If anything in life is certain, it is that change will
affect your career. Change in your worklife could be driven by
either a merger, downsizing or shift in company strategy. A new
boss or new responsibility may make your role redundant or take
away aspects that made it attractive in the first
place.
More commonly, however, there is no compelling reason to make a
move. Instead, there is a feeling of uncertainty about whether
where you are is the right place to be, right now, in order to take
your career in the right direction.
There are ways that you can better plan your career, whether you
find yourself forced to make a move, or simply want to take greater
control of your future.
If you think it might be the right time to make a move but feel
reluctant to rock the boat, you are not alone. The IT downturn of
2000-2003 is still fresh in most people's minds and many are still
cautious about making career moves. When times are tough it is not
unusual to be risk averse, and the reputation that you have built
up in your current role may be a powerful source of security. If
the downturn led to stagnation in your career progression, you may
feel the need to get further experience under your belt before
moving on.
However, the market is buoyant again, and there are many good
opportunities out there for talented and experienced people.
Ironically, a strong market can be a difficult environment to move
in. You may be starting to receive the rewards for the loyalty you
demonstrated in the leaner times. Companies with strong HR business
partners have started to put in place attractive retention
strategies - "golden handcuffs" - creating incentives for loyalty,
such as retention bonuses and share options.
What is required is careful consideration of all your options,
starting with where you are now. There are three steps:
perspective, direction and decision.
To keep your current role in perspective, make a list of the
pros and cons - and make sure you are brutally honest. Do this at
different times so your perception is not skewed by the experiences
of any particular day or week. Obviously, if you find that the
negatives regularly outweigh the positives, the time has come to
get moving.
To decide if your current role is taking you in the right
direction, put down on paper where you want to be, and compare this
to what you are doing now. If the current role is not providing you
with the experiences and the exposure to take you in this
direction, then it is probably the wrong role. When it comes to
career stagnation, perception is usually reality.
The final step is to speak to your manager about career
development plans and identify what you want to achieve. If your
current company is not willing to put firm plans in place to help
you develop, then you should not offer them reciprocal commitment.
If you cannot fulfil your potential where you are, then it is time
to look at other options.
At the same time as weighing up your current role, the best way
to determine whether or not it's time to move is to get out there
and examine the other options.
Even if you are happy in your current role, you should aim to
have at least one or two interviews every 12 months. This will keep
you engaged in the world outside your current employer and enable
you to compare other opportunities with your current role. Even if
this only serves to convince you that you are currently working in
the best place, then it has been a useful exercise. It will also
help to keep your interview skills honed and ready.
As many of the best roles are never advertised, you should build
and maintain a network of contacts with people in the industry
working for other companies, and with headhunters. This will ensure
that you are in the running when interesting positions arise. The
alternative of trawling through job sites and cold calling busy
recruiters on the day you are unexpectedly made redundant is going
to be a miserable experience - lay the groundwork now.
Finally, remember that we are in a buoyant market, but we live
in an era of short economic cycles. Right now there is a great deal
of demand for IT talent across the board.
However, it is difficult to predict the next downturn, so if you
are ready to make a move, the right time is now. In the words of
the great Samuel Johnson, "Life is not long, and too much of it
must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent."
Sam Gordon is principal consultant, executive IT, at Harvey
Nash