The best things in life may be free, but that doesn’t mean they won’t take time, sweat, and perseverance to acquire. That’s especially the case when it comes to learning important life skills. What are the hardest and most useful skills to learn? We’ve highlighted our favorite takeaways.
1. Time management Effective time management is one of the most highly valued skills by employers. While there is no one right way, it’s important to find a system that works for you and stick to it, Alina Grzegorzewska explains. “The hardest thing to learn for me was how to plan,” she writes. “Not to execute what I have planned, but to make so epic a to-do list and to schedule it so thoroughly that I’m really capable of completing all the tasks on the scheduled date.”
2. Empathy “You can be the most disciplined, brilliant, and even wealthy individual in the world, but if you don’t care for or empathize with other people, then you are basically nothing but a sociopath,” writes Kamia Taylor. Empathy, as business owner Jane Wurdwand explains, is a fundamental human ability that has too readily been forsworn by modern business. “Empathy — the ability to feel what others feel — is what makes good sales and service people truly great. Empathy as in team spirit— motivates people to try harder. Empathy drives employees to push beyond their own apathy, to go bigger, because they feel something bigger than just a paycheck,” she writes.
3. Mastering your sleep There are so many prescribed sleep hacks out there it’s often hard to keep track. But regardless of what you choose, establishing a ritual can help ensure you have restful nights. Numerous studies show that being consistent with your sleep schedule makes it easier to fall asleep and wake up, and it helps promote better sleep in general.
4. Positive self-talk “Ultimately it does matter what others think of you,” writes Shobhit Singhal, “but what you think of yourself certainly does, and it takes time to build that level of confidence and ability to believe in yourself when nobody else does.” On the other side of positive self-talk is negative self-talk, which Betsy Myers, founding director of The Center for Women and Business at Bentley University, believes can slowly chip away at your confidence.
5. Consistency Whether you’re trying a new exercise routine, studying for the LSATs, or working on an important project, Khaleel Syed writes that consistency is vital to maintaining any kind of success.
People often stop working hard when they reach the top, he explains, but to maintain that top position, they must work harder and be more consistent in their work.
6. Asking for help “I once was told in a job interview, ‘You can’t have this job if you can’t ask for help when you need it,'” Louise Christy writes. “Naturally, I said I could.
Later, I found out that the previous person with that job had screwed up big-time because he was in over his head but couldn’t admit it and didn’t ask for help.” She explains that knowing when you need help and then asking for it is surprisingly difficult to learn and do because no one wants to be perceived as weak or incompetent. But a recent study from the Harvard Business School suggests doing so makes you look more, not less, capable. According to the study, when you ask people for advice, you validate their intelligence or expertise, which makes you more likely to win them over.
7. Knowing when to shut up — and actually doing it “You can’t go around whining about every other thing that seems not-so-right to you in this world,” writes Roshna Nazir. “Sometimes you just need to shut up.” There are many instances when keeping to yourself is the best course. “When we are angry, upset, agitated, or vexed,” writes Anwesha Jana, “we blurt out anything and everything that comes to our mind.” And later, you tend to regret it. Keeping your mouth shut when you’re agitated is one of the most valuable skills to learn, and of course, one of the most difficult.
8. Listening Along with shutting up comes listening, says Richard Careaga. “Most of us in the workplace are so overwhelmed with things to do — instant messaging, phones ringing. I mean, our brain can only tolerate so much information before it snaps,” Nicole Lipkin, author of “What Keeps Leaders Up At Night,” previously told Business Insider. One tip for active listening is repeating back what you heard to the other person. “It makes things so much easier when everyone is on the same page,” she said.
9. Minding your business “It takes ages to learn and master this,” writes Aarushi Ruddra. Sticking your nose into other people’s work isn’t helpful and wastes time and resources, she says. “You have no right to put forth your two or four cents, even if you are the last righteous person standing.”
10. Mastering your thoughts to do what you want to do and accomplish what you want to accomplish, you need to consciously direct your thinking, writes Mark Givert. “The challenge is that we are the product of our experience and all of our thinking is the result of this,” he says. “However, the past does not equal the future.
