Where do I start when asked for career advice? [2019 Update]
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It’s common as a manager to have people in your team who are completely clueless when it comes to thinking about their careers. And most career conversations fail because people want advice – but they don’t know where they are going.
Next time you’re in a career conversation, if you’re wondering why the conversation is going all over the place and why you’re struggling to give advice – ask yourself – are they clear on where they are going? If not, then the best career help you can give is to help them get clear on their career direction.
1. First diagnose the problem. Can they answer the question “What do you want for your next career move?” If they know what they want, you can go straight into discussion about development that would help, or career action that would get them to their goal. You are unlikely to flounder in these conversations. If they’re ambiguous, unclear or hesitant then you know that there’s a problem about career direction.
2. Help them get a clear career compass. Are they able to describe their key strengths? Most people who understand what they are good at use that information to find a range of roles that they might pursue. Equip them to answer the question “What type of role do you want?”. Spend time with them helping them to clarify what they are good at and enjoy. The kind of questions you can ask them are:
If they’re really struggling to answer these questions, one of the exercises we use with people is to ask them to take 10 minutes at the end of each day to write down two lists of the tasks that they’ve done during the day – one of “green” tasks that they’ve enjoyed doing and that they want to do more of, and a list of “red” tasks that they didn’t enjoy and want to do less of. After a week it’s amazing how much data is captured around what they’re good at and enjoy, and therefore in which direction their career should go.
3. Use this information to help them to clarify their career direction. Once you’ve gathered all of this information together, patterns often emerge that point to future career direction. Your aim is to help them find roles that contain more of the “green” tasks and the things that really energise them. Think about what roles or areas of the business might suit their strengths.
4. Get them to practise communicating their strengths. Perhaps they can go and talk to HR, or a senior manager, or a contact in another part of the organisation – get them to ask about roles and careers that would fit their strengths. How could they develop to be good candidates for these roles?
TAKE AWAY
If a career conversation is going nowhere, chances are that the problem is that your team member lacks a clear sense of direction, and an ability to describe their strengths clearly. Getting clear on direction will mean your team have a great handle on where their career is going in the future. They will be much better equipped to get help from you – and from other people across the organisation.
If you would like a group of managers trained to hold great career conversations whenever needed, ask us about T&P’s Think Career workshops. Read more
Next time you’re in a career conversation, if you’re wondering why the conversation is going all over the place and why you’re struggling to give advice – ask yourself – are they clear on where they are going? If not, then the best career help you can give is to help them get clear on their career direction.
1. First diagnose the problem. Can they answer the question “What do you want for your next career move?” If they know what they want, you can go straight into discussion about development that would help, or career action that would get them to their goal. You are unlikely to flounder in these conversations. If they’re ambiguous, unclear or hesitant then you know that there’s a problem about career direction.
2. Help them get a clear career compass. Are they able to describe their key strengths? Most people who understand what they are good at use that information to find a range of roles that they might pursue. Equip them to answer the question “What type of role do you want?”. Spend time with them helping them to clarify what they are good at and enjoy. The kind of questions you can ask them are:
- What work energises you? What are the best bits of your current job, that you’ve most enjoyed? What about jobs you liked in the past – which jobs were most enjoyable, and why?
- Where do you stand out as having above average skills, knowledge or commitment?
- What is the contribution you make to the teams you work with – the role you happily fall into?
If they’re really struggling to answer these questions, one of the exercises we use with people is to ask them to take 10 minutes at the end of each day to write down two lists of the tasks that they’ve done during the day – one of “green” tasks that they’ve enjoyed doing and that they want to do more of, and a list of “red” tasks that they didn’t enjoy and want to do less of. After a week it’s amazing how much data is captured around what they’re good at and enjoy, and therefore in which direction their career should go.
3. Use this information to help them to clarify their career direction. Once you’ve gathered all of this information together, patterns often emerge that point to future career direction. Your aim is to help them find roles that contain more of the “green” tasks and the things that really energise them. Think about what roles or areas of the business might suit their strengths.
4. Get them to practise communicating their strengths. Perhaps they can go and talk to HR, or a senior manager, or a contact in another part of the organisation – get them to ask about roles and careers that would fit their strengths. How could they develop to be good candidates for these roles?
TAKE AWAY
If a career conversation is going nowhere, chances are that the problem is that your team member lacks a clear sense of direction, and an ability to describe their strengths clearly. Getting clear on direction will mean your team have a great handle on where their career is going in the future. They will be much better equipped to get help from you – and from other people across the organisation.
If you would like a group of managers trained to hold great career conversations whenever needed, ask us about T&P’s Think Career workshops. Read more