Six Tactics for Career Development: Get Where You Want to Be
by Kirsty Lee
Introduction
It used to be that once you trained in your profession you could look forward to a stress-free climb up the corporate ladder to seniority and a company handshake. Not any more. What used to look like difficult career terrain - constant movement and short-term contracts -- could actually provide the key to a dynamic and fulfilling career if you know how to play your cards right.
So you're faced with a difficult decision - the career you thought you had
all mapped out has either been stifled in its tracks or has led you down
a path where the next ten years are looking vaguely familiar - just like
the previous two. All of the juicy executive positions are taken or are
disappearing. You love your field but you want a flexible, dynamic position,
which allows for creativity as well as providing a bit of certainty in these
unpredictable times. You reflect on the career paths your parents took -
they were guaranteed a position at their company and were well rewarded
for loyalty with promotions and composite benefits. They did not face the
endless cycles of contract work and market-driven hiring practices where
every new kid on the block has the latest and greatest skills. Feeling the
strain? Stuck, but scared to move?
What if you've had the opposite experience? It's not as if ten years doing
the same thing has ever even smelled like it was going to happen. Your career
has lurched from one contract position to another and now you seem to have
exhausted all the companies in town. Your current goal is to hang onto this
position and do some serious consolidation before you head out on your own
again. In this market, a year in the same company working at the same job
seems as elusive as a cheap holiday in Vegas.
Of course, there is everyone else in between: you may like your job, but
it is not leading you where you want to go. How can you maneuver yourself
into the kind of work you'd like to be doing rather than what you have experience
doing? This article looks at some strategies for negotiating an increasingly
competitive job market: how to ride out the lows, consolidate when you need
to, predict how your workplace's needs will change over this year, how it
will look in two, and even five years. Everyone knows that the games industry,
while offering a lot of freedom, is also a harsh taskmaster, and sometimes
that sure thing just doesn't pan out the way you (or the Executive Producer)
thought it would. So how can you effectively plan a career that currently
is either stuck in a go-nowhere rut, or is so unpredictable? You don't even
think you'll manage two years in one place let alone sticking around for
the mythical golden handshake.
If you don't know, how can anyone else?
This may seem obvious, but surprisingly few of us sit down and take the
time to plot out our careers, even though we would never start coding a
game without the specs. (Or at least we all know that theory!) So a good
start might be to sketch out where your ideal career would place you in
one, two, and five years. Imagine what salary, position and responsibility
you would like. How much of your week do see yourself at the office? Is
your current discipline fulfilling? Be honest. Then do your research. Are
your goals realistic? Will you need to change careers or companies to earn
the salary you have in mind? Can you find or create the corporate environment
that you want? Are you on track for these aspirations or are you stuck in
a position, which is adequately paid, and fulfilling now but will not be
in a year or two? Even worse, will you stay the same as long as you are
willing to stay in it? Asking questions like these will help assess factors
such as: how much career leverage do you have in your current position?
Another way to think of this is: how do you move to where you want to be
without quitting your job, or remaining too staid?
The good news is that along with uncertainty, layoffs, contract work, and
short term industry highs, the latest economics have also flattened out
the organizational pyramid; no-one expects to stay in the same job for thirty
years, and no-one expects you to either. This changing workplace means that
advancing through promotion is only one way to grow your career. Today,
ambitious employees must pursue multiple career pathways. Having choices
provides freedom, and it's often a case of evaluating options and taking
what's available (internally or externally) to advance your career in the
direction you'd like to go. The biggest obstacle to career growth is not
lack of opportunity - it is fear of change. The only way to reach your goal
is to get started.
The Six Tactics
There are many ways to get moving toward your ideal career. What are the
choices, and how can you take advantage of them? There are six different
ways to move from your present position (with its composite skill set, salary
and satisfaction) to that elusive five-year goal you mapped out earlier.
Lateral Movement
The first type of change to consider can be described as a lateral movement. This involves a change in job, but not necessarily in responsibility, status or pay. When organizations grow slowly or are cutting back, lateral movements are an important career option. Your current position may not offer dynamic projects that change with time and which keep a position from getting too stale. A sideways move can provide you with an opportunity to expand your base of skills and knowledge in a particular area, or across different functional areas of the organization. You know as a QA Tester that you are excellent at your job - but you want to get to Brand Manager or Game Designer. One way to broaden those skills would be to bone up on marketing and technical skills. Ask around, talk to your boss about ways to move around the company. Discuss your plans and work out a referral to a different area. Changing departments can give you the breadth of experience that will be critical for success later on. Lateral moves increase your portfolio of marketable skills and widen your network of personal contacts. If you want to learn new skills, seek the stimulation of new colleagues, relocate to a different location, or transfer into a faster growing area of your organization, you could benefit from repositioning yourself by seeking a lateral move.
Enrichment
Another way to kick start your career is to grow in place. Enrichment is a process in which you expand or change the responsibilities of your current job in order to acquire more relevant competencies. Although your position/title may stay the same, the content of your work changes. The key to a successful transition is discussion with your immediate supervisor to plan how your current position might evolve to incorporate tasks you would like to perform. It may be that what you thought was your only option (enrichment) might to your supervisor be an ideal time to let you take up another position in a related department. You may be the ideal candidate for training in the new program manager position the company needs but has been unable to fill. To perform effectively you must master new skills and build productive relationships with customers and colleagues. There is tremendous potential for personal accomplishments and satisfaction in meeting these challenges. Enrichment goals focus on making your current job more challenging by increasing your decision-making power, the variety of skills you use, or the responsibility and the work itself. Enrichment products can also provide greater exposure to key individuals in the organization. While making your current job more meaningful they deliver more value to your organization. In today's fast-changing world, no individual can afford to sit still. Enrichment is critical for staying current and staying current is critical to today's organizations.
