Looking for a new job is a typical reaction when you acknowledge your unhappiness with your current role. In these difficult times where competition is high, you may want to ask yourself “Is this what I really want?” What if there was a way to move forward without leaving behind job security and embarking on a stressful job search? Lateral Moves shows you how this may work for you.

Keeping your career advancement within the confines of your current employer isn’t such a bad idea, particularly if you like the job, but find your work colleagues or manager unbearable, or if you like the culture but not your specific job. Both of these things can be changed and it would be a shame to give away the security of a job and your accrued benefits on the strengths of a personality clash with someone who may end up leaving the company soon after you go!

Of course you need to come to terms first with what it is you like and dislike about your job, the people and the company. As long as the issues aren’t deal-breakers such as workplace bullying, the company’s looming financial collapse, a repressive culture, or an industry you just plain don’t like, then it may be worth investing in your future with your current company and removing yourself away from the deadbeat team mates or the inadequate manager and steam on forward with your own career.

Intrapreneurship

The word “intrapreneur” is based on “entrepreneur”. Just like an entrepreneur starting his or her own business, intrapreneurs observe opportunities and gaps in the workplace that can be leveraged. The intrapreneur sees what is wrong, works out what he or she can do to fix the problems, and then sells these ideas to people of influence. In that way, you are altering your own job description a bit at a time to incorporate something that gives you satisfaction and adds value to your employer.

Ask yourself:

• What is everyone complaining about most here?
• What can I do to fix the problem or ease the issue?
• Who is an open-minded mentor in this company who will listen to my ideas?
• What can I do to make sure i can take ownership of my idea and see it through?
• What talents do I have to contribute to implementing these changes?

Going up the Ladder

Make an appointment to speak with your human resources department to discuss your career. They may be very supportive of your ambitions and dreams and now that you have made them known, they may be able to place you in a program for advancing within the company. On the downside, they may raise performance issues that have stopped you from moving within the company of which you are unaware. While this may seem daunting, take it as a positive. Information is power and with this knowledge you can now adjust your attitude or performance to show you are attempting to reform and grow.

Influence your manager on the importance of multiskilling to learn other people’s jobs. As you become more productive, you will also be considered somewhat indispensable as the only person who has a big picture view of the department or team. You will become the “go to” person which may then place you in a position to be considered for a team leadership, management or training role.

Observe the wording the vacancies used for higher positions. Find out about them. Understand what other people do. It will provide you with a direction post for what skills you are missing and what you need to do to acquire them to be a contender for the roles you want.

Keep your ear to the ground. Be political and know what’s happening. Don’t be the last to know. People who walk around in a dream, or alternatively are too busy complaining, miss out on tidbits of information. If that tidbit is someone considering leaving or about to hand in his or her notice, then it’s time to ramp up who you talk with and decide how you will position yourself for the soon-to-be vacant job.

Same Job, Different Place

Like the job but the people leave a bit to be desired? Like the job but the manager is hopeless? If you work for a state, national or international company, think about a transfer to another branch, department or division.

Take on Short-Term Assignments

Short-term roles can be a secondment to a different department or a special project. It can be a study grant, a job-sharing initiative or research. You could become a union representative, a fire warden, or a health and safety officer — all jobs that expose you to different levels of the company and different people than you would normally come into contact with.

Short-term assignments help by:

• Offering opportunities to be seen in a new light
• Enhancing your profile in the organisation and exposing you to new people
• Developing new skills for upward mobility

Whatever You Do…
Don’t stand still! There comes a time when you need to stop complaining and start taking action! Think about what you want, lay the foundation for getting it and engage a positive attitude.

#CareerCollective

As the thunder crashes and the witches begin their chants, it’s clear Halloween is here. Gather around jobseekers while I tell you a frightening story. It’s the Legend of the Tombstone Resume, a grave recount of missed opportunities and ill-advised communication strategies that have cast jobseekers adrift, confused and alone.

