Navigating Your Career: Pros and Cons of Different Paths to Success

iStock | Moor Studio

Career trajectories move in different ways, and won’t move in others, and it helps if you can see several moves ahead if you want to develop a realistic and achievable long-term career plan. Here are the pros and cons of the most common career tracks.

Management track – This is the track with which most people are familiar. It’s the traditional “climb the corporate ladder” model. You start at the bottom (or wherever) and top performers move up the org chart to the highest level they can and a talented few occupy the C-Suites.

Pros as you climb:

·      More money.

·      Better title

·      More responsibility.

·      More prestige.

·      More influence.

Cons as you climb:

·      Sometimes being the best isn’t good enough. “Office politics” can be ruthless.

·      More responsibility means more time and effort.

·      Less work/life balance.

·      Less time doing what got you there, which for many professionals is what they were passionate about in the first place.

·      Job shifts from doing what you love to supervising other people’s work.

Technical Leadership – This is a track for professionals with a rare combination of qualities: advanced technical proficiency, leadership skills, and strategic thinking. Companies have varying names like “Distinguished Fellow,” and, “Senior Technologist,” for technical leadership positions but they are united by their application of special technical skills to lead teams that are experts in that field.

Pros of the technical leadership track:

·      Special skills mean special compensation (more money)

·      Better title

·      More responsibility.

·      More prestige.

·      More influence.

Cons of the technical leadership track:

·      You don’t get to flex your managerial muscles.

·      You may have management duties but your main focus will be on the tech.

·      Upward mobility hits a plateau.

Go sideways – It is common to be in one role and wish to be in another, however, it is uncommon to do anything about it. If you possess a certain skill that you believe will help you cross over to another you may be able to make a lateral move into a job more to your liking.  For example, marketing to communications, engineering to product management, or line manager to project manager.

Pros of sideways track:

·      A fresh start.

·      A track to use multiple skill sets.

·      A track to master different disciplines.

·      You can show off your skills to a new group and elevate your profile.

Cons of a sideways track:

·      The opposite is true. If the spotlight is on you, everybody is looking at you.

·      You may stay flat compensation-wise. Not necessarily, but possibly.

·      This is not moving upward. This takes advantage of new opportunities where you may learn new skill sets that are transferrable or help you “move up” in the future.

Go diagonal. Really step outside of your box and try something completely different for the same company. This is really a “first who, then what” scenario where you’re either tapped to take the helm of something radically different than anything you’ve done before because of your past and current professional performance and reputation (it’s earned!) or you’ve created a diagonal track for yourself and your company has agreed to go along for the same reasons. Either way, it’s because of a great track record.

Pros of going diagonal:

·      The challenge of a lifetime.

·      Potential for more money.

·      Self-growth and development.

·      Success may create more mobility up, down, and sideways.

Cons of going diagonal:

·      A diagonal move is highly visible. If you stumble, you may stumble hard.

·      A diagonal move doesn’t necessarily mean moving up. It may be a special project that leaves you dangling when it’s complete, or a role that has limited time to show results before being folded. It may be your dream job, but it still may be professionally stagnant.

·      Uncertainty and stress.

Course Correction: Try a new company. Go back to school. Try a new field. A completely new opportunity. Move to another state. Another country. An upheaval. A major pivot. From someone who knows, a course correction is a gamble. It can be a high-risk, high-reward track but it can also be a high-risk, no-reward track. Proceed with cautious wild abandon.

Pros of a course correction:

·      You will be a new person living a new life.

·      As with every new course, at its inception, the sky is the limit.

·      A transition can be exciting and challenge you in ways you have not been before.

·      You will develop a completely new professional network.

·      You are likely to be exposed to new opportunities.

Cons of a course correction:

·      Depending on your financial situation, course corrections take time and money (i.e., going back to school).

·      You will most likely experience a pay cut. Think of it this way. When accomplished lawyers raking in truckloads of cash get elected to be judges they take a major pay cut in exchange for truckloads of prestige and influence. Was it an upward or downward move? It was neither. It was a course correction.