Digital visibility is important for every careerist, especially when you’re looking for a job. According to a 2016 survey done by CareerBuilder, the number of employers using social media to screen job applicants has skyrocketed 500% over the last 10 years. If you didn’t think it was important before, now you know why having a social media presence is critical to your career.
A Trend That’s Here to Stay
But it goes beyond just having a digital presence. Since developments are constantly evolving, it’s important to stay on top of what’s going on. If you’re looking for a job, that means adapting your current job search to the shifts in recruiting, hiring, and labor markets. Otherwise, you may be positioning yourself as an out-of-touch job seeker who doesn’t know what it takes to be competitive.
Where to Start
The easiest way to incorporate social media into your job search campaign is to begin creating content within the channel you’re most comfortable with and use most (e.g., LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to get your name out there. Don’t forget to advertise your social presence on your resume by including URLs for your LinkedIn profile, Facebook, blog site, BrandMe profile, etc.
Create & Manage Your Online Reputation
• Another key survey takeaway was that 60% of employers use social networking sites to research job candidates with 53% of employers interested in whether the candidate has a professional online persona or not.
• And if you don’t have a presence, 2 in 5 employers said they’re less likely to interview someone if they can’t find any online information about that job candidate.
• Interestingly, more than 25% of employers uncovered online content that compelled them to reprimand or fire an employee.
Here is a ranked list of social media content that turns employers off:
• Inappropriate / provocative photographs, videos, or info: 46%
• Content / information about drinking or drug use: 43%
• Discriminatory commentary (e.g., race, religion, gender, etc.): 33%
• Bad-mouthing previous employer or fellow employee: 31%
• Sub-par communication skills: 29%
So, it’s time to make sure your online presence is professional and squeaky clean. How? Control your public online reputation, making sure that you think “professionally” when you remark, post, and even joke online. Either Google yourself regularly or set up a Google Alert so you’re notified via email any time your name appears online. If you come up with some digital dirt on yourself, it’s time to scrub, scrub, scrub until your public reputation is spotless.
Either your job candidacy or the job you’re in may depend on it!
When you’re interviewing for a job, it is going well, and the company likes you, it’s a powerful sensation. The feeling is mutual on the other side of the desk. When an interviewer meets a candidate whose energy and experience are just what you are looking for and you start to think “This person could benefit us a great deal,” you go through the same stages.
You get to know more about your candidate as you continue the conversation, and you begin to visualize this individual in the position.
The candidate starts to picturing his/herself in the job. The conversation get looser and more friendly. Finally, a job offer is extended and you hope they accept. Usually, she/he does. Once the agreement is struck, you rejoice!
By the end of a hiring process, your future manager wants to hire you as urgently as you want to be employed. For this reason, it is important to watch your manners and professionalism at the end of the recruiting process. Don’t make a last-minute blunder that will cost you the job offer!
Here are five tragic, late-in-the-game interview mistakes job seekers make that cost them the position:
- Announcing that you need a three-month sabbatical mid-next-year, that you can’t start your job for six weeks, or that you can only work from home.
- Bombing your reference and/or background check. Most employers will not overlook details in a reference-checking and employment verification process. If they run into gaping holes or information that doesn’t agree with what you told them, that will cost you.
- Going silent. Some candidates hear “We want you to join us — look for our offer in the mail” and will not hear the rest of the process. Two and a half weeks later a hysterical recruiter is messaging him/her constantly, asking “Where are you?” Only to get the reply, “I went to Vegas with my buddies to celebrate my new position,” only to find out that he/she is no longer a candidate for the role.
- Pulling the organization into a bidding war. This is risky because some employers will play ball and others won’t. it is a business tactic, but you have to be prepared for a company that will not play the game. The hiring manger may say “We’re happy for you — we’re delighted that you are so much in demand right now. We don’t want to hold you back from taking that offer. We cannot match or exceed that offer.” You cannot blame them if they rescind the offer. If you agreed that a certain salary would get you on board and they offered that salary but now you are saying that other employers will pay you more, they may say “All the best to you!” and move on to another candidate.
