Photo: wenb.org.uk
Happy Tuesday!
Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day week-end, and is gearing back for this (short) week at the office.
And as we’re back from the week-end’s hustle and bustle to our respective careers, we are (slowly) re-focusing on our career goals. For many, it means going back to the proverbial question “What’s your 5 year career plan?”, so often asked at interviews and on the job.
Yet in the changing business and corporate landscape, 5 years has gone from being the norm to turning into quite the exception. In an era where loyalty is scarce and frictional unemployment on the rise, a career plan is no longer what it used to be.
A company’s CEO (whom I won’t mention) once told a roomful of my peers that in terms of career planning, any job/career worth your while would require at least 3 years of advance planning. The first year would be devoted to understanding your business and career. The second year would be dedicated to making advances into this career or business. Finally, year three would be when you’d decide your next strategic move, whether to climb up, move laterally, or get out altogether.
Considering the rate at which many a corporate sister (and brother) switch businesses, companies, and careers altogether, it would make sense that we adopt a shorter-term planning approach when it comes to our careers. Flexibility being key in today’s corporate landscape, it is no longer optimal to stretch the limits of our career planning. Rather than asking ourselves (or others) what our 5-year career plan is, maybe we should shorten our goals into more bite-sized, current and attainable milestones instead?
The Corporate Sister
