How you get from here to there
Published Saturday September 6th, 2008
Sometimes, when you’re sitting in your cubicle, you daydream about what it would be like to have the job that comes with the corner office. You’ve always had ambitions to rise through the ranks. And you know deep down that you have the right stuff.
But how do you get to that lofty perch from where you are now? There is a method to advancing your career, says Randall Craig, a Toronto-based career planning expert and the president of Pinetree Advisors, a management consulting firm. And the smart careerist works consciously toward his goal of leaping ahead.
The first step is to determine if you truly want to move forward.
“A lot of people live on wishes but they’re actually comfortable where they are and are afraid of making changes,” Craig said.
“It’s like the people who make a new year’s resolution to join a gym and lose weight. Unless they genuinely want to do that, they won’t follow through.”
Craig is the author of Personal Balance Sheet - A Practical Career Planning Guide (Knowledge to Action Press, 2008). During an interview while he was in Montreal this week, he said he wrote the book to help readers take control of their careers.
“You may have a career goal when you graduate from university, but people usually sign on to a job without realizing what the next step is,”he said.
“And often, when you’re in a job, you’re using all your available time to hone the skills you need to get success in that position.
You’re not seeing your career generally.
And the people who do see the big picture often don’t see how to get from one level to the next.”
If you’ve decided it’s time to advance, the next step is to figure out where you’re heading.
“However, if you don’t know what you want next, that can stop you from moving up,”Craig said.
So he suggests choosing what he calls a “proxy goal.”
“Let’s say you’re in the marketing department and you want to move up. You pick a position that’s in the realm of possibility, say, a job as a media buyer. That’s your proxy goal.”
Whether or not you’re familiar with what the job entails is irrelevant, Craig said. The next step is to“fill in the gaps.”
“To fill in the gaps between where you are now and where you want to be, you’ll do various things,”he said.
“You might want to get a professional certification, attend conferences, read trade magazines, network within the industry, volunteer for special projects or in a professional association. As you do this, you’ll learn about the media buyer job and you’ll decide if you actually want it.”
You might also change your proxy goal as you gain insight, he said.
“If you do that, you change your fill-inthe- gaps activities.”
One advantage to filling in the gaps, he said, is that the knowledge gained from the process can be a boon when job opportunities arise unexpectedly.
“You may be a manager and your company offers you an opportunity in Nowheresville.
They tell you they want you to tackle a particular project. When this happens, you’ve done some planning toward it with your fill-in-the-gaps activities,” he said.
Tell your boss that you’re working toward career advancement and ask for an opportunity to do things that will help get you there.
“Explain that you’ve acquired an interest in a particular position. Ask if you can sit on a particular committee at work.
Perhaps you’ve sat on a non-profit’s board of directors and can use that experience to benefit your employer.”
Enlist support from your boss, spouse, parents, children.
“If you have to return to school to get more skills, you’ll need your employer’s and family’s understanding and support,” Craig said.
While it might seem counterintuitive, he suggests that you can also move up by working yourself out of the job you’re in.
“Coach and mentor the people you supervise so they’ll be ready to succeed you. Then, you can safely move to the next level.
“Sometimes, it’s more difficult to leave a job if you’re doing it so well that your employer thinks no one else can do it as well as you.”
If it’s your boss’ job you’re after, he says, consider helping him to move to the next level.
“If you help your boss’s meet his objectives and it advances his career, he may be able to help you,”Craig said.
Keep in mind, too, he added, that “no one will hire you unless you’re already doing the job you’re after.”
In other words, you’ll have to demonstrate that you’re capable of working at the level you’re targeting.
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