- Last but not least, you can lose a job offer if you fail a drug test, employers that use drug testing as part of their recruiting process have a strict no tolerance policy.
Double-check your references, your employment and educational histories before you apply for a job — not afterward! Make sure that you are ready to pass a drug screening. Keep track of the interview pipelines you are in and keep the lines of communication open in case you are contacted by the company – especially as you get close to receiving a job offer!
If you have special situation like a vacation in the near future or the ability to work from home, address those topics before you get the job offer.
Once the interviewer likes you and you like them, you are way more than halfway to the finish line in your job search. Be careful not to mess it up at the last minute!
At Ventureready LLC we prepare professional cover letters and resumes for every career, and Career Coaching to prepare for any interview.
Too many people read job postings, but don’t know what the hiring manager is asking for in a candidate. Many times job seeker don’t receive the response they want from employers because they lack the knowledge, skills, education or experience. Before you apply for another job posting, ask yourself the following questions.
- Do I have the experience they are looking for? – Job postings will have the minimum years of experience the candidate must have. If the employer asks for 5 years of experience and you just graduated from college, or have 3 years of experience, then don’t apply for the position.
- Do I have the education the hiring manager is asking the candidate to have? – The posting will indicate the education level they would like you to have (i.e. high school diploma, some college, bachelors’ degree). If you did not graduate from a university or college and that is a minimum requirement, then your chances of getting an interview are substantially lowered.
- Do I have the specified qualifications? – Job postings will have the required qualifications the candidate must possess. Some postings will list 3 or 4 requirements while others will list 10 or more. Read this section carefully. This an excellent way to identify key words for your resume, and this section also provides you with a list of responsibilities you will be expected to complete. If your resume does not show achievements in most of these areas of responsibilities, then the hiring manager will not consider you the right candidate for the position.
Accurately reading a job posting is an important step in getting an interview. Don’t waste your time applying to positions when your qualifications do not meet what the posting is ask you for.
Good luck with you career search!
By Katrina Brittingham
Rewiring your career may be a smart move, experts say, and offer 4 tips to get you started.
Changing jobs seems like a relatively common and simple feat. You leave your project manager position at one firm and pick up a similar gig, maybe closer to home, with better benefits or pay. Changing careers, though, sounds more daunting. Moving from the publishing industry to, say, health care—is it even possible, and if so, how would you do it?
Shifting careers, or re-careering, is possible, experts say, and a wise way to stay competitive in today’s job market. Two fields that hold particular promise for growth are health care and IT. Dr. Eric Darr, interim president of Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in Pennsylvania, says opportunities abound in these areas. Harrisburg is a private institution focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Darr says the student body includes everyone from recent high-school graduates to students in their 30s, 40s and 50s looking to reskill and “readjust their careers.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, health care practitioners and technical occupations are projected to grow 26 percent from 2010-2020, while computer and math occupations are projected to grow 22 percent during that time.
How to Make the Leap: 4 Key Tips
So the opportunities are out there, especially in health care and IT. But how do you seize them? Consider these sage bits of advice:
- Conduct informational interviews with individuals working in the field you want to pursue. Meeting face-to-face with people already in your desired area is invaluable, says Mark Gasche, senior director of career services for Empowered UCLA Extension. This is a chance to ask critical questions about salary or potential barriers to entering the field, Gasche explains. Afterward you’ll feel better or worse, he says. If you feel worse, then it’s a challenge to your initial plan. If you feel better, then you’ll be armed with more knowledge about how to continue.
- Consider careers that will be safe from outsourcing. Darr says predicting which fields will be outsource-proof can be tricky, “But if you are in health care and the job is to work with patients and analyze data, those things are not going to be outsourced because they can’t be.”
- Don’t stop working. “Today you can take courses and certifications at night and on weekends. You do not have to drop out of the system in order to participate,” says Dr. Tracey Wilen-Daugenti, vice president and managing director at the Apollo Research Institute. Many companies give support to workers pursuing education while they work, she notes. If you pursue education or training at a higher-education institution, be sure to select one that doesn’t relegate adult education to second-class status, Darr says.
