Should you focus on long or short-term career priorities?
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We recently ran a high potential career conference with a fantastic group of people who posed a number of pertinent questions. On the day of the conference we didn’t manage to get through all of the questions, so over the coming weeks I thought I’d share and answer some of the others here.
One of the questions that stood out was whether you should be expedient in your career – and focus on the short term – or keep the long term in mind?
Like many things in life, the true answer is “it depends”.
You see, our research indicates that early on in people’s careers people are more likely to be wide open to opportunity. They may not be sure about what they enjoy at work, and they certainly feel that they don’t have a clear idea of what all the jobs are out there. So they are more likely to explore unfamiliar territory, make decisions based on chance encounters, and less likely to narrow down to a plan. As careers develop, people to start to take a more planned approach because this early experience makes them more confident in knowing what they DON’T want.
I once spent time in an IT testing role. I’d always dreamt of doing that type of role – then a short stint of actual experience allowed me to discover very quickly that IT testing wasn’t where I wanted to my future to be! And gave me a much clearer focus on what I was and was not good at.
Contrary to conventional career wisdom, very few successful people in our research actually thought a couple of moves ahead, planned their career out and stuck to this plan. Quite often it’s partly about personality – a lot of people would be bored if their career didn’t involve a fair amount of flying by the seat of their pants. About 1 in 10 people want to take a more structured approach and feel that they have their career mapped out.
Personally I’d question whether you really have to make a choice between the two strategies. I’ve always wanted to know the general direction of travel for my career, but I also want to be open to finding and grabbing a great opportunity and running with it.
So what would my advice to you be?
Ask yourself if you actually have to make a choice between having a long or short-term focus on your career? Try to build that ‘red thread’ of a general direction for your career, but don’t discount great opportunities that come up along the way just because they don’t align.
After all, doing something you love will generally qualify you for more jobs that you will love!
One of the questions that stood out was whether you should be expedient in your career – and focus on the short term – or keep the long term in mind?
Like many things in life, the true answer is “it depends”.
You see, our research indicates that early on in people’s careers people are more likely to be wide open to opportunity. They may not be sure about what they enjoy at work, and they certainly feel that they don’t have a clear idea of what all the jobs are out there. So they are more likely to explore unfamiliar territory, make decisions based on chance encounters, and less likely to narrow down to a plan. As careers develop, people to start to take a more planned approach because this early experience makes them more confident in knowing what they DON’T want.
I once spent time in an IT testing role. I’d always dreamt of doing that type of role – then a short stint of actual experience allowed me to discover very quickly that IT testing wasn’t where I wanted to my future to be! And gave me a much clearer focus on what I was and was not good at.
Contrary to conventional career wisdom, very few successful people in our research actually thought a couple of moves ahead, planned their career out and stuck to this plan. Quite often it’s partly about personality – a lot of people would be bored if their career didn’t involve a fair amount of flying by the seat of their pants. About 1 in 10 people want to take a more structured approach and feel that they have their career mapped out.
Personally I’d question whether you really have to make a choice between the two strategies. I’ve always wanted to know the general direction of travel for my career, but I also want to be open to finding and grabbing a great opportunity and running with it.
So what would my advice to you be?
- Having a direction in mind is helpful
With no direction careers tend to meander all over the place. That’s not a bad thing if what you want above all is variety, but if you don’t know where you are going, it can lead you into dead ends, and progression may not come fast. Recruiters like to see a ‘red thread’ (film jargon for the plotline) in your CV that they can understand. If they feel your choices are random, they are less confident of a good match, or that you’ll stay.
When I started out myself I had a definite end point that I wanted to reach. That meant that as I was offered roles or projects, I was able to decide what I wanted to do based on whether it helped me to move in the right direction. It’s important to know though – I never actually held that role! It was the fact that I was focused on a direction of travel that allowed me to progress quickly.
So the best advice is likely to be – don’t get fixated on one role that you are working toward – but do get really clear on your strengths and career motivation. This will help others to suggest good options, and mean you are likely to take the right decisions. - Take pragmatic risks
Sometimes opportunities arise out of the blue, and even if it’s not in your plan it’s not a bad thing to step out and try something occasionally. People get very hung up on the idea that every career step has to be perfectly crafted. It’s not true – occasional side steps based on pure curiosity can be really helpful. My IT role was a good example. Even though I didn’t enjoy it, I learned so much about my work strengths that I’ll never regret making that move. - Ask whether you’ll love the short-term option
Faced with a short-term opportunity, ask yourself whether you’ll enjoy it or if it will allow you to work with someone that inspires or motivates you. There’s a lot to be said about doing something that you love – if you love something you’ll go over and above to do a good job. And sometimes just doing the role because you enjoy doing it is more important than the “right” move in the short – or even long – term.
Ask yourself if you actually have to make a choice between having a long or short-term focus on your career? Try to build that ‘red thread’ of a general direction for your career, but don’t discount great opportunities that come up along the way just because they don’t align.
After all, doing something you love will generally qualify you for more jobs that you will love!