·      You will most likely have to start at the bottom of your new endeavor, regardless of age or experience.

·      You will compete with more experienced people.

·      It may take a while to achieve success.

Find Your Sweet Spot: Your career track may not be to “move up,” but to achieve a harmonious work/life balance doing work that is more meaningful to you even if it’s less lucrative (don’t despair – a lot of the time it’s more lucrative!). Maybe it’s a flexible or remote schedule. Or a job you can walk to. Decide what that sweet spot is and move across the board accordingly.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Build Your Career Plan In 5 (Relatively) Simple Steps

iStockphoto.com | CurvaBezier

There is an old saying – “If you don’t know where you want to go, any bus can take you there.”  Sounds romantic, doesn’t it? In conjures up a whimsical journey. But as far as your career is concerned, a little more planning is recommended.

 Everyone should have a career plan. You don’t have to have it all figured out, but you should have a general sense of direction and career self-awareness. The advantages to having a career plan are:

• A documented but flexible career plan, periodically calibrated and revised as necessary, will give you a better understanding of what your next steps will be and how/when to make them.

• A career plan will help you develop transferable skills that should increase your future options.

• If your decisions are guided by a career plan, you can develop strategies to better help you realize your objectives.

Here are five steps you can follow to help create and document an effective career plan:

Step 1 – Find a Mentor

One of the greatest things you can do for your career has an element of luck to it – find a mentor. A mentor is typically a senior-level co-worker or someone highly experienced in your field; a mentor’s perspective can be instrumental in helping you think about your long-term career plan. It’s important to have a sounding board other than your manager, or managers, who may not be as invested in your development or future. You can benefit from a mentor’s advice and help.

I mentioned the luck aspect, but there are options for those who would prefer to be proactive about a finding a mentor rather than leave it to chance. Independent mentor groups/services exist to help you do just that. Think of them as Big Brothers/Little Brothers for professionals. A quick Google search for “business mentors” brings up Score, MicroMentor, Business Mentors, and Small Business Development Centers as a few potential resources.

Step 2 – Build an Individual Development Plan (IDP)

An IDP is a tool you can use to identify development opportunities within your company, to help you develop transferable skills and hold yourself accountable.

While related to performance appraisals, an IDP is usually outside the scope of your job responsibilities and any specific deliverables or assignments. An IDP lays out your goals and tracks personal development, not the professional requirements of your job. However, like performance reviews, quarterly check-ins with your manager about your IDP progress are not only beneficial, but a necessity if you are going to monitor, review, and adjust your plan.

If this is not a formal part of how your place of employment operates, develop an IDP on your own.

Step 3 – Join Professional Organizations

Belonging to industry groups has obvious benefits and chances, are there is one that fits your needs. In professional organizations, you can expand your network, learn about new opportunities, be up to date on industry news, and maybe even meet your mentor. Some organizations, such as the Project Management Institute, are also training and certifying bodies that offer programs and certifications that will help further your career.

Step 4 – Always Be Training

If your company is serious about developing its employees, congratulations! Take advantage of the continuing education they offer (or mandate). Any formal training, certification, or program is an asset, and some of what you learn will be transferable skills you will use no matter where you go or what you do.

If your company does not offer such opportunities, or you are searching for work, you should seek training out. Get certified. Research what the marketplace wants and invest in your skills to match it. If every job you’re looking at requires Salesforce, and you’ve never touched it before, learn how to use it!

Step 5 –Document Your Plan

There are no rules and regulations to document your plan. The only instruction is to do it. Here are some tips to get you going: 

• Start with a plan that focuses on your current position (or your last one if you are a job seeker).

• Add to that until it’s a 2-Year Plan, then a 5-Year plan.

• The strokes will get broader the further into the future you go, but they will be there, distant markers beyond the horizon line to direct you.

• Monitor your progress, and make adjustments.

Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

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Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercareerstrategies.com.