Suppose you're a senior manager or director considering your next career move. In that case, I can assure you that your knot is not the lack of opportunities but the excess of potential directions. As a career coach and executive search recruiter, I share the three keys you need to ensure for your successful career transition. How can you apply it to your specific scenario? I invite you to join my free masterclass and answer your questions live. Else, register to watch the replay.
Landing your next dream role is at the crossing of what is possible, what is probable, and what is desired. Let's open up by talking about what's possible.
Career Growth Opportunities for Senior Managers and Directors
Professionals are so focused on internal career growth and gaining consecutive promotions they assume climbing the corporate ladder is their only option when transitioning. I´m giving you a quick tour of your options to empower your career opportunities.
Let's be clear on what career transition is.
You're transitioning your career when:
- You aim to move up the corporate ladder within your company
- You're searching for a new job outside your company
- You want to leave corporate and build your own business
- You want to be a consultant or board member in a second company as an "add-on."
Your career is at stake: which option suits you best?
You can consider growing your career by moving your expertise, building knowledge in new and challenging areas, or both. More detailed options are:
- A lateral move: take on a stretch assignment and expand in a new direction
- Create a new strategically relevant position for yourself in your company
- Invest in your self-development and self-leadership
- Become an advisor or a sponsor of an important strategic company project
- Expand your portfolio and identify opportunities to have a side hustle or hobby that sums
- Start your own business, and become an entrepreneur, intrapreneur, or solopreneur
Making a decision can be overwhelming
You may want to stay and find new challenges, a culture that fits you best, or a transition to create a successful business. Or you may have no clue. You can get analytical, study pros and cons, and make lists. But before you make up your mind, keep reading.
Internal Motivators: What Moves You To Take a Leap?
Six years ago, I resigned from corporate pharma to establish myself as a business owner and entrepreneur. I could feel my time was over. I long for more.
Finding a role that fulfills your long-term vision
Many senior managers and directors are stuck where I was: a longing for a role that fulfills their long-term vision and purpose. It's not that their position is ending or they can't get a promotion. They are bored. They compromised for a raise in salary, a new challenge, and a new boss, but not anymore.
Understanding your inner motivators
If you wonder what's next for you in your career, your options, and where you should focus, here is where: understanding your inner motivators. The number one mistake when transitioning is to pay more attention to the "whats and the hows" than to your needs and desires. Your "reason why" is foundational, and you should never overlook it.
Career transitioning requires energy, commitment, and a fair share of personal challenges and growth. Let alone decide to establish yourself as an independent consultant, advisor, or start your own business. If you think you have the expertise, the portfolio, and the clientele, that's great. But the massive newness – and the management of uncertainty it takes – goes much better when paired motivators are your north star.
You can explore your motivators in different ways. Daniel Pink's Drive is a good read on what drives people to develop and grow. According to Daniel, while we might compare ourselves to others, motivation is never external but intrinsic.
Can you identify your internal motivator?
- Autonomy — Being able to decide by yourself about when you will work, what you will work on, how you will do it, and with whom.
- Mastery — To learn, improve, and grow in what you do with a desire to master it.
- Purpose — Be part of something you believe in.
Define success on your terms
Internal motivators give you a sense of direction and also a measure of success. What does success mean for you? For most of us, it's a balanced mix of salary, time, growth opportunities, and satisfaction. Take paper and pen and spend a few minutes noting how your definition of success aligns with your internal motivator and desire to leap.
Career Management: Create Your Formula
Now that you know what and why, let´s drill the how-to. In career management, there´s no one-size-fits-all formula. You have to create your own. This information can be pivotal when strategizing your move.
Consider the market is shifting and how it impacts your career
We´re moving from pursuing a career path to creating your career portfolio. This term was originally coined by philosopher and organizational behavior expert Charles Handy in the 1990s and is poised to enter its prime today finally.
What's the difference between a career path and a career portfolio?
Uniqueness. A career portfolio boils down to honing your skills, passions, and decisions to master your career, be relevant, and live a fulfilled life.
Whereas a career path tends to be a singular pursuit (climbing the ladder in one direction and focusing on what is straight ahead), a career portfolio is a never-ending source of discovery and fulfillment. It represents your vast and diverse professional journey, including the various twists and turns made by choice or circumstance. A career portfolio is a new way to think about, talk about, and — most importantly – craft your professional future to navigate our ever-changing world of work with purpose, clarity, and flexibility.”
Source: HBR Why you should build a career portfolio and not a career path
Take my career portfolio as an example
My portfolio includes: executive coach, business advisor, business development executive, global pharma manager, international business lecturer, contributor to business media outlets, luxury cosmetic marketing executive, German language tutor, radio moderator, theater actor, speaker, and mentor to young professionals.
Each of these skills took time to develop. Some included traditional jobs, while others meant self-employment, pro bono work, and tutoring. Many are roles I’ve been in simultaneously and longer than my usual four-year stint, though my frequent urge to add another to the list continues unabated.
Career transition is about moving uniquely
A professional journey is diverse. The wisdom you gather in the journey makes your career singular. And it´s how you communicate it that makes it powerful.
I recommend you take time today to look back and consider those skills you´ve honed doing things you love. The key is: Can you build on them to create your unique portfolio and combine them in a way that adds value to others? Your uniqueness is the foundation of your employee brand.
What Brought You Here Won't Take You There: Plan Your Search
Exceptional individuals are quick learners, top performers, and ambitious. Their knot is not the lack of opportunities but the excess of potential directions. It would help if you had clarity, focus, and a strategic plan to land your new dream position.
I like to break job acquisition down into digestible steps. My clients build a solid foundation that speeds their search and prepares them for the interview and negotiation. I customize their strategy, so they are ultra-clear about where and what to do.
If you want to give it a try on your own, use these steps:
- Be clear about your inner motivator
- Understand the worth of your most significant experiences and attributes
- Understand where you can be of greatest service and value
- Understand your personality advantages
- Be clear on the industry
- Be clear on the location
- Be clear on the type of organization
- Prepare your CV and work on your presentation
- Recognize red flags in interviews or when a recruiter approaches you
- Approach the recruiter as you are clear in your search
- Leverage your network
- Upgrade your LinkedIn profile and contribute with quality content
- If you're starting your own business, prepare adequately
As soon as you get that, you´ll understand in which position you´d contribute more and could be rewarded - in money, time, and satisfaction - accordingly. You´re on your way to success.
No time to fool around? Get it done for you.
Here's the plan. You can join our upcoming Masterclass on September 28th. Registration is free and open - spots are limited, though.
If you want to speed it up, I've got you. Schedule a session, and let's create a plan to land your new role. I get this is not just about money. Your privacy is safe with me. Book your session here.
