My Personal Letter to You about Career Management
A bold heart is half the battle.
— Dwight D. Eisenhower183
I wanted to write the final chapter of this book differently from the others. For this last chapter, I want to offer you some career management advice. This advice is based on my 25+ years as an executive recruiter interacting with thousands of job seekers.
Some of the advice you should use immediately while some is written out-into-the-future. Regardless, I hope you take this advice seriously. It could save you a lot of heartache later in your career.
Create a rainy day fund
To some, this first point doesn’t seem like it has much to do with career management at all. But it does. Future job searches can take four to six months, sometimes longer. Save your money to cover living expenses for at least six months.
With this strategy, if you lose your job unexpectedly, you won’t panic. You can engage in a self-motivated job search with purpose and strategy and find the right career opportunity, not just a job to pay the bills.
The rainy day fund also gives you resources to invest in job search tools and services. This could include a resume writing service, business cards, wardrobe necessities, a career coach, or other services. The rainy day fund has emotional benefits as well, allowing you to pay the bills, prevent feelings of desperation, and keep fear at bay.
Keep your resume current
As you progress through your career, it is easy to let your resume grow stale. That’s understandable—you are busy doing your job. But you’re not managing your career. It takes precious little time to keep your resume up-to-date. Whenever something positive happens in your career or at least once a year—use your annual job performance as a reminder—update your resume. Or, at minimum, put an update at the end of the resume and handle it later. The point is to jot it down, with a date, so you don’t lose track.
Keep your LinkedIn profile current, too
The same line of thinking applies to your LinkedIn profile (and any other professional online profiles). Keep it as vibrant as possible. As you know, your LinkedIn profile is pivotal to a job search and equally important for career management. Your LinkedIn profile is how opportunities will often find you. It is imperative that your online presence is up-to-date.
Stay informed about your employer, industry, and the value of your job
There is a lot to talk about here. When I speak with candidates that have lost their jobs, a sizable number noticed warning signs of trouble. Either they ignored the red flags and hoped they would be saved from any layoffs or thought the situation would blow over. As you should now know, you are personally responsible for your career. There are few times when a candidate loses their job without any warning. People do get blindsided, but frequently there are warning signs.
Be aware of how your employer is doing financially. Is there talk about mergers, acquisitions, or IPOs? Significant governmental or regulatory threats? Ask yourself, How does this information positively or negatively affect my career? Evaluate the information, assess the situation, do research, communicate with others, make a determination, and judge timing. Use your business knowledge, common sense, and trust your instincts. Then act if needed.
The same kind of analysis applies to your industry as well. It is important to be knowledgeable and aware of its overall health. Industry shrinkage by market forces or governmental intervention should cause a moment of pause and evaluation. It is always better to move away from an industry in decline to one that is growing and expanding, if in fact your transferrable job skills permit.
Finally, stay acutely aware of the value of your role in a company. Do you, in your job and function, make or save the company money? Does your role further the organization’s mission? If the value of your job is fading, seriously consider making a career move.
Plan your career path
In my opinion, you must allow yourself to dream and explore what you want to do and where you want to take your career. This could be anything from climbing the corporate ladder to starting your own business. What do you want to do?
For any plan to be effective, you must write it down. It is remarkable how writing something down solidifies a plan and creates a sense of self-accountability. Start with one, three, and five-year plans. In my experience, going much further is not realistic. Too many things can change . . . interests, opportunities, setbacks. In other words, life happens.
Write down the specific actions and steps to move you forward. Add timelines. It’s been said that “a goal is a dream with a deadline.”184
Networking
Network actively. Build contacts within and outside your company or organization. Review the Networking chapter and focus on strategies most impactful to you. Ask yourself this question: If I lost my job today, do I have enough inner circle contacts that I could reach out to that would help me?
The power that professional networking can have on your career is remarkable. Remember that in networking, those who give, get.185 When the time is right, networking can propel your career to heights and a level of professional satisfaction that you might not have thought possible.