Our story begins with Jenny who is having no luck in her quest to break out of the education sector where she works as a Senior Administration Officer for a local university. As far as jobs go, it’s alright, but Jenny is keen to try something else and frankly is tired of the teachers, the students and the same old paperwork. Despite applying for many administrative jobs, she’s had no luck as agencies “pigeonhole” her as an education sector specialist. Jenny despairs she may be stuck working in schools and universities forever.

What has she done that makes people think she is incapable of transitioning her skills elsewhere? It’s simple. Jenny has written a tombstone resume. She has eulogised her experience by being so specific about job tasks and responsibilities in her current role that the reader can’t imagine her doing anything else! Jenny’s resume fully qualifies her for her current position and offers no insight or vision into how her transferable skills can be used outside that role or industry.

Consider the following phrase:

• Processed 1,000 students’ applications during the college’s Open Day celebrations.

In an instance such as this, it appears that Jenny is attempting to demonstrate her ability to cope with high-pressure environments. In reality, all this sentence conveys to the reader is that Jenny can perform a set task-—processing 1,000 student applications during a special event.

As this is a job-specific activity unlikely to be required outside the confines of the education sector, this accomplishment may be lost on an employer who has a need for a different set of skills and is unaware of what planning and long hours are invested. As far as the employer is concerned, his advertised job does not include processing student applications, so how is that ability relevant to him?

How you translate and communicate your talents is directly related to how you are perceived. Therefore you need to write from the perspective of looking forward and not looking back.

When writing her resume, Jenny needs to explore the results rather than the job task. Was processing 1,000 applications a day more than the average? If yes, how much more? In the bullet-point example above, 1,000 students makes a strong statement, but it can be made stronger if you think that Jenny’s office colleague only processed 500 a day-—clearly giving Jenny the opportunity to make a praiseworthy comparison.

Jenny needs to consider this critical point: How will this example of my experience transfer to the next organisation?

Perhaps a more compelling description would have been:

• Surpassed co-worker’s efforts by 100%, processing 1,000 applications throughout the duration of a large special event. Error-free entry of data into the computerised system streamlined the process, eliminated long waiting lines, and allowed training and communications to proceed on time as planned.

This statement is infinitely improved as it tries to anticipate the needs of the next employer. Granted, it describes Jenny’s job a little, but it also provides a promise to the next employer that Jenny is:

• Competitive (surpassed a co-worker’s efforts), is
• Accurate (entered data without errors), and
• has an appreciation for the importance of time and productivity (ensuring training was started on time).

In short, it is a statement that looks to the future and anticipates the needs of the next employer, while giving a nod of appreciation to the past.

Critically review your résumé development strategies. Are you positioning yourself to look to the past via tombstone statements that eulogise your current job?

Or pressing forward with your next employer firmly in your sights?

I’m a member of the Career Collective and each month this group of professionals come together to write on a specific topic. This allows you to gain a wealth of different perspectives and ideas. Please visit their articles using the links below!

• Where Are the Wild Things, Anyway?, @WorkWithIllness
• Is Your Job Search Making You Feel Like a Smashed Pumpkin?, @DebraWheatman
• Hiding in Plain Sight, @WalterAkana
• Don’t make these frightful resume mistakes, @LaurieBerenson
• How Not to Be a Spooky Job Seeker, @heathermundell
• A Tombstone Resume:Eulogizing Your Experience, @GayleHoward
• The Top Ten Scary Things Job Seekers Do, @barbarasafani
• Oh, Job Search Isn’t Like Trick or Treating?, @careersherpa
• A Most Unfortunate Resume Mistake No One Will Tell You, @chandlee
• Oh no. Not the phone!, @DawnBugni
• Halloween Caution: Job Seeker Horror, @resumeservice
• Boo! Are you scaring away opportunities or the competition? @MartinBuckland @EliteResumes
• Your Career Brand: A Scary Trick or an Appealing Treat?, @KCCareerCoach
• How to avoid mistakes on your resume, @Keppie_Careers
• Sc-sc-scary Resume Mistakes, @erinkennedycprw
• A Flawed Resume is a Scary Prospect, @KatCareerGal
• Job Search Angst: Like Clouds Mounting Before a Storm, @ValueIntoWords
• Does Your Career Costume Fit You?, @expatcoachmegan

Some people have a knack for walking into roles for which they are, on paper at least, entirely unqualified.

