Promote Yourself (28 page)

As with any new venture, it's always important to have a backup plan. Remember: You don't know what's possible until you just go for it! If you pull it off, it could change your career for the better and leave a lasting impression on the people you work with. Bottom line: It's risky to not take calculated risks in your career. The workplace is always evolving and if you keep doing what you did yesterday, you'll never advance. You'll never get the rewards you're looking for (major promotions, salary raises, and so on) if you don't take risks.

Intrapreneurship is an extraordinary learning experience and can help you see your potential and get you noticed by the right people. Opportunities to be an intrapreneur are everywhere, but you'll need to seize them or you're going to miss out.

 

11

Moving Up, Moving Sideways, or Moving On?

 

Think of your career as a series of experiences. Don't expect it to be with one institution or linear.

—
LENNY
MENDONCA
,

D
IRECTOR
AND
A
P
UBLIC
S
ECTOR
P
RACTICE
L
EADER,
M
C
K
INSEY
& C
OMPANY

 

Once upon a time, people who wanted to advance in their careers looked for a new
job.
Today they need to look for
opportunities.
What's the difference? Instead of seeing themselves as a narrow set of job-related skills, high-potential employees need to see themselves as a broad collection of skills that can be applied to many different challenges. Instead of plotting their path up a linear corporate ladder, they need to look
across
their company for the next challenge; that is, the next job or project that will grow their brand. A study by CareerBuilder shows that nearly seven in ten workers search for opportunities on a routine basis.
1
This is an entirely new way of thinking that uproots everything you've learned about how to advance your career. Your parents and grandparents had one-company-and-career-for-life mind-set, whereas the only way to get ahead today is to gain new perspectives and new experiences by moving around.

In a way, this chapter will answer a question I hear a lot from young people: “What do I do if I feel stuck in my job?” We'll talk about the importance of keeping your eyes open for your next opportunity and I'll show you when—and how—to make your move. Because, regardless of your position, you need to always be fully using your skills, challenging yourself, learning, and growing. And you need a supportive environment where you can showcase the value you add, and people who care and who can help you advance will notice. If over time it becomes clear that your current situation and your longer-term career plans aren't aligned, the best way to increase your visibility and get ahead in your career may be to move to another company where you can make better use of your talents to build your brand—and your new employer's. Feeling stuck in your career is horrible, and if you want to get unstuck, you'll need to take charge of your life and not wait around for others to pull you out. It's up to you.

Before we get into the specifics, I want to give you a few pieces of general advice that will serve you well. First, always be open to new opportunities. And when I say “always,” I really do mean
always
. Taking your job for granted is a major mistake—your division or your entire company could get acquired or could go out of business and you could find yourself on the street with little or no warning. That's why I strongly suggest that from day one of your new job, you start thinking about the future.

Second, consider all your options. Most people, when thinking about their future, either imagine moving up in their organization or moving to a new company. But, as the title of this chapter suggests, those are not the only ways to get ahead. If you make a lateral move and wind up in a position with a similar title and pay grade, that's fine. You can still be noticed, get people to invest in you, and have a chance at making a huge impact—all of which will lead to a better title and a bigger salary. The more experiences you have, the more attractive you'll be as a candidate for a leadership role. Lateral moves can always open your eyes to new responsibilities (and opportunities) that may play more to your strengths and interests than your current job. Lateral moves may help position you for major promotions later. Remember that every situation is different, so you need to review all of your options and speak to a mentor or two before you make a final decision. The decisions you make now can have a major impact on where you'll end up down the road.

Regardless of the decision you make (or where you end up) you will gain new experiences. Keep a positive attitude and outlook and take advantage of the opportunities you get—and the ones you chase after as well. Careers can be highly unpredictable, so you need to be able to adapt to new situations, not get down on yourself if something doesn't go as planned, and always maintain relationships and build your network. You never know when you'll need a helping hand.

 

Itchy Feet: Finding the Right Time to Make a Move

After a year in your position/job, it's time to assess your situation. Are you getting a raise or promotion based on your annual review? Have you spoken to your manager about career opportunities and whether you're on the right track? You should always talk with your manager about your goals and get their input on what you need to do in order to achieve them. That will give you a much better chance of actually reaching those goals than just guessing and possibly coming up short. My rule of thumb is to wait a year or so before trying to change your position in your company. It usually takes most people at least six months to learn their role and another six to prove themselves in that role. After the first six months on the job, you'll have a pretty good feel for things. You'll know whether you can see yourself working there long-term and whether there's a true cultural fit, and you'll have a pretty good sense of what other possibilities might be available for you at your company. If you aren't happy, it's not a good fit and there aren't any career opportunities or long-term potential, it's probably time to search elsewhere. If there are opportunities and you enjoy the work and still feel challenged, then it's time to coordinate with you manager to establish goals and take on more responsibilities.

“You need to make a commitment to the company and the cause,” Matthew Nordby, Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer at
Playboy,
told me. “But once that commitment is fulfilled, you have a duