Beware of a common trap: putting all your time and energy into just doing your job, as compared to managing your career. As we said earlier, your focus should not just be on the job, but on managing your career effectively over the long term. That means forever, for as long as you have a career. Let's face it, this sort of downturn in the economy has happened before, and it will certainly happen again. So you'll want to be prepared and positioned for success, no matter what outside circumstances may be.
By turning your attention now to Perpetual Career Management, you'll be maintaining your momentum, ensuring that your career success will endure, and opening a pathway to much higher levels of recognition and achievement. Sure, you'll want to work extra hard to hold onto your job when jobs are scarce, but never forget to also focus on the larger context of your overall career.
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Beware of a common trap: putting all your time and energy into just doing your job, as compared to managing your career.
It's no surprise that people who are in career transition focus a lot of their time and energy on updating their resumes, networking, brushing up their interviewing skills, collecting accomplishment stories, and so forth. They know they need to be prepared, to be at the top of their game, if they hope to land another good position.
But what about those of us who are currently working, in jobs that may seem stable even in a bad employment market? If you're like most people, these activities get little or no attention — that is, until you get laid off, fired, or simply become unhappy enough to make a change. It's human nature to become "career complacent" when you have a steady job, focusing all your energy on doing a good job. But when no one's hiring, this approach just won't cut it.
What does this mean for you? It means that you should consider adopting a different approach, which I call Perpetual Career Management. Instead of being focused completely on your job, you should be focused on managing your career — at all times, regardless of your work circumstances. Keep thinking of the job as a subset, or as one component of your entire career. In practical terms, Perpetual Career Management means engaging continually in a host of activities that you thought were necessary only for job seekers. Why should you do this? So you'll always be prepared, no matter what happens in your company or your job. Take the current economic climate as an example; it has been quite a wake-up call. By maintaining your focus on career management, if something happens to your job again, you won't be caught flat-footed. Instead of feeling devastated, stuck, or powerless, you'll always have career choices and a sense of control.
To become a Perpetual Career Manager, here are 10 things you should always be doing, regardless of your employment situation:
Keep all of your success documents up-to-date. Resume, list of professional references, letters of recommendation, accomplishment stories, etc. By keeping these documents in a current file, you'll be ready to leverage them at any point of transition (reviews, promotions, job changes), whether these events are planned or unplanned.
Put time aside every week for active networking to maintain established relationships and develop new ones, both inside and outside of the company where you work. You should always be positioned to leverage your professional and personal contacts when the need arises.
Join and take leadership roles in appropriate associations and trade organizations. This will boost your visibility and enhance your credibility in your industry.
Write articles or do presentations focused on your area of expertise in any venue (clubs, conferences, publications, etc.). This type of exposure demonstrates your level of trade skill and expertise — and people will take notice.
Continue your career education and maintain your industry credentials through seminars, academic classes, lectures, professional events, conferences, new certifications/degrees, and the like. No one wants to hire someone whose knowledge base and trade skills aren't current.
Research and be aware of the competition, including information about other companies and other professionals in your industry. Always know who they are and what they're doing. Endeavor to know the competition better than they know themselves.
Offer to help people in your network, even though they may not be in a position to help you back at this time. These people will remember your good will, and as they say, "What goes around comes around." So, go the extra mile!
Look at new jobs and investigate other opportunities, even if you're not job hunting at this time. This will help you to know the market, gauge various aspects of your current position, and stay plugged in.
Always ask yourself, "How can I contribute more?" Doing a good job isn't good enough. The people who land the best jobs and move up in the organization are the ones who clearly demonstrate their value to the organization in measurable ways — every day, every week, every month.
Practice your interviewing, negotiating, and related skills on a regular basis. Don't wait until another career crisis arises to polish your job seeking skills. You never know what's going to happen. As today's employment picture has shown us, while you can expect the best at work, you should be prepared for the worst.
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The people who land the best jobs and move up in the organization are the ones who clearly demonstrate their value to the organization in measurable ways.
Remember: Never be satisfied or complacent, and don't ever assume you're 100 percent safe in any job. The only real job security is in developing and maintaining your knowledge and competitiveness in the marketplace. By adopting the Perpetual Career Management strategies outlined here, and implementing thesebehaviors consistently, you'll always be in top form and have plenty of professional options, no matter how low the economy plunges and regardless of how bad the job market gets.