- Volunteer. Wilen-Daugenti suggests that if you’re not working, volunteer for an organization in the area where you want to be hired: “In our ongoing career research, an individual noted that he was volunteering in an IT position at a key hospital so that he understood the systems and when a job opened he would be the first pick to be hired.” Volunteering lets you test the job and learn the systems, while people in the firm get to know you and your capabilities, she explains.
Kristina Cowan
Changing jobs seems like a relatively common and simple feat. You leave your project manager position at one firm and pick up a similar gig, maybe closer to home, with better benefits or pay. Changing careers, though, sounds more daunting. Moving from the publishing industry to, say, health care—is it even possible, and if so, how would you do it?
Shifting careers, or re-careering, is possible, experts say, and a wise way to stay competitive in today’s job market. Two fields that hold particular promise for growth are health care and IT. Dr. Eric Darr, interim president of Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in Pennsylvania, says opportunities abound in these areas. Harrisburg is a private institution focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Darr says the student body includes everyone from recent high-school graduates to students in their 30s, 40s and 50s looking to reskill and “readjust their careers.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, health care practitioners and technical occupations are projected to grow 26 percent from 2010-2020, while computer and math occupations are projected to grow 22 percent during that time.
How to Make the Leap: 4 Key Tips
So the opportunities are out there, especially in health care and IT. But how do you seize them? Consider these sage bits of advice:
- Conduct informational interviews with individuals working in the field you want to pursue. Meeting face-to-face with people already in your desired area is invaluable, says Mark Gasche, senior director of career services for Empowered UCLA Extension. This is a chance to ask critical questions about salary or potential barriers to entering the field, Gasche explains. Afterward you’ll feel better or worse, he says. If you feel worse, then it’s a challenge to your initial plan. If you feel better, then you’ll be armed with more knowledge about how to continue.
- Consider careers that will be safe from outsourcing. Darr says predicting which fields will be outsource-proof can be tricky, “But if you are in health care and the job is to work with patients and analyze data, those things are not going to be outsourced because they can’t be.”
- Don’t stop working. “Today you can take courses and certifications at night and on weekends. You do not have to drop out of the system in order to participate,” says Dr. Tracey Wilen-Daugenti, vice president and managing director at the Apollo Research Institute. Many companies give support to workers pursuing education while they work, she notes. If you pursue education or training at a higher-education institution, be sure to select one that doesn’t relegate adult education to second-class status, Darr says.
- Volunteer. Wilen-Daugenti suggests that if you’re not working, volunteer for an organization in the area where you want to be hired: “In our ongoing career research, an individual noted that he was volunteering in an IT position at a key hospital so that he understood the systems and when a job opened he would be the first pick to be hired.” Volunteering lets you test the job and learn the systems, while people in the firm get to know you and your capabilities, she explains.
Kristina Cowan
This is a guest post by the daughter of Steve Denning, Stephanie Denning, who writes about leadership issues from a millennial perspective. The views expressed here are her own.
Most of us today, millennials in particular, equate work with meaning. And from afar, it sounds inspirational. But in practice, it’s a lot messier. After graduation, millennials set off to pursue a career that they hope will match their fantasies. The reality they’re faced with is a little less idyllic. Graduation is a daunting thing with the array of career options that await. To navigate a career today, especially since career-switching is so common, is a little like blindfoldedly swinging at a piñata: You’ll have a few hits, and a lot of misses.
I would know. I am, myself, a millennial trying to navigate this new world of career options. In an attempt to understand it better myself, I started to mine my own experience and that of my friends to see if I could learn something, anything, to apply to my career that lies ahead.
- Your Experience Does Matter
The commonly accepted assumption is that millennials today have more career options available to them than their parents. And that might be true… right after graduation. When you have little to no experience to speak of. Effectively tabula rasa.
Unfortunately, the rest of your career isn’t quite so neat. The dirty little secret of any career trajectory is your experience holds an enormous amount of weight on what you do next. This can be both a blessing, if you have the right experience, or a curse, if you don’t. That first job you take after college — and every subsequent job after it — increasingly matter.
