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

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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.

Want To Get Promoted At Work? 7 Factors Impacting Your Chances

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When managers choose who to promote into an open position, it isn't always cut and dry – in fact, the decision can get quite complex and involves a great deal more than how hard you worked over the past year. Here are seven considerations leaders tangle with when deciding who'd be the best candidate to take over the bigger office.

1. History of job performance and leadership. Promoting an employee can be a risky for the organization, and for the hiring manager who stakes his or her reputation on your success. A strong track record of previous promotions, solid-to-excellent end of year appraisals, and consistently outstanding performance metrics will eliminate doubts that you intend to work hard to learn and succeed in your the newly elevated responsibilities.
    
2. Mastery of the essential skills. This can include extensive knowledge of the technical aspects of the people you'd be managing. But not always. This can also refer to the intangibles - leadership skills, business acumen, financial knowledge, personal accountability, likeability, and the such. Keep in mind, it would be impossible at large organizations for CEOs to haven't performed each function under their purview before getting the top job – what matters is their ability to set strategy and to motivate, lead, and derive performance from the organization. Remember to work on developing your soft skills in additional to your technical skills.
    
3. Perception of readiness. It's important to convey a compelling vision of your success in the new role. If the organization doesn't think you're ready to take on more responsibility, they will most certainly not promote you. Scheduling conversations with your manager to determine what skills you need to get to the next level can help, as can building a development plan and having regular career "check-ins" to discuss your progress.
    
4. Ambition. This goes beyond working harder and longer, which is generally a good idea for aspiring leaders. Make abundantly clear to your manager that you want to be promoted, and that you wish to be considered for more challenging roles. Many individuals get a promotion because they explicitly ask for the job. Managers may overlook the employee who doesn't explicitly ask for a promotion out of concern that they wouldn't want the extra responsibility and related baggage.
    
5. Timing and Urgency. If a position is open, it's a critical function, and the organization will experience a great deal of pain if nobody is in the role, the executive team is going to work quickly to plug the hole. If you have the right skills at the moment they need them, you could be the solution to their problem.
    
6. Internal politics. Your boss may love you and think you'd be ideal for the job, but there are often other factors at play. Perhaps there are other, more senior members of the team who would bristle at having you as their manager. Maybe his boss doesn't like you, or would rather hire the son of his golfing buddy.
    
7. How similar promotions have been handled in the past. Past trends can be strong predictors. What if the last four people to be promoted had six years of experience, but you only have three years of tenure? Or, everyone else who has held the role was a finance major ( you studied music)? While it's not impossible to change perceptions such as these, it can be a challenge.

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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, and career coaching services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Do I Really Need An MBA?

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You're interested in giving your career a boost and accelerating your climb up the corporate ladder. Is it time to go back to school and get an MBA?

An advanced degree is a very expensive proposition. Annual tuition at a major program can easily top $50,000 per year. And if you decide to go back to school full time, this means that you'll also need to factor in substantial additional expenses for housing and living expenses.

Factor all this together, and you're looking at easily spending more than $200,000 over two years (take a look at the estimated costs for one year of tuition, housing, and living expenses for business school Harvard University; these are the university's own unvarnished projections); you could buy a house for that money. And don't forget about the income you lose by putting your career on hiatus.

It's quite true that if you complete an MBA from a top-tier school it's quite possible you'll see a substantial bump in pay from what you were earning before. And you don't necessarily need to quit your job to go full-time (depending upon the program). But that doesn't make the degree any less expensive or time consuming.

GETTING AN MBA MIGHT BE A GOOD IDEA IF YOU...

• Didn't get a bachelor's degree in a business discipline. Many career disciplines require a strong foundation in business education. A non-business bachelor's degree (in disciplines such as liberal arts, science, or communications) won't necessarily offer the classes in marketing, accounting, finance, and operations which provide a helpful business orientation and skill set.
   
• Want to change career path. A degree in a new discipline can be a fantastic way to reinvent yourself, since you'll be armed with a new knowledge set. And it's a great pivot point since you have demonstrated an interest in taking your career in a new direction through your studies. I've seen nurses, journalists, technologists, and other non-business professionals reinvent themselves as marketers, investment bankers, and financial analysts.
   
• Need a career boost. Maybe you hit a ceiling in your career. The act of getting (or even pursuing) an MBA may convince your employer that you take your career progression seriously, which could potentially open new doors. Also, the knowledge you gain through your education may increase your value and skills in your current role, pushing you onto more of a promotion track. And some companies use the MBA as a minimum requirement for entry to the executive suite.
   
• The jobs you want require it. Many employers equate MBA graduates from highly ranked program to high potential hires. If you want to get into a leadership rotation program with a brand-name employer, for example, the MBA might be a fundamental requirement. Likewise, I used to recruit for a consumer products company, and for their Brand Manager roles, and they considered the MBA in Marketing as essential, unless the candidate had more than five years' success in a prior brand management role with another leading consumer products company.
   
• Have an employer who offers to pay for your degree. Tuition reimbursement is a fantastic employment benefit. An employer who is willing to invest in your continuing education is making a commitment to your ongoing development with the hope that you will continue to add value. You should note, however, that before paying for your tuition, the employer will likely make you sign an agreement allowing them to claw back a portion or entire amount in case you leave before a certain time (usually 1 or 2 years), to discourage you from quitting immediately after getting your diploma.
   
• Want the knowledge an MBA provides. Academic study can be intellectually rewarding, opening up new ways of thinking as well as providing you with additional skills and knowledge. You may find classroom discussions and group projects incredibly stimulating and fulfilling.

PURSUING AN MBA MIGHT NOT BE IMPORTANT IF YOU...

• Have a bachelor's degree in a similar business discipline. Make no mistake, the bachelor's and MBA are not identical – the emphasis in the MBA tends to be more of a survey format, with a focus on strategic thinking and real-world application since the majority of MBA students have prior professional work experience – but there is similarity throughout quite a bit of the curriculum. And you may already have the academic foundation you need in your career.
   
• Are on a strong career trajectory. If you've been rapidly promoted several times, and have been told that you'll soon be in the executive ranks, it's quite clear that you're moving in the right direction. Which would move your career further, more quickly? Quitting your job to pursue two years of study, or continuing your high performance at your current company.
   
• Can't justify the return on investment. As mentioned above, an MBA is expensive. Maybe it's realistic to anticipate a $50,000 jump in annual salary after finishing the degree. Maybe not. Don't just look at the "Average Graduate Salary" data the school provides as your benchmark, since the student population spans a variety of fields and levels of experience. Do your homework. $200K is a lot of money.
   
• Don't need it. In many cases, there's no substitute for real-world experience and elbow grease. In a 2014 study of CEOs, out of the top-performing 100, only 29 of them had MBA degrees. To look at this another way, 71% of these 100 CEOs did not have an MBA – in other words, there's no direct correlation between having the MBA and getting the corner office. And consider whether the MBA is relevant to advancement in your line of work; in some fields, a technical degree might provide more value.

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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, and career coaching services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.