The Career Vision, aka Packing for the Trip

How much sense would it make if you starting packing for your vacation without ANY idea of your destination? Imagine a suitcase full of swimwear for a ski trip? Or your best “Sex and the City” Gotham City finery for a trip to the West Virginia cabin (yup, got me one of them last week, but more on that later)? In reality, this problem rarely confronts any of us, and most adults I know are pretty adept at successfully packing their bags for their trips away from home. But I offer you this metaphor as a lesson for your own career-management strategies.

I often get the call from the panicked, potential job switcher saying “I’ve heard from a friend (or a recruiter) that there’s this excellent position in the such-and-such department over at blank. Can you, Coach Jeff, please help me prepare for my interview?”

“Whoa Nelly!!” says Coach Jeff, “Since when did such-and-such department over at blank ever factor into your vision of your career?” And our discussion begins…

Having a longer-term vision of your career, and where it’s headed, is like knowing where you’re going on vacation when you’re packing your suitcase. For example, if you know without a doubt, that your next career step is to get supervisory experience, then why would you ever consider taking on another individual contributor position? That’s like packing your snorkel for a trip to Aspen!

With a crystal-clear vision of both the longer-term and immediate career goals, you have an easy litmus test to know if even going for an interview is worthwhile. And you can seriously prevent those dreaded career mis-steps. Always testing the immediate opportunities against the vision of where you’re headed can significantly reduce the amount of anxiety and stress in managing your career.

Now, some of you are saying, “easier said than done,” so we’ll be talking for a while in this medium about having a vision for your career.

For me, always knowing what's next for Northward Leadership and my own career prevents me from taking on work that does not support my vision. And with that, I’m off to go build a fire in my new fireplace, while wearing the comfy slippers I remembered to pack before I left the city yesterday!