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Article from Smart Investor Magazine, June 2000
Survival Skills for the Modern Corporate Warrior
Charting a Career Path
It is not unusual to find people who stay in a line of work for years because they find comfort in familiar grounds. After all, a major career switch would mean having to prove oneself all over again and to risk failure. So, most people stick to their well-trodden path until they discover that they have lost all motivation to go to work. The good news is this situation is not inevitable. Before you reach this stage, take a look at what factors have shaped your career path. Just ask yourself some questions:
How did you get the job?
Put this question to each job you’ve held. Most people do not proactively seek their positions. For many, the job came along through a referral, an attractive job advertisement or an offer from management to fill a newly created position elsewhere in the organization.
What influenced the decision to move?
For most, the lure is financial gain. Money is a necessary element but should not be the sole impetus to pack up and go. The question to ask is does the move add value to your career or to your market worth, or will it be detrimental to your career growth?
There are also professionals who leave an organization because they can’t – or think they cannot – tolerate their current jobs any longer. Blame it on the poor working relationships, ennui on the job or a bad fit with the corporate culture.
Why did you leave?
There could be a combination of reasons, which can be grouped into “push” and “pull” factors. The former consists of factors that make you averse to the organization. External factors, such as the perceived excitement or working in dot-com startups, can attract you away from your current employer. This is known as a “pull” factor.
Regular Reviews
Under normal circumstances, people prefer to take shelter in their comfort zone. However, clinging to friendly colleagues, supportive bosses and nice pay packages can sometimes be detrimental to one’s career development. This is why it is important to review one’s work life annually, and not every 10 years. A regular review would reveal patterns in your decision-making process, and from this information, you could decide whether you’re doing the right thing.
Career-management professionals often suggest taking charge and being responsible for one’s own career development. Some lucky people who have a high degree of comfort with their current bosses could consider discussing with them their career aspirations and perhaps chart the next course together. Depending on the relationship between superior and subordinate and the company culture, such intimacy can have its pros and cons. Still, it’s worth bearing in mind that no organization owes you a living, and you are as good as your next achievement, not the last.
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