Advancement
Then there is the traditional route in which you simply climb the career ladder. The traditional benefits of advancement in an organization - money, prestige and power - are well known. These rewards for excellence were common in the past. In today's flatter organizational structures, however, rewards are in short supply. Advancement is most likely to occur when individual abilities coincide with the organization's needs. Learn the direction in which your organization is going and seek out assignments that will prepare you for the impending change. Finding a mentor among the key decision-makers in the organization is a good way to gain strategic insight and access to high visibility projects. Expect to put in a lot of hours and work hard - especially after you reach your goal.
Exploratory Option
Never forget to ask the people in your network where they see your position headed. It may be well known to everyone except you that Producer positions are in short supply. Executive Producers and Team Leaders may see their staff needs changing in the next few years. You may be a crack Java programmer, but have you thought about how C# will effect your skill set? This might be a good time to do some research. Many people reach a stage in their careers when they just aren't sure what choices are available or appropriate for them. The exploratory option requires seeking the answers to such questions as 'what else can I do?' and 'where else can I go?' The goal of the research is to collect the information necessary to decide how best to build your career. Through exploration you can identify other jobs that require your skills, interests and values. This exploration can be done through short-term job assignments, temporary task force participation or informational interviews. In today's unpredictable world no-one's position is so secure that you can afford to be unaware of your alternatives. Exploratory activities can also clarify whether your career aspirations are realistic. They may even validate the growth potential of your present job. The exploratory option can be pursued with or without the support of your organization. Knowing what your alternatives are inside or outside of your organization gives you a sense of personal control over your career. You are less likely to feel trapped or disempowered in your current job situation when actively exploring other options.
Realignment
This used to be a no-no, but often if you want to change what you're doing then taking a step-down into another more relevant area can really be a boost to your new goal. Realignment involves a downward move in either your present organization or another organization. You may be a technical expert promoted into a management position but dissatisfied with the new assignment. You may opt to return to your previous position and develop your skills in the direction you really want to go: e.g., designing cutting edge graphics tools. If you like your company and don't want to leave, refocusing in this way can be an effective response if your unit is disbanded. Taking this path could provide a way of staying with the company while beginning a new career direction. People move down by choice for a variety of reasons. Realignment or downshifting can be a strategy for reconciling the demands of your work with other priorities such as a return to study, family or health commitments, or a career change. Sometimes less demanding work in a faster growing part of the organization can put you in line with new career opportunities. Seeking different work from what you are used to can provide you with a new set of responsibilities and challenges. Realignment can also be a training step. Acquiring new basic skills can provide you with the experience necessary to move in a different career direction.
Relocation
Moving on requires leaving your organization. There are situations in which your current work just doesn't match your skills, interests or values. If you have a career goal that is not realistic in your current organization, if your technical specialty is undervalued, or on its way out, or if you want to develop your entrepreneurial skills, relocation may be the best option for you to consider. You may choose to move away from a city with no potential for you to retrain in what you really want to do, for example, CEO a small start-up. Movement to another city might allow you to re-assess your cost/income equation and attract the funding you need to get your new company off the ground. In the meantime you will be able to afford to live. Even if your departure isn't your idea you can still seize the initiative by turning it into an occasion for career growth. Periods of transition are a valuable time for reassessing your direction, clarifying your priorities and setting new goals. Some people decide they must find a position in the same city they currently live in only to find that their dream job is located on the other side of the country or overseas entirely. Have you really considered how such a move might advance your career or stimulate your personal life and that of your family? You may find that your spouse has been offered a position in another city. What would this scenario look like to you? Would you decide that this is a disaster or look at ways to use the new situation to your career advantage? Careers are not set in stone and can develop in surprising ways if they are allowed to. When career planning is confined to a single organization or metropolitan area your range of choices will obviously be restricted. When you look at an entire industry or at many different organizations in many different geographical areas the possibilities are immensely multiplied.
Conclusion
It's important to look at extraneous factors when evaluating your career. Career moves do not occur in a vacuum. You will need to discuss your available options with your boss and/or your peers. Finding a mentor in your current company who is already in the position you have targeted remains a great path to learn new ways to achieve your career goals. Make yourself useful in the company and take advantage of one-off offers that come your way. An opportunity to grow may be hidden in downsizing or cutbacks that force you to move to a city you'd never consider living in when things were more stable. Change can be frightening, but it can change your life for the better. Although you may prefer and be ready for certain options, they may simply be unattainable for you at the present time. A lack of credentials or connections can place a particular option out of your reach. Competition for limited opportunities may be another factor. The growth rate of your organization also influences the availability of new opportunities. Make sure you ask all of your contacts about information they have about the company, where it is headed, and about new developments in your own field and related fields. If you actively plan change in your career, you will look forward to those times when change is thrust upon you suddenly. Instead of panicking, you will be able to assess the situation and come up with three or four different ways to manage your career while still maneuvering it in the direction you'd like it to go. Embrace the change of your choice from the many ways to advance your career and you will be in control regardless of what your company or life throws at you.
Author Bio
Kirsty Lee works with Mary-Margaret.com, Inc. as a recruiter to the games industry. She has coordinated staff development programs in Australia for Curtin University of Technology working closely with managers and staff to provide career development opportunities to staff and provide training for managers who wish to develop and mentor their staff. This article has described six types of career movement outlined in CareerPower: A Guide for Individual Development Planning. The full guide as well as many more career development resources can be found at Career Systems International. Kirsty can be reached at: kirsty@mary-margaret.com
The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the IGDA.