Where to.... now?

An important question that you all must answer very quickly. This group consists of people in the age group of 24 - 30. It is very crucial that you decide now where you would like to head towards in terms of your career. I never thought I would be putting down career suggestions but I know it is my duty to help and share. So here goes, give it a reading if you like.

First, please consolidate your positions with your respective organizations. Growth in career and in an organization demands only one thing, investment in time. When you spend time long enough, you get exposure to different activities and with hard work you achieve success. At the end of the day, the longer you are in an organization, the better for you. Of course, there are a thousand factors that decide whether the organization is good enough for you to last that long, but, at the end of the day, it is your career at stake. A company by itself is not good or bad, it is made one of these by the people who work in it. If you are a part of a company then do your bit to make it a good place to work in.

Constantly educate yourself. I will not elaborate, it is simple but yet very powerful. Equip yourself with all the knowledge you can gather. Go for certifications, courses etc. Spend time fruitfully. At the end of the day, Internal promotions happen only when the boss is convinced about your ability to handle additional responsibilities. A person who can learn at any stage of his life is ready to responsibilities at any stage of his life :) When you learn more, you are that much more ready to handle more work. I have not known a boss reward or promote any one who is stagnating. Of course, just for clarity, "JUST" doing your job daily like a "CHORE" does not in any world or country or city or building qualify a person for promotion. People like that are not more useful than the office printer. Have you heard of a "Senior Printer" or "Assistant Manager Printer?? :)))

Many organizations will in the future look at all ways to reduce costs. Under those circumstances, a multi dimensional employee is valued like gold. The more things you can do across teams and functions, the more invaluable you are. This means that you have to work hard to not just excel at your work, but also start helping out other teams. This will give your management the confidence that you are capable of being moulded into any team. At the time of "right sizing", you can be assured that you will be there, while your single dimensional colleagues (who can only do one kind of job) are being asked to leave.

You do not have to beat the drums and tell the world. As long as you have a personal career development plan, please make sure that you work very hard towards achieving those goals. You can set yourself small milestones along the way to guide yourself. For eg, your personal goal chart can read - I aspire to become a leading expert in the area of executive recruitment in 5 years. Your milestones can look something like -

1 Year - Must have met and spoken to all leading executives of major corporations in the city.
2 Years - Be capable of effecting 5 closures in a quarter at an executive level.
3 Years - expand domestic contacts to global contacts. Go international
4 Years - Publish book on executive hiring :)
5 Years - Be there where you want to be!

I know the above is vague, but it is an example that you can think and reflect when you draft your own.

Trust this helps.

Over and Out
KK