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Article from The Straits Times, 9th May 2000
Tread Your Own Path
Taking charge of your career path may mean a switch. Are you game?
Managing your career is one of the more, if not the most, important responsibility you should impose on yourself.
Carving a successful career in the 21st century is all about ownership. You owe it to yourself to ensure you stay relevant to employers.
There are a great many things you can do to make sure of this, one of which is switching industries.
The one-job career is pasśe. You need to constantly look at what’s available in the job market and make the necessary moves to be on top of ongoing changes and changing dynamics of businesses.
Two situations can arise when you switch industries. You can stay in the same function, or cross over to a different function.
Generally speaking, and depending on what stage of your career you are at, it is more difficult to switch both your function as well as your industry – “difficult” not in the sense that you may not be able to adapt, but more because of the challenge of finding a boss who has confidence that you can make it.
Most bosses would prefer hiring someone who can “fly” from Day One.
Rare are the occasions when you come across someone who believes so strongly in your ability to adapt to different industries and functional challenges. But then again, they do exist.
Here are some pointers on making that switch successfully :-
- Find out as much as you can about the new industry. You can easily do this by talking to people in the know or reading up.
- Be around the “right” people – use your existing network to acquire additional contacts. Introduce yourself and keep in touch with these new-found friends to stay in touch with the latest happenings in the new industry.
- Talk to your functional peers who are in the new industry. Although most functional skills and experience can be applied across many industries, there could be some peculiarities that you need to watch out for.
- Choose the “right” industry. By this, I mean one that is going to be around in the medium term future.
In Singapore, the petrochemical, life sciences and Internet-related industries could be considered “right” as they are entering into a high-growth phase.
- You must like the new industry you have chosen.
Switching industries could be difficult, maybe unthinkable, for some of us.
In our outplacement and career management assignments, we see many people who have been “stuck” in the same industry, some through sheer complacency.
This is where danger lurks – if your boss treats you well (because you are a star performer), the motivation for you to seek greener pastures is low.
Bear in mind, however, that in the business world, unpredictability is an all-too-familiar word. Your boss or mentor may be here today, gone tomorrow.
Or you may lose your job through restructuring.
If you are a one-industry-one-function employee for your entire career, it may not be possible for your to make that switch when you are in your 40s. Do something about it before it is too late.
Putting aside familiarities and stepping into the unknown could be daunting.
However, you should not let this deter you. Do your research and be brave.
With determination and sheer will-power, you will make it.
Paul Heng
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