Five Career Strategies for a Tough Market

By John Lees

: ERIC PIERMONT/AFP/Getty Images

In most parts on the world, you might be forgiven for being confused by this year’s job market.

If you’re looking, you know there are jobs out there, but they’re well hidden. Employers are taking longer than ever to make their minds up, and often redefine roles part way through the process.

If you’re in work, you’re weighing things up. Three years back you would have moved on by now, but you’re sticking where you are because of the economic climate. You’re watching the new year approach and wondering where your career went.

Here are five things you can do to keep your career options sharp in tough times.

1. Tough audit.

If your strategy has been to entrench in a role which now barely stretches you, think how you will explain this segment of your CV in five years’ time. How will “I stuck things out in a safe job” sound to a recruiter?

Review everything you’ve done since you started your current role. Have you progressed, or repeated the same year several times over?

Now focus on the last 12 months. What can you do that you couldn’t do a year ago? What have you added to your job? What new thinking have you generated or adopted? Some careers are made through managing down times and creatively squeezing thin resources. What’s your contribution, and has it been noticed? Find someone encouraging enough to remind you of your successes, but objective enough to ask “so what?” about your weaker claims.

It’s easy to shine in times of unlimited growth just by riding the tiger, but this market takes something different. There are plenty of tough cookies out there, driving down cost and shedding resources, which may mean your offering sounds pretty undifferentiated.

The individuals who stand out do something different–behaving humanely or imaginatively, perhaps, or transforming dull decline into opportunity.

2. Double check how others see you.

Personal reputations are built on soundbites just as much as brands.

Too many individuals try to navigate their careers without having a grip on how they are seen by others—particularly those in their circle of influence.

This matters even more if you’re trying to build external relationships or if you hope to be visible in the hidden job market. You may worry too much or too little about how you are perceived—either will mislead you unless you get good feedback.

Dump any lingering misconceptions about how people make progress in organizations.

We’d like to believe that people get promoted because of sustained and appraised performance, but this simply flags you up as “competent”. Many are perplexed at the “something extra” they need to put in to be noticed.

You work hard and stack up achievements, but the big question is—who notices? You could follow the crowd by working hard and keeping your head down, but will this get you the enhanced career you feel you deserve? And if things falter, how long before you adopt another kind of uniformity by sounding jaded or cynical, and this shapes your water cooler reputation?

Your image isn’t shaped by year-round activity, but by flash-moments where you are suddenly seen in a different light by people who matter. This may happen by chance if the CEO happens to be in the room, but well-navigated careers are often built around a conscious decision to create and manage opportunities which enhance visibility, for example attachment to the right project or team.

Don’t just work hard, work hard on the things that matter—the topics discussed at the highest level in your organization. Find a mentor who is senior and wise enough to decode the business for you and learn the difference between activity and contribution.

3. Take control of broadcasting house.

Here’s a simple test. What is said about you when your name comes up in conversation?

You may have 200 pieces of information in your CV, but casual conversations will generally repeat just three-to-four phrases. Yes, you’re pleasant; energetic and committed, but what gets tagged on? A throwaway comment that you’re frustrated (or marking time until something better comes along) may travel faster than a summary of your strengths.

It’s your job to manage the short burst of information that pops up in your absence, and make sure it captures your key messages.

4. Strike a better career deal.

Right now you might be thinking that the only way to get a grip on your career is to hit the marketplace. Every year thousands do so, for all the wrong reasons.

There’s a golden rule in career change—the attraction of the new should be greater than the repulsion of the old. Just as wisdom is knowing the difference between the things you can and can’t control, sound career thinking asks, “what can I fix?”

If you want to adjust something, is it the role, the organization, or your boss?

You may need to find more reasons to love the job you’ve got, but you probably have more power than you think to shape your role.

So when you think of the word “career”, don’t think of job moves but managing your working life within the role—creating new opportunities and sculpting your job so it’s a better fit for you and the organization.

This is of course even more powerful if you also take account of the way others see you, outlined above.

All work is a deal, a compromise between what you want out of life and what an employer wants to get out of you.

Every deal needs a regular review of terms. Simply adding new content to your job mix or new learning opportunities will refresh your week. Exposure to new people and problems also helps.

When you press for changes, don’t present your request as a complaint—too many employee surveys unearth vague requests for more career support. Be specific about what you want and shape it as a concrete offer with realistic wins on both sides.

5. Move on for the right reasons.

How will you know when it’s right to move on? Not in the same way you would have done five years ago—by falling over a job.

Today jobs are hidden in cracks and niches rather than laid out in plain view, so you can’t rely on opportunity as a trigger.

Thinking about the way your CV will play in the future will probably tip the balance. How will you explain to a headhunter that you chose to stick in a rut where you lost connection, stopped learning and started to lose your shine?

When you do dip your toes in the market, do it properly.

Don’t jump ship without stocking your lifeboat. Know what you’re best at, understand your impact, and then broadcast the data which shapes your reputation.

If you want to change sector, dig deep to discover the language that explains why your experience is transferable.

Be ready at the drop of a hat to talk about the headline items that should be in the first 50 words of your CV—your background, your most marketable skills, and where you want to be.

Craft your narrative so it tells an authentic story and shows that the next role on offer is next natural stage of the journey.

John Lees is a UK-based career strategist and author of a range of careers titles including How To Get A Job You’ll Love and The Interview Expert. This is the latest inThe Source’s management series.

Δευτέρα 14 Νοεμβρίου 2011