Career planning guide:
At different stages in our career all of us face these questions - "Where is my career heading?", "How should I take my career from here?" and so on.
We researched the subject of career development and looked at the careers of lots and lots of people across industries and functions.
Our analysis led us to these five paths in which we saw careers of people moved in their lifetime. What are these five paths? Let us explore them in detail.
Larger
Maybe of the five paths this is the easiest course to take, not that it will not need effort. How do we move on this path – Investigating whether such possibilities exist in the current organisation, If they do how do we avail of them? Should I speak to the HR? Should I have a chat with my manager?
If either the opportunities do not exist or environment is not conducive to availing of this opportunity maybe I should plan to move to another organisation which is willing to give me this kind of opportunity.
Deeper
Specialising in areas of our sub functions require focusing our learning in these areas. Maybe the current organisation has such possibilities for me in roles which require specialisation. Maybe I am already on this track and I need to stay focused on this area. There may be certification courses or other formal mechanisms for me to focus my learning on. There may also be informal mechanisms which I can benefit from.
Wider
Moving to a different context within my function is sometimes possible within one’s organisation. If I am working in an organisation which has multiple businesses and geographical operations, maybe I can propose moving to a different business unit or geography within my function.
When such a possibility does not exist and if we are serious about pursuing this path, then it may not be that difficult to find such opportunities. But yes, we will need to invest efforts in this search. Most companies are willing to look at people with capabilities in a particular function but not necessarily from the same industry. For example, the boom in retail industry opened opportunities for people in operations (in manufacturing) to move into operations of retail chains.
Newer
Cross functional expertise is encouraged by many forward-looking mature organisations. They encourage people from one role to move another in a different function. If such possibilities exist within your organisation maybe it will be worth exploring. Many people change to new functions by doing formal education. Engineers go on to business education to move into management.
Without demonstrated experience in a particular function it is difficult, but not impossible, to convince others as to why you should be given such an opportunity. For example, if I have been in HR function right through 15 years of my career and now I want to move into business development, I need to be strong willed and be able to communicate why I believe I have the capabilities for performing this function. Yes, there may be capabilities which I built in my HR career which will be useful in being effective in business development. I need to be aware of the capabilities that business development would need and also be able to showcase these capabilities.
We would also need to connect to the right people who are willing to look at capabilities and not functional experience. This is best done through networking and through colleagues, professionals in different organisations and different functions.
Moving in this path is the toughest of all.
Different
Moving in this direction is a different thing all together. It is driven by passion, from an inner calling. There is a time for activating this move, based on a number of factors, particularly personal factors like comfort on the personal wellness, willingness to take the risk, support from the near & dear.
This is a road less travelled but travelled by the daring ones nevertheless.
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