“I was waiting for someone to tap me on the shoulder for that job.”
Guess what? Leaders are not mind readers.
During my career, I’ve had several people tell me they felt aggrieved they weren’t asked to apply for a position, or the reason they resigned was because they didn’t get the job they wanted. Interestingly, many also mentioned when I asked them that they hadn’t applied for it or told anyone they were interested.
Hmmm.
Whose career is it again?
If you don’t tell your employer about your career aspirations, or you don’t apply for the role when it’s advertised, how do they know you wanted the job?
It’s that old adage – “if you don’t ask, you don’t get.”
If you ask, what’s the worst that can happen? You get a ‘no’ and then you know. Then you can plan.
So, I encourage you to put in your application, go through the process, get the interview experience and the opportunity for feedback on your career plans. All of these are valuable to you, even if you miss out on the role.
Plus, the hiring manager learns more about what drives you, what excites you about your career goals and the plans you have made to get there (you need to have skin in the game, right?) Then they can see how they might be able to help you (did I mention leaders aren’t mind readers?)
Organisations have a part to play in this too, by providing structured opportunities to find out what career goals their employees have. Their purpose might be to meet company goals such as hiring needs or performance targets, however, employees can take advantage of these processes too.
Here are some examples of shared career moments leaders and individuals can capitalise on.
- Hiring Interviews: I always asked candidates “what are your careers aspirations in the next 3 to 5 years and how do you see this role fitting into those plans?”
Some people have told me this is a useless question – how could anyone answer that? After 25 years of ignoring the naysayers and asking candidates exactly this question, I’ve found their responses offer an intriguing insight into their personality and drive. And their future potential as a leader.
I want to know if the candidate has a plan that I might be able to help them with (not a mind reader, remember). Plus, they might fit into the scope of another role I might be hiring at the same time, so I could switch them over to another recruitment process for a different (and often better suited) position.
If they don’t have a plan, I want to know that too. I might be able to help them start one. Or it might actually create a concern about their fit for the role or the company, or it might not, depending on the situation.
- Stay Interviews: Asking current employees what keeps them in their role and about their career plans are rarely done, in my experience. When they are done, they can provide valuable information on what employees want to do next.
This might lead to training plans to prepare for the next step on the person’s career path such as a promotion or contribute critical information into the organisations succession plan.
- Performance Reviews: Reviewing what went well and what could have gone better is a great way to unearth insights, opportunities for growth and alignment for their career path.
Hopefully these are done more regularly than only once a year. People grow and change quickly, as do organisational needs and strategic direction. Knowing how your people are going and what their future aspirations are allows you to move people into the right place, role or team to achieve both business and personal success.
Individuals have a responsibility to own their own career – nobody else can do this for you.
If you think someone owes you a living by deciding for you how your career should go, or you continue to fall into situations without thought or planning, you will land exactly where you deserve.
Which might not be where you thought.
I encourage you to start thinking about what drives you, what you’re curious about (or even something you don’t want to do!) and to start planning – mapping out potential roles or situations that make sense to you and are aligned with your values or goals. Then you can be ready when the opportunities arise.
Find people to help you – a career coach, a mentor or a leader you respect. A resource I recommend is the book called “Career Karma” by James Fairbairn which is a quick and informative read to help you get started on planning the next step in your career.
It doesn’t matter what age or stage of your career you are; everyone can benefit from taking the time to reflect, review and plan for their future.
Write your own career story – one that you can look back on knowing you took control and did your best.
Happy Career Planning!