There is one glaring reason for this: While companies and jobs have evolved, hiring is largely unchanged. Experience is key. But there’s an awful lot of forecasting involved in this formula. Few of us know the person we want to become in our 20s. Tellingly, most of us treat our 20s as a time of discovery. We think, what is it exactly I want to do?
But while you’re busy contemplating this existential question, hiring departments take no notice.
Don’t let your career atrophy while you’re trying to figure out what you want to do. Instead, find work in a growth area, whether it be the industry, the company, the division or your boss. Growth will most always be a good, no matter where you want to go.
- You Leave A Job Too Soon
Job-hopping has become common practice among millennials. Maybe even falsely advertised as a best practice. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report in September 2014 stating workers 24-34 held a median tenure of three years in 2014 to date.
Take a step back, three years really isn’t a long time. Less time than a college career. Realistically, it takes about a year to truly acclimate to any new job — between culture, politics, proving yourself, getting your bearing on what the work even entails.
People mistakenly assume that a job is fixed; that that first year is reflective of all the future years to come. But jobs evolve as changes take place in any company. Opportunities come and go. And three years is a very small window to see the full range of those opportunities.
Nowhere have I seen more evidence of this phenomenon than in a quick comparison between friends who have left their jobs versus those who have stayed.
That’s not to say the ones with longer tenure love their job every single day. There will be dark days, buoyed by good ones. Job enjoyment is never linear; it takes the shape of a sinusoidal curve, a series of ups and downs.
That’s where most millennials get tripped up. We focus on job enjoyment more than learning opportunities. In the long run though, learning has a higher return on your investment of time than simply pursuing the jobs you enjoy the most. Only leave when you believe you’ve exhausted all the opportunities before you to learn.
- You Have A Unique Career Trajectory
Because there’s no road map to guide us through our careers, most of us latch on to stories of career success. We study stories of success to try to glean the formula behind that success. And then we begin to emulate it. You think, well if I want to be the bigwig in Silicon Valley, you must drop out of school. Or if you want to work in business, you need an MBA.
What you soon learn is emulating anyone else’s path will only get you so far. At some point you have to venture out on your own and start to follow your own instinct. You are the only one that can truly evaluate an opportunity.
I’ve always admired Michael Lewis. And for a long time I felt I needed to follow suit in his path. But I never much liked finance, and having interned, was fairly sure I had no interest in working in it either. But it took time for me to figure out that while I was trying to become the next Michael Lewis, I was losing sight of becoming myself.
Follow what you find interesting like a dog following that invisible scent. Even if it’s something small and seemingly insignificant, like a side project, follow it, follow it, follow it. Following your interests, no matter how small, no matter how little time you can allocate to it, will eventually lead you to where you want to go.
Some Final Thoughts
I venture to write about career advice because most millennials, unlike many past generations, seek ever-elusive “meaning” in a job. At worst, we want to find a job we really like, and at best, one we love.
It can often feel like a Herculean effort to undertake finding the right job. In an effort to minimize that effort, what I’ve gathered here is the best intel I’ve come across.
These lessons have never failed me in my own experience, and I hope, maybe naively, that they might serve you too.
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Whether your decision to make a career change at midlife is influenced by boredom and ennui in your present work, financial reasons, or wanting to follow your true passion, the first important step that you should take is to acknowledge the fact that you are making a decision that doesn’t fall short of life-changing. There are, after all, lots of factors to consider; all the more so if you already have a family to raise, as you would definitely have to consult them as well.
If you are looking for some midlife career change ideas worth remembering, then you need only to read the advice we have listed below. Not only could this help direct you towards the right direction that your life should take from this point onwards, but it could also clear any doubts that you still have about going on with this truly important life decision.
1) Take some time off
You would definitely need a lucid, stress-free mind to make such a critical decision so be sure to invest time in thinking about your future prospects and plans. Preferably, this should be done alone, in a place where you are certain you can find peace and solitude. It won’t take long for you to discover that, with a mind that is at peace and unburdened by everyday problems, you won’t find it hard to begin looking at things more clearly and positively.
