the countless times I was asked “What do you do in the Winter?” by well meaning, but naive friends and family. Most importantly, his and my discussion reminded me of what I loved about the golf superintendent biz.
Fall was always my favorite time as a golf course superintendent. Even today, nostalgia strikes whenever I drive by a golf course in October and November. Fall was the opportune time to explore my broad career interests and build new strengths.
On a well-funded golf course in the Northern U.S., fall is filled with projects. It’s filled with strategic planning and course investment. It’s the time of year when drought and disease pressure tend to be low. To me, the work was far more interesting than during the summer months.
We’d rebuild greens, plant trees, reconfigure landscape beds, re-establish native areas, care for wetlands, develop the next season’s integrated pest management strategies, and more.
I was able to comfortably explore my interests. According to the Strong Interest Inventory® career assessment, my main career interests revolve around “Artistic” and “Enterprising” activities. This means I am creative, imaginative, expressive, adventuresome, and risk taking. I love to envision, strategize, and build new things. This was what fall in golf course operations was all about.
By contrast, Spring and Summer were more focused on operating machinery and completing practical tasks. To some, this is of greater interest. These are things I’m less interested in doing. We’d work from sun-up to sun-down. It was two seasons of stress. Mother Nature is the ultimate fickle boss.
Not The Path For Me
My interest in golf attracted me to the business. Yet, I discovered that golf operations wasn’t in line with my “natural” interests at least 50% of the time. I found my true interests were more aligned with business, art, and communication. This was because of fall exploration.
I don’t regret the experience. It was my first post college job. I learned Spanish. I became an Excel analytic whiz. I learned to lead both with my 20 person staff and with members who happened to be corporate executives. I learned to be creative with flowers. I found a love for trees.
I ultimately left after 3 yrs for B-School. My golf-ops experience made me a unique candidate compared to the heavily Business and Engineering undergrad students. Plus, it prepared me well. I quickly excelled in my statistics, finance, cost accounting, and marketing classes.
You and The Strong
As you close out the year, hopefully you get some down time to reflect. Take stock of where you are. Consider your options. Explore your interests to make sure they are aligned with your present scenario.
I recommend taking the Strong Interest Inventory®. I took this psychographic assessment when I was a Golf Course Superintendent. It helped open my eyes to all the possible routes in the world of work. It helped me prioritize potential paths that were more aligned with my interests than managing turf.
The Strong was founded by E.K. Strong in the 1920s to help the military align soldiers roles with interests. It has been updated numerous times over the past 100 years.
Today, it provides direction seekers with a multipage career blueprint. The blueprint doesn’t tell you what to do. Rather, it tells you what you might like to do.
It uses a 200+ question assessment to identify general occupational themes, specific career categories, and potential job types to consider. It compares your responses to types of activities you might like to the responses of 100,000 people.
I’ve taken the test a number of times. Interests can evolve over time. I like it because it helps me identify things I might like to do based on how similar and satisfied people in those careers are.
If you want a lighter version of the assessment, you can use the O*Net Interest Profiler. It’s not quite the same as The Strong. It’s a “light” version, that asks 60 questions. 60 questions are not quite as extensive making the O*Net version potentially less accurate than The Strong.
The Strong isn’t just for people dissatisfied with their present work situation. It can help people who are perfectly happy but might be seeking to explore new vocational paths. It could be helpful for someone interested finding a new hobby. It could even be helpful for those who need a constructive way to discuss career exploration areas with their manager.
Learn & Reflect
Remember, any job offers an opportunity to learn and to reflect. You learn what you like and dislike. It requires constant exploration and reflection. If you aren’t careful, you can let the daily tasks get in the way of long term career path management. So, be sure to carve out time to reflect on what truly interests you. You can use a tool like the Strong or just jot it down on paper. This periodic self assessment will pay dividends. It can help you explore your current gig or lead you to a new one. It’s your choice.
Good luck forging your path!
Paul G. Fisher
Interested in learning more about Strong Interest Inventory®? Forging a unique path in line with your interests is up to you. I’d be delighted to tell you a bit more about the assessment. Shoot me a message if you are interested!