By Evelyn Milani
MAXIMIZE YOUR CAREER BY STAYING WITH YOUR CURRENT COMPANY
After careful consideration and reviewing your career driving decision-making criteria, discussing with those who are most important to you, you have decided to NOT make the leap to a new company. Congratulations! This is a great decision. If you work for a stable, healthy company and for some reason, your career has stalled, it’s worth a shot to take appropriate control of your career trajectory. You know the company you are working for most likely inside and out and your co-workers and the leadership team know you.
What better time to evaluate the gaps and where you think you are stalled! Once you have a handle on where you feel stalled, where you want to go and in what reasonable timeline, you can present the business case to your manager and co-create a game plan. In order to do this, you must have all of your “ducks in a row” in terms of your business case for an upward move. Of course, all of this goes without saying that you should have a clear trajectory of what work you are excited about growing into, the stack that ties to your interests, the skills you want to achieve and the reasonable timeline to get there. Why start a journey if you have no plan?
Here are some tips:
Prepare before having a timely career growth conversation with your manager. ie; what responsibilities are you ready to take on and what is the business case that proves you are ready?
Collect the details on the successes for projects you have recently participated in, “wins” that you have had lately, kudos received, etc.
What senior-level engineer do you respect on your team? Stay close and observe that person’s approach, how they manage their time, perhaps take them to lunch and ask about how they were able to elevate their responsibilities. Raise your hand when offered assignments that allow you to work with people who are a few levels above you so you have a chance to highlight your skills and abilities and more importantly, learn from them.
Brush up on training and education, even if it is at your expense. If you are shy of skills that tie to your career goals, take the initiative to research courses and take them on your time. You may be able to negotiate paid training with your employer if they do not offer this.
Keep an eye on your company’s career page. A new position may be posted that is on the path for your ideal and for your company to promote a known employee is a big plus for everyone.
Schedule an appointment with your manager so you both have time, create a brief Agenda and collect and organize the factual information that supports your position to ask for opportunities to move up. Ask your manager to help plan a logical, reasonable timeline with review dates to assess your progress.
Don’t be afraid to stretch yourself if you work for a company that provides a healthy work environment. If you are surrounded by resources that can help this is an excellent opportunity to stretch your capabilities.
Connect with me, I am happy to help! [email protected]