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October 2004 - Managing your worklife
Features
Blazing a new trail
Who is managing who?
Helping others to help themselves
Become a Time Lord (or Lady!)
What does your desk say about you?
Making your work wardrobe work
Need a little extra help?
In the News
Congratulations to you!
That is so irritating!
Prizes galore!
Do your meetings have Zing or Zzzzz?
more stories...
Event Calendar
Fun Quiz
Take charge of your career!
Stuck in a rut? Or flying high? Try Roisin Woolnough's fun quiz to help you see whether you're on course for professional plaudits or career catastrophe...The Archives!
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Take charge of your career! Stuck in a rut? Or flying high? Try Roisin Woolnough's fun quiz to help you see whether you're on course for professional plaudits or career catastrophe
Some people seem to move up and up in their career path with seemingly little effort. They are always in the right place at the right time and know the right people and skills required. Now, it may look like luck is on their side, but these things rarely happen by chance. Such people have usually put a lot of time and effort into getting to where they are. It's called managing your career. Try this simple quiz to see if you are someone who manages your career successfully or someone who is just trundling along an unsatisfying path:
1. A colleague points out that in a couple of months you will have been at the company for ten years. How do you feel?
A Instantly depressed, not least because it feels like you've actually been at the company for a lot longer. You're so bored with what you do, the people around you, walking into the same office every day - but you don't know how to escape.
B Shocked, but the comment has galvanized you into action. You were aware that you have been plodding along, but had only been half heartedly looking at how to address it. That's going to change now though.
C Fine. After all, it's not as if you've only done the one job all this time. You been promoted several times, switched departments, learnt plenty of new skills and still feel there are other opportunities the company can offer you.
2. It is coming up to the end of year appraisal. How do you approach the whole process?
A With a sinking heart. You don't think you've achieved any of last year's targets and can't muster up the enthusiasm to think of any new ones. Anyway, you think appraisal systems are a waste of time and see it more as a chance to have a good old winge about the company.
B You sit down and try to come up with a few ideas about what you would like from the next year and what has gone wrong for you this past year. Hopefully, your manager will have some answers. Not that it matters if you're going to get a new job somewhere else anyway.
C You've already got a clear sense of what you would like to achieve in the coming months and how that could be possible. You have also prepared a list of the last year's achievements.
3. You've noticed that several of your counterparts in other departments have either left or been promoted recently. What does this make you think?
A Your apathy and depression only increases. Everyone else's careers seem to be going somewhere - why not yours?
B A bit worried that the same hasn't happened to you. Conscious of that, you make a few enquiries about the vacancies, what kind of people they are looking for and make sure that you're in the picture.
C You already knew that a couple of these people were leaving as you regularly chat over career matters with them anyway. Having considered applying for one of the vacancies, you decide against it as you think there are more opportunities for you in your current department.
4. You've been helping Joe from accounts prepare for his forthcoming job interview and ask the classic question: "Where do you see yourself in five years' time?" He then asks you the same question. What do you say?
A "Don't ask. I'll probably still be working in this dump of a place. I feel really stuck in a rut and don't know what to do about it."
B "Good question. I'm not quite sure, but I definitely plan to move onto new things soon. I'm just trying to work out what that will be, and how to get there."
C "My plan is to achieve x,y and z in the next five years. I want more responsibility and to get more management experience in the next year to enable me to get where I need to be."
5. You open up an e-mail from your head of department, asking people to send in any training requests. What are yours?
A You get as far as looking at the courses offered on the Intranet and then a friend rings to tell you about some cool new website and as soon as you click onto it, you forget all about training.
B Having assessed what training is available, you put yourself forward for six courses on all sorts of topics. Hopefully, at least one of them will lead to something new.
C Bearing in mind your career plans for the next year, you request a place on two relevant courses. You and a couple of colleagues also put in a request for a new course - you know there's a real need for it and if enough people suggest something, the company normally takes notice.
Your Results
Mostly A's You don't need a career consultant to tell you how your career is going - you know full well you are under-achieving and stuck in a rut, as does everyone around you. The problem is, you're so demotivated and directionless, you feel incapable of doing anything about it. Act fast to sort yourself out, or another 10 years will pass by and you will feel even more dissatisfied.
Mostly B's Your career isn't going too badly, but you realise that you've let things slip a bit the past couple of years. It is time to reassess what you want from your career. Be focussed though - the scattergun approach rarely produces good results, so take time to establish exactly what it is you want and how to get there.
Mostly C's Give yourself a pat on the back. You are on top of how your career is progressing and as a result get a lot of fulfilment from your job, and look forward to new challenges. With your attitude and commitment, there's no reason why you shouldn't achieve the successes you are looking for.
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