Informal interviews and career management can be a great part of an overall job search success plan, and are an excellent part of ongoing career management. The benefits to informal interviews are most commonly believed to include the opportunity to network and the chance to meet with a potential employer before a position is posted.
However, additional very powerful long term benefits include the skills you learn from informally interviewing with people, and the network you develop in the process. Successful career management includes ongoing informal interviews throughout your career. Whether it’s a simple coffee conversation or a longer meet-up, the ability to continually meet with and learn from people relevant to your career development is essential to your overall career health. Conducting informal interviews as soon as you can in college gives you a head start to developing the skills that will last a lifetime.
Bryan Lubic, M.A., J.D., CCMC, CJSS
Stay sharp and develop new skills
One of the keys to long-term employment and career management is to become indispensable. I don’t think this can be completely achieved in most organizations, but you want to get as close to it as you can. At a minimum, you want your employer to perceive you in such a way that it will “hurt” if they should ever lose you.
To me, this is achieved by enhancing your current skillset and developing new skills. Even though you have just graduated college, attend workshops, seminars, and conventions, stay informed about emerging trends and technology or products.
I highly recommend that you earn an industry designation. I fully realize that the thought of additional “schooling” is not exactly what you want to hear having just completed college. However, as the next few years pass, it is a very good idea. An industry designation adds credibility to your name and your brand (more on that in a moment). It will differentiate you from your peers. Getting a “certificate of completion” from a one-day seminar is not what I am talking about. Rather, pursue those industry designations that take effort and have substantive meaning both in content and with your peers. It may take time and effort, but the knowledge and differentiation you gain with your current employer and for future employment opportunities makes it well worth it.
Many job seekers have told me over the course of time that pursuing an industry designation rejuvenated them. New learning opens the mind and can keep you creative and sharp, growing and vibrant.
What the Coaches Say:
Skills and career management.
Having a career means you have to manage it. Sadly, most people lack career management skills. A career needs to be nurtured and it will be a journey. Having plans, reviewing your skills, improving your skills over the years, and having goals will help you move your career forward.
Ellen Steverson, NCRW, GCDF, CEIC
Nurture your brand
Good career management encompasses brand management. Even though you have just started your career, you are creating a brand (or a professional reputation) for yourself. Review this book’s Branding section. Stay aware of your value proposition, ROI, and differentiation factors. These and other factors create your brand, which must be nurtured and guarded.
To nurture your brand, ask yourself a two-part question: What am I known for (or, what do I want to be known for)? And is that getting communicated to those that matter? Assess, evaluate, and make adjustments as needed.
Ensure your visibility at work and in your industry
Closely tied to branding is the concept of visibility. Work to get known within your company, organization, and your industry, in ways that support your brand. It could be as simple as some internal networking—but don’t become a politician. You can be subtle to get your work noticed. I suggest finding a professional association that piques your interest. Find a way to get involved. Your involvement does not have to be time-consuming. The point is to contribute and become known. It will enhance your networking efforts and career opportunities.
Be aware of opportunities in the market
It is incumbent upon you to be aware of new opportunities that can enhance your lifetime career experience. LinkedIn has ways for you to be alerted about opportunities that would interest you or be your next progressive step in your career. Use it when the time is right.
Return calls and emails from recruiters and others; listen to opportunities they present. The bottom line is this: whether you stay with your current position or pursue a new opportunity, ultimately, it is your choice. You are proactively managing your career. What a great position to be in!
Consider getting a mentor or career coach
I want to draw a distinction between a mentor and a career coach, though both can serve similar purposes regarding your career management. A mentor, as I am using the word, is normally a person in your field that you know and respect. You want to emulate this person. It is someone with whom you have established a good relationship.
A career coach, on the other hand, is a paid professional who coaches and advises others on career matters.
A mentor will be guiding you based largely on personal experience. For most mentors, this is an opportunity to share relevant past experiences, insights, and hard-earned wisdom. Many mentors feel they are passing along a piece of their legacy as a result of the relationship. They give, but they also receive good feelings from the relationship.
