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Outline Career Path Options

I subscribe to the “Captain, My Captain”¹ philosophy of career management, that leaders can inspire and show, and that individuals need to take responsibility for their own decisions, values, and actions; everyone should watch The Dead Poet’s Society² once or twice as an adult to keep inspired. I believe that people have the ultimate responsibility in driving their own career where they want it to go. I say this as a mother of two sons: one an optimistic, talented musician on his own not-so-easy (and oh-so-unexpected by his parents) path to touch many people through his work and gift, and the other an energetic, developmentally disabled force for good in the world who will most likely never be independent.

The best companies provide opportunity for learning and advancement, but that advancement is earned not given. I think people should stay at companies as long as they are contributing positively and are either happy with what they’re doing or are contributing to the company’s work while learning something that may take them elsewhere.

If someone wants to bide her time in a job, that’s fine as long as she is contributing. If someone wants to step back from the growth path and limit his hours so he can be very active in his children’s lives, take care of an aging parent, or have more free time to pursue different activities, that’s fine too, as long as he can make it work for the company.

The most important thing for me is that people who work at my company have pride in their time with us and can point to their employment with us as an advantage in their career. And while I don’t expect anyone to stay with us forever, I do hope that those who have worked at the firm will be positively connected to us once they’ve left.

We help those people who tell us that they feel their career path is not accommodated by our business: either we find a way to accommodate that path in our business because it is good for the business, or we help them by connecting them with people we know or by doing something else helpful.

I believe that the good people always come back, either as employees, as clients, or as referrals. Actually, I know this: many people currently working at my firm are repeaters, having worked with me or someone else on the staff earlier in their careers, or they are former clients. Most new clients are referred by current or former clients, several of whom are former employees.

When employees ask me, “What is my career path here?” I always answer with “What do you want it to be?” When potential employees ask me, “What are my career options here?” I always answer with “What do you want to do? Let’s see if that fits with what we do or plan to do.” I’m sure this is irritating to some, and I’ve gotten many a blank stare from candidates in the twenty-two to twenty-seven-year-old range, but it helps frame the way forward, not as my or the company’s responsibility, but as theirs.

Why Should I Work Here?

In the past few years, even during a really tough job environment, the question “Why should I work here?” has been asked in interviews by recent college graduates, even though almost no candidate gets to me without significant vetting.

When I first started hearing this a few years ago I’m sure my face did not disguise my astonishment or insult at the question. Now I know that many Millennials are being counseled to ask this and other, similar questions. So instead of dropping my jaw in disbelief, I now say, “You shouldn’t if you don’t want to … [long pause] … and aren’t ready for the work.”

Usually, people either laugh out loud or sit in silence. And then I continue: “But if this the career you think you want to pursue and you have initiative, if you are a good team player and are curious, if you have a sense of humor and can write a compelling, logical paragraph or two, I can’t think of a better place to work for people … [long pause] … who qualify.”

Career Development

In terms of promotions, I operate with the point of view that promoting people before they are ready for that next level is a disservice to the employee and the team—it sets everyone up for failure. Managers need to work with employees to articulate a specific plan for improvement and for skill and experience building in as aggressive a time frame as makes sense for that person. If the employee doesn’t make it, he doesn’t make it, but at least you have worked with him to help him achieve his goals.

While Millennials often talk about wanting a career path and development opportunities, many companies have found a maddening disconnect between that stated desire and the initiative different individuals take, or don’t take, around their own education and development. “We offer so many training opportunities, all tied to moving up the ladder, and we can’t get any of our under-thirty crowd to take advantage of them,” says Matt, fifty-two, an executive vice president at a large marketing firm, echoing the sentiments of many of the senior leaders I talked with. “It’s like pulling teeth to get them to go and pay attention,” he says. Not to mention getting them to actually apply what they’ve supposedly learned in the training sessions.

“I just paid for one of my up-and-comers to go to an advanced writing class, and the first assignment she got afterward showed no difference,” bemoans Margaret. “And this after she got high marks from the instructor. It makes no sense to me.”

In discussions that resembled tales of walking uphill both ways to and from school in subzero weather through the driving snow, manager after manager talked about how many of their younger colleagues don’t do the “things we just knew to do when we were coming up the ladder.”

Part of me thinks this is a bit of historical fiction. The other part of me concurs. I shared this frustration until I stopped hitting my head against the wall and decided to provide incentives for people to learn—for their own professional advancement and for the sake of the company’s continuing relevance and value.

One night I was cashing in my American Express rewards points for shopping gift cards and it hit me that the answer was in front of me. I’d award points to people who took classes and applied the learning to their work, sharing and putting what they learned into action. Thus, the Double Forte Rewards Program was born. Now our people earn points for attending webinars, brown-bag presentations, training sessions, and internal and external workshops. We also give employees points for related college-level classes and will pay for the class if they score an 85 percent or higher. We give more points to people who share their wisdom with others in online tutorials or in one-to-one or group training sessions.

While we’ve provided a range of “cash in” options, most people choose to hoard points until they reach a value between $250 and $500 so that they can go to a special restaurant, get great seats at a concert or performance, or purchase an iPad or other tablet for home. Going at a good clip, earning that many points takes anywhere between three and five months.

In the two years since we introduced the rewards program, the number of training and career development classes and courses that people give and take has exploded by more than 350 percent, and everyone, including our clients, has benefitted from the work. To pay for the program, I’ve factored the rewards into the overall benefits line on the P&L. Those people who do more, get more. Everyone has the same opportunity.

Job-Hoppers

While Millennials are often considered “job-hoppers” by their older colleagues, the last decade has been fraught with uncertain conditions that have strengthened the belief that people are in charge of their own careers and should not count on companies keeping their positions on the payroll. “Workers today know they could be laid off any time—after all, they saw it happen with their parents—so they plan defensively and essentially consider themselves ‘free agents,’ ” explains Jeanne Meister, a workplace consultant.⁴

“Every person under thirty I have in my network has an ear cracked to new opportunities,” says Leslie, the GenX recruiter. You can’t stop someone else’s open ear or seemingly constant searching. What you can do is focus on making your team and your company as good as it can be—from the people to the culture to the work and the performance. If we operate in fear of people leaving us, we’re playing from a disadvantage. By playing small, we may make the mistake of bending the rules for individuals in a way that does not make sense for the business and creates disharmony among the staff.

If we operate to maximize our team’s engagement, we hold onto people longer, and they become assets to the company over the long term. If people aren’t contributing, they need to go. If you find ways for more people to contribute with their different goals, experiences, and preferences, you win.

Management Dos and Don’ts

• Do focus on creating a culture of earned opportunity.
• Don’t overreact when candidates approach their interviews with what you might consider an entitled attitude.
• Do set expectations early for how people advance in your team and company.
• Do find ways for your growth-seeking employees to learn new things.
• Do insist on employees mastering skills and proficiency before they take on new tasks or responsibilities.

Millennial Dos and Don’ts

• See chapter 6 on interviewing questions.
• Do know that no one owes you a career.
• Do perform your job well and master the tasks at hand.
• Do use your time in a position well, fully contributing in your role.
• Do share your ambitions with your manager, so she can help you get the experience you need.