2) Be realistic
One of the most overused, banal sayings about the topic of career change is that you should “do what you love”. While this is something that most of us would, as much as possible, not want to label as mere wishful thinking, it’s simply not always the case in real life. This is why when weighing your decisions, you should always lean more towards something that would be feasible, without sacrificing the things that ignite your passion. This is why “Learn to love what you do” could prove to be the better maxim.
3) Be open to taking career assessment tests
These tests are specifically designed to help people who want to get the career that they’ve always wanted, so never hesitate to take them. They would surely help you get a better view of all the options that you have, as they are tests that involve finding out your skills, personality strengths and weaknesses, and, ultimately, your real passion. What’s good about these types of tests is that they are also available as self-assessment tests online, and you can take them anytime you want.
4) Take action
By this time, you are probably already quite aware and confident of the things that you’re good at This is why if you decide to do something or embark on a new endeavor, always make it a point to equip yourself with the necessary knowledge and skills to start taking action as soon as possible. Experience, after all, is the best teacher. Don’t allow yourself to get stuck at the planning and analyzing part. Most of the time, it’s only when you dive into the water that you begin discovering new opportunities and possibilities.
5) You’re not alone
Seek the help of others, may they be your friends or professionals. Your loved ones are always there to support you. You are not limited to your social circles as well, because there are trained professionals such as career coaches who are ready to help give you other good midlife career change advice, which could very well demystify and reveal opportunities that you hadn’t thought of and noticed before.
Always remember that if you really have a positive outlook and the willpower to undergo such a major change, then you can practically do and get anything that you strive for. By simply keeping these tips in mind, even if you encounter setbacks (and more often than not, you most assuredly will), you can always shake off the mud from the battleground of life and triumphantly continue on until you reach your goal.
By Steve Bohler
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Over is the new up in many jobs and industries. Learn how to use lateral moves and other off-the-ladder opportunities for career catapults and avoid getting derailed.
Are you looking for that next career challenge but unsure how to get there? Climbing the corporate ladder might not be the only way. Today more than ever, a career detour just might lead to your career destiny. At every level — including the top — professionals, managers, and executives-in-waiting commonly zigzag through several lateral lurches before stepping up to their destination position.
Why has lateral become the new way to the top? The recession is partly to blame — the hierarchy in many companies flattened and compressed during the recession, effectively eliminating rungs that were previously part of the expected climb.
Because of this reality, it has become more important to “think sideways.” If you don’t plan ahead by considering lateral rotations as part of your career development plan, you may end up stuck on your current ladder rung indefinitely, unless you find a way to take a larger-than-usual step up. Yet paradoxically, exceptional advancement is less likely if you haven’t taken the time to boost your experience and confidence with lateral moves.
Here is a helpful analogy: “If you’re stuck in a traffic jam and it may be hours before you’re able to move forward, it makes sense to change lanes and exit on a side road where you can more quickly navigate around it. Sitting in the traffic jam and fuming doesn’t get you anywhere.”
For advice on how to effectively turn a side step into a step up, TheLadders asked several career-development experts to weigh in:
- Make It Make Sense. Without a strategic career path, lateral moves can become merely a merry-go-round. You must proactively plot your own career plan to make sense of diagonal and lateral moves. “Your employer won’t do it for you, so the first thing to know is that it’s up to you to pursue and land opportunities that advance your career agenda.
A great place to start is to envision your next “up” move, and then reverse-engineer the qualifications you need to make a serious run for that position. assess your current experience and skill set to determine what you might need to get where you want to go.
Ask yourself: Am I lacking hands-on operational experience? Proven expertise in a business skill, such as client retention? A working knowledge of a relevant slice of technology? What skill set would tee up my success in that position? By comparing the skills required by your next-step job to the skills you currently have, you’ll quickly see the gaps that a lateral move can fill.
- Do What Needs to Be Done. Your informal self-assessment will likely uncover areas where your skills could be stronger to get you to the next level. Determine specific strategic actions that will help you reach your career goals faster.
If you are a project manager who wants to become a department manager, you might need two things: a stronger network outside your department so that your reputation is already established with your potential new peers, and broader exposure to customers and clients so you can show that you can drive growth as well as get work accomplished.