A career coach is paid. Evaluate a coach to ensure they have the insight necessary to benefit and guide you. While a mentor will give advice based largely on past experience, an experienced career coach can draw from the experiences of scores of professionals that the coach has worked with. Also know that a mentor will “tell” in guiding you, while a true coaching professional will ask more questions to explore potential answers. It will be a different kind of communication and relationship.
Whether you choose a mentor or coach, it is important to define and mutually agree on what is expected from both to make the relationship work. Notably, the frequency of communication should be discussed, even if it is on an as-needed basis.
The most important thing for you to remember about a mentor or coaching relationship is to engage in conversation but also be able to listen and learn. Frequently, you will receive not only valuable insight and knowledge, but also wisdom. This information can have a profound impact on your career.
It’s a matter of attitude, introspection, and perspective
Over the course of my career, I have reviewed the career paths of thousands of people. One frequent theme is common to most: Your career will be an unpredictable journey.
Regardless of your intentions and plans, there will be twists and turns. I highly encourage you to always maintain a positive outlook and attitude. Consider it an invaluable career management strategy. Want proof? “Nearly 88 percent of the 3,785 senior-level executives surveyed by ExecuNet said they would rather enhance their team with that individual who possesses a good attitude, even if he or she does not perform to the highest level or have top qualifications.”186 This statistic directly applies to internal promotions as well as external job opportunities. Having a positive attitude will enhance your career opportunities.
Another related career management concept is introspection. I have spoken to professionals who have developed in their careers and wake up one morning regretting the ways their career reshaped them. I remember one candidate shared he had become irritable, impatient, and overly consumed with thoughts about money, among other things. He wanted a change from the demands of his current job so he could return to a less stressful career existence and back to the person he truly was.
Career management means remaining true to who you are, and being comfortable with the fit between you and the demands of your job. When they do not match close enough, you—and your family—will likely experience outward signs of the internal friction (irritability, reclusiveness, impatience, and so on). Good career management requires times of introspection to examine you for who you are (or are becoming) as a result of your career. The outcome of that introspection may be motivation for a career move.
Tied to introspection is the concept of perspective. Introspection is an internal evaluation while perspective is an external evaluation. Perspective, as I am using the word, frequently comes to the surface with tenured career professionals. They begin to ask themselves these kinds of questions:
“What is the purpose of what I do?”
“Am I helping anyone?”
“Do I provide any value?”
“Why am I on this earth?”
These are deep questions and ones that are perfectly normal to ask. From my experience, the key is to discover and name at least one, and hopefully more, redeeming values that your work brings, directly or in conjunction with coworkers or others.
The naming process identifies and solidifies the value of your work in your mind (intellectually) and your heart (emotionally). What your heart and mind hold onto will bring feelings of professional worth. It’s a great feeling that your heart and mind know your work matters.
Let’s tie this all together: attitude, introspection, and perspective. Working backward: When you genuinely feel your work matters, you have professional self-worth. When your job is consistent with who you are as a person, there is internal peace and a match with you and your career. Both affect your attitude in a very significant and positive way. Having a positive attitude is a career strategy and leads to more or better career opportunities, which is a component of proactive career management. I love it when it all comes together!
I hope these pieces of advice, based on my experience and the experience of others, impart valuable insight on proactively managing your young career. It is my heartfelt and sincerest hope that you experience the most successful and emotionally fulfilling career you possibly can!
Best Wishes Always,
Brian E. Howard
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183 Maxwell, John C. The Maxwell Daily Reader: 365 Days of Insight to Develop the Leader Within You and Influence Those Around You. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2011. p. 227.
184 “Napoleon Hill Quotable Quote.” Goodreads. http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/244859-a-goal-is-a-dream-with-a-deadline (accessed June 11, 2015).
185 Vlooten, “The Seven Laws.”
186 ExecuNet. “Senior-Level Business Leaders Say Positive Attitude is the Key to Getting the Job.” News release. March 25, 2013. http://www.execunet.com/m_releases_content.cfm?id=4812 (accessed June 11, 2015).