Passion and wanting it so much it hurts, as any failed Australian or American Idol contestant can tell you, doesn’t make it happen for the rest of us.

I’ve seen hundreds of people over the last twenty years, desperate to get into a new job with greater responsibilities and excitement.

Take for instance, the eager, young up-and-comer, yearning to take on the manager’s role, disheartened by failure to snare it, yet not understanding that it was the lack of years, experience and maturity that was behind the ultimate decision.

Then there is the Executive Assistant, experienced in the art of managing corporate soirées, Board meetings, catered lunches and more with flawless perfection, who dreams of an event management role catering to people in their thousands, in cavernous rooms with hi-tech equipment. Time and again, her hopes are dashed as she is passed over for other candidates with a strong background in event management.

Most people fail to face the realities of the job search. Think about this critically. If you were hiring for say, a Chief Executive Officer for a global financial institution, would you select the twenty-two year old recent MBA graduate as the person to lead this world-leading institution? He or she may have the knowledge of contemporary business practices, but does he or she have the wealth of experience and knowledge that it has taken to reach that level over decades? That is experience and knowledge that no amount of classroom training can buy.

There’s nothing wrong with throwing your hat in the ring and hoping you may have a chance (as long as there’s nothing to lose like relying on the dream to feed your family and keep a roof over your head). It is also a good value proposition for you to work towards your goals; to see what you have to do to get where you want to go and then pursue it…whether it is training or following a strategic, planned career path. What is soul-destroying, is failing to face the facts about your candidacy and then, like those failed American or Australian Idol hopefuls, plunge into feelings of devastation, bitterness or anger.

How do you stand aside and look at yourself realistically?

For a start, look at the job description or criteria for the position you want so desperately.

If the job description indicates that the successful candidate should have five years of experience in senior management and you have only been acting in a team leader role three levels down, then chances are that your application will not come close to being seriously considered. No matter how wonderful your resume is and how much you have achieved in your short stints as a team leader.

If the job description indicates that the successful candidate should be a senior sales representative with a strong track record selling mainframes to multinational companies and you currently sell wine to the local liquor outlet, then the chances of getting your application considered are slim. It really doesn’t matter if you fulfil all the other criteria of being enthusiastic, client focused, well organised and able to service important customers if you cannot supply the two key ingredients of the job — being in the right industry, and having a track record of selling a specific product.

No-one is saying you shouldn’t have goals. No-one is saying that you can’t make a strategic career transition to where you want to go, and no-one is saying that you need to stay in the same job or industry forever. Dreams can come true, but they have to be supported by pragmatism and the willingness to face facts. Trying to squeeze your skills into a space that leaves no room for growth or movement can be every bit as disheartening as stretching them paper thin to reach boundaries that are beyond your reach.

Being realistic about the opportunities available to you right now, and establishing a vision and a plan for how to execute and achieve your long-term goals is the recipe for hope, optimism and ultimately, career success.

The interview is over. Phew! What a relief! The hard work is done and now it is up to the “powers that be” to make a decision. You’ve done as much as you can do and now it’s just a waiting game.

Really? You don’t have any niggling concerns about:

• That project that you really wanted to mention but didn’t?
• An example of your experience you just remembered that would have perfectly fit the interviewer’s question?
• How you forgot to expand upon your capacity to travel or your flexibility?

If you think that the decision making is a “done deal” after interview, you’re wrong! The process is just beginning. You do have a chance to make it right.