In this case, she suggested considering a short-term rotation to cultivate relationships with other departments and functions, or working on an assignment that puts you and your team on a customer-facing project.
- Volunteer Strategically. It can be difficult to find time for volunteer projects in the midst of your primary career responsibilities. But strategic volunteering can be a powerful way to rapidly expand your network of influencers and to backfill business skills.
To spin community service into an opportunity for lateral rotation, join an organizational committee whose volunteers complement—yet don’t duplicate—your existing network. Look to your current skills for a logical toehold (for example, if you work in marketing, join the marketing committee).
Your end game is to transition to an assignment that builds your business skills, once your credibility is established. So a marketing exec, needing operational and financial management experience, might volunteer to co-chair an annual appeal. Such assignments tee up result-driven case studies for employees to bring back to their day job, illustrating business skills that prove their qualification for general management.
- Ensure You’re Still Learning. While sometimes taking a few steps sideways — or even back — can help you move forward, not all lateral moves or career detours will take you in the direction that you ultimately want to go. The trick is knowing which will and which won’t.
It can be detrimental to take a detour if you’re unlikely to learn anything new in the next position. “If you are switching to gain different skills or expand your network in the company, then a sideways turn could be helpful.” “However, if you are switching into a role where you cannot leverage any of your existing skills, then you should hear an internal alarm go off.” To help avoid a dead end, evaluate any lateral move in light of whether it will expand your skill set or neutralize what may be viewed as outdated or “legacy” experience.
Career detours can be beneficial if they round out your overall experience and practical education. “Some detours enhance your understanding of an industry or related industries—for example, industries that are vertically integrated.” “When determining whether a career detour is beneficial, consider how you will use your newly acquired skills for subsequent roles.”
- Decide for Yourself What ‘Up’ Means. Part of effective career planning is knowing what’s right for you. If you reach a career crossroads where a move feels wrong based on your own goals and vision—whether it’s sideways, up, or down—listen to yourself. Not everyone’s path makes sense as a vertical trajectory. “We often enter the workforce thinking it’s a straight path to the top.” “Usually it’s not.”
A senior leader who knew that the next available step up on his organization’s traditional ladder would force him to spend more time traveling — something he dreaded with a young son at home. But after he spent time redefining what career advancement really meant to him, he discovered that his current post gave him the flexibility and true advancement opportunity that he wanted.
“He chose to stay put, to recognize that growing in his current role would not be a detour, but sacrificing his personal values would be.” “He’s been happily succeeding personally and professionally ever since.”
- Leverage the Lattice. Whether your lateral move comes about by design or decree, there are ways you can maximize time spent horizontally. One advantage of latticed moves is that they allow you to experience different viewpoints and perspectives.
“Instead of looking down my own ladder, I’m going to look across the lattice of the organization,” said Halley Bock, CEO and president of Fierce, Inc. “Rather than asking for input from people who share my perspective and experience, the question becomes how to embrace and leverage the different vantage points, including those of different generations.”
Offering lateral moves as an alternative to straight-upward movement can be particularly important for the younger workforce, according to Bock. “The opportunity to work among different teams can give variety and depth to employees’ work experience,” said Bock. She added that Millennials bring a strong desire to share their experience and make a difference—so offering multiple avenues to learn and grow can be essential for retaining top young talent.
- Create Your Own Promotion. With the collapse of mid-management roles in many companies, an employee with 10 to 15 years of experience may suddenly find there’s no next level in sight—their leaders may be in the same age range with no plans to retire or leave any time soon. In cases where you can’t expect a promotion, it may be time to orchestrate your own with a few key strategies:
- Identify the pain in your organization and how you are uniquely suited to help calm that pain from your current position.
- Build a business plan for a new role, department, or service you might lead.
- Communicate with key players in your organization to let your intentions be known.
- Take your efforts as seriously as you would a new job search.
It takes creativity, persistence, and confidence to create your own next step, “but if you’re truly hungry for advancement in a flat world, make it yourself.”
By Robin Madell