How to Get Ahead Without Murdering your Boss (17 page)

Career Management Strategy Five

Action and Reflection

Exercise 5A

In the Career Summary section below, note the ratings and findings you identified in career management strategies one to four (see overleaf).

Reconsider the career options you identified in Career Management Strategy One. How do they fit in the context of your results summary? For example, one option might be an obvious fit with the skills you have now and those that you want to develop further; another option may not be viable in the short to medium term based on your environmental scan. Identify which options you want to develop further and whether any additional research or analysis is required.

Chaos theory

Occasionally a new career or job opportunity may come "out of the blue", for example, a friend might offer us a job or invite us to venture into a new business, or our current employer might offer us a new project role. If this happens, Options — Viability Analysis Table can form part of our decision making process.

Career Management Strategy Six

Results

Now it is time to bring your career management strategies together and identify your next steps.

In a table similar to below, note down your short-term actions, mid-term directions and long-term aspirations. Remember these are not set in concrete, but the activity of writing down your thoughts will help you clarify and commit them to action. Keep this sheet in your drawer at work or any place where you will be forced to look at it regularly.

Review it at least every six months — when a major change is expected or takes place, affecting your career and life in general.

Remember, it is your career. Take control and be happy!

Character Analysis

The SEEFAR methodology has been designed to be user friendly and logically progressive to help you to develop a meaningful, practical and actionable career strategy. To make it easier to implement we have illustrated how the characters in the story Walking Close to the Edge used the methodology to more effectively manage their careers. We hope that reading about their journey will help you to do the same.

Paul Handy

Paul viewed himself as having “just a job” versus a career, and he was initially sceptical of the career management process until Lou convinced him to give it a go. Paul grew up in the Yarra Valley, in Victoria, where his father managed a major winery in the region. Paul left school at sixteen and started an electrical apprenticeship, after one of his father’s mates offered to sponsor him. After qualifying, he married his childhood sweetheart and worked for five years with various small regional electricians. His marriage broke up, and he moved to Melbourne to make a fresh start, where he worked for a manufacturing company for four years.

When Paul turned thirty, he left Melbourne to travel around Australia for a year, ending up in Central Queensland, where he took a well-paid job in the mines. After six years, Paul had enough money saved to move to the North Queensland coast. He purchased a modest beach cottage with spectacular views and set up his own business, but he struggled to price his services effectively and to recruit and manage a team of electricians. Then, prompted by some poor financial management, including a large unpaid tax bill, Paul decided to scale back his business and contract as a sole trader.

He met Bob Sandbourne of Sandy’s Handyman Services at a regional football game and approached him about some electrical and general handyman work. Bob was keen to reduce his current workload, and with a view to retiring in five years time, he engaged Paul on an “as needs” basis (average of thirty-five hours a week), negotiating an hourly rate.