Immediately after interview, even if it is in the car in the parking lot, jot down some critical details while they are still fresh in your mind. Who was conducting the interview? Make sure you get the spelling right. Analyse your performance. What did you leave out? Is there something you could have improved upon or a better example you could have given? What are your impressions of the organisation and of the people who interviewed you?

When you get home review your notes and open your word processor. Write down the details of that project or that example that you wanted to mention, expand on your impressions, and get everything down in one document.

You know what that document has become? It’s an extra chance to sell yourself; that’s what it is.

It is also the fledgling stages of your thank you letter that will thank the interviewers for their time, while reinforcing your skills, solidifying your position, and expanding on how and why you are the best candidate for the role. Here’s an idea of what that letter could look like.

Dear Mr Smith

Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you and John Carter yesterday morning. I enjoyed our discussion enormously and I was most impressed by the vision you have for XYZ Corporation’s continued prosperity. Further, I believe my experience to be an ideal match for your needs.

You mentioned that your current concern is deciding whether the company should solidify its position or take advantage of the current conditions to expand. I don’t think I mentioned during our discussion that I was instrumental in driving the successful merger of….  Additionally, my experience in ….. would align itself well to meet the challenges you face in the short and medium-term.

A role of this nature requires an individual willing to travel. With my family now grown, I am free to travel extensively to unite all key stakeholders for a flawless project execution.

A thank you letter such as this can make all the difference. The race for the right candidate is not over until the offer is made so you have ample time to put things right or elevate your profile.

Your reputation is one thing you can’t buy, beg, borrow or steal. Your reputation is yours alone, built by your actions–how well you perform, how you treat those around you up-and-down the ladder, your intelligence and your ethics.

Today, more than at any other time, your actions and deeds can be widely communicated through co-worker complaints on Facebook, Twitter or blogs, through a forwarded email from a disgruntled colleague, or just simply by those who come across you every day and who have friends industry-wide.

Let’s look at a couple of reputation killers that despite some short-term gain on your part, may end up being long-term personal PR disasters.

• Cultivating a competing offer of employment to leverage extra money or responsibilities where you are.

It may be quite clever to pull this off and you may pat yourself on the back if you managed to secure a “counter offer” to stay with your current employer. Ethically and as far as your long-term reputation is concerned, it’s a different story. You have used and abused your employer’s goodwill and you have wasted the time of recruiters and the resources of another employer to solidify your existing position.

Short-term as far as you are concerned, you’re smiling. You have either more money or a more prestigious role. How your current employer feels about being manipulated and forced into making a quick decision is anyone’s guess, although frankly if you’re still in that position 12 months from now, consider yourself lucky. From the recruiter’s and potential employer’s perspective–well your reputation has taken a big hit. If you think this is going to be forgotten and it isn’t really a big deal anyway, try applying for a job with the same recruiting firm or employer six months down the track and hope against hope you’re not unemployed when you’re doing so.

* Slacking off after giving notice.

Congratulations, you’ve found another job and you are currently serving out your notice with your existing company. Resist the temptation of tarnishing your reputation by slacking off, rubbishing the company to other employees and being an overall fun-loving distraction. Instead, continue to be a good employee; stay focused and work hard to the end. Your ethics, your ability to remain businesslike and earn the money that is being paid to you to do just that, will be the way you will be remembered. If you think that nobody will talk of how you confronted long-term enemies or “spilled the beans” by providing inside information to customers or suppliers, you are deluding yourself. Your reputation can be irrevocably damaged in serving out your remaining time.

Remember too, sometimes reference checks continue to be done after a job offer is made. Your reputation will be expanded upon through the eyes of others. Who will speak for you from the last job and what on earth will they say? A job offer can be rescinded right up to the day you start work if new and damaging information about you is uncovered.

Sustaining a successful career from teens to retirement takes more than being in the right place at the right time. Your reputation and your professional network are assets that will be most valuable to your career. It is in your interest to invest time and energy into both.