Making the next career shift

1) When should one shift? : First of all lets realize why do people change their jobs. As per behavioral economists, the biggest reason for a job change is better raise or promotion given to a colleague. This apparently leads to enormous dissatisfaction ultimately resulting in one leaving the organization. Another big reason is being dissatisfied with the Boss. The latter may or may not be a good reason to change but the former is surely not a good reason. But how does one decide when to change? Should it be based on the no of years worked in a given company, given profile or something else. Should it be the lure of a better salary or a better career opportunity. Ideally the single biggest reason for a job shift should be Learning or the lack of it. Am I learning some thing new in my job? If the answer is consistently staying no for a long time then its definitely time to change. Otherwise everything else being equal, one should change the job only if there is a chance to learn something new. If nothing else then even a change of territory may also prove to be a good enough reason because even the prospect of making new work relationships, is in itself a new learning. But Generally changing a job for a 10% or 20% hike without any thing new either in the profile or the responsibility may not always be a very bright strategy. 2) Sighting the next level What is the next level I want to go to? Should I be joining the position of my Boss in some other company? Or should I be changing my profile? Or should I move to some other industry as its supposedly growing very fast?

Industry : Generally there should not be more then one industry

change in ones career. Simply because every industry has its own nuances and own peculiarities. These are learned only after spending sufficient time in the industry and may not be useful in some other industry. And yes any experience gained will eventually come in handy somewhere or the other but the chances of experience gained in one industry being helpful in that same industry are much brighter then the chances of that experience coming in immediate use in some other industry.

Profile : Its usually a no no. Unless I am getting an additional

responsibility along with my existing ones, it may not be a good idea. A persons profile is built in a cascaded manner by putting one experience over another which should be making a complete

symmetrical whole. Irrelevant experience mars the beauty of the profile.

Level : Many a times a shift is made just because the designation

sounds more glamourous. Once An Area Sales Manager in my team at Delhi joined as Regional Manager in Karnatka only to realize that the responsibilities were more or less same, with additional challenges thrown in. It was a very dejected Area sales Manager who re-joined his old designation. Company : The saying earlier was that minimum time to spend in a company is 2.5 years, simply because one learns in the first year. The second year is spend in gradual experimentations and its only by the third year that one becomes confident in the role. Ideally there should not be more then 2 or maximum 3 Job changes in the first 5 years in ones career and not more then 4 or 5 in the first 10 years. Even if a change is made which is not found suitable, it should be taken as a challenge and should be tried for at least one year. A former team member changed his job almost every year. By the 5th year the company he was working went on a manpower cutting spree and fired him along with other employees. It literally was a nightmare for him to get another job, despite it being a good time for job change. 3) Skill sets required - So lets say that I am eyeing the post occupied by my Boss (obviously in some other company!), how do I go about gaining that post in some other company? Why would they hire me? As obviously they would look for somebody who has had experience at the next level which I dont have. What do I do now? Lets us first find out what are the skills required at the next level. These usually are -

Technical knowledge : Unless I make an effort to gain it now, it might

not be easy for my prospective employer to hire me. Lets Say I am a best performing Institutional Sales manager working in a team of 6 people who have individual targets reporting into a supervisor. So here, If I want to move to the next level, then apart from the institutional selling skills, I need the skill of team handling which is a pure technical skill and Unless I have it, my prospective employer might not hire me. So How do I gain it? By following the following steps. Firstly by becoming a reasonably good performer. Next by helping the new joinees in the team so that they start seeking my help in case of problems. Secondly persuading my boss to let me handle one or two new joinees.their targets.their trainingtaking full responsibility for them while also meeting my own individual targets. And let me tell you that its not easy. Supervising somebody completely is

not possible without going into the details and going into the details requires lots of energy. So I have to be prepared for putting in hard work. -

Handling internal customers A bigger responsibility might entail

getting work done from other departments. which my Boss was getting done in the last company but now will be my responsibility. Every organization is interdependent. Even if my team got an order, to get it executed I may need support of more then one other departments. But they might be already be overworked. So how do I ensure they support me in executing orders of my team? And no, complaining to their next level doesnt always work. How do I gain this skill. Simple I start helping my Boss in the current company by observing him and also helping him in taking partial responsibility for the same. Its not an easy job and requires the art of making and maintaining relationships. But like any other skill is cognitive, ie can be learned.

Handling Senior Management So far my Boss was protecting me as he

used to go in the monthly meetings and present our teams performance. But in the new role Ill be doing it and I might have to face senior management. How do I learn to manage the senior management? How do I gain concessions from them? How do I gain additional advertising budget while keeping the targets same? Again the answer is observation. As famous Australian captain and commentator Ritchie Benaud mentions in his autobiography Every cricketer worth his salt should aspire to become the captain. He should study and analyze every move by his captain and should try thinking about better alternatives. This will give him the right preparation for the same.

Performing while handling bigger pressures : Handling pressures for

goal X vis--vis handling goals of 10X look challenging indeed. How will my prospective employer get convinced about me ability to achieve it? Its dependent on the technical side discussed above and one should face the same confidently at the time of the interview.

4) Fixing interview a. Company : A shortlist of 8 to 10 prospective companies should be prepared and worked on. Some information about the organization might help in the final choice and would also help at the time of the interview. Ones network of classmates and past colleagues might come in handy here. b. How to apply : The best way to apply is through your prospective supervisor/boss in the next company. Its better then going through

the HR because in most of the companies its the decision of the supervisor anyhow. Even in other companies, HR takes the decision but the candidate has to be approved by the supervisor. So in case one impresses the supervisor, then he can forward the CV to HR along with his recommendations which will more or less result in selection, if all other HR norms are being met. So one should send ones CV by mail to the prospective Boss and then should SMS or mail him/her about the same. This exercise done for 8-10 companies will easily result in 2-4 interviews. c. Prospective Boss Details : Million dollar question. How do I procure the email id and mobile no. of my prospective boss? Again the classmates and past colleagues network can be tapped. In case it doesnt work them some thing as simple as visiting the prospective company, going to the nearest paan or tea shop and talking to an existing employee during lunch break works in most cases. 5) Clearing interview Its better to answer the questions truthfully and accept any apparent shortcoming rather then trying to bluster and lie to get the job. Simply because by agreeing on the same truthfully, one has a chance to learn the skills in the next few months and reapplying. Infact the chances are that the prospective Boss would be impressed by ones truthfulness and the chances of success later would be very high. Its better to write the prospective questions on a piece of paper and prepare answers. After giving 2-3 interviews, a list of such questions can be easily prepared. 6) Keeping the slate clean : Being a model employee while leaving always helps. So always stick to formalities like notice period. Etiquettes like not badmouthing boss or company in front of colleagues etc always helps in the long term. After all one never knows and one might have to come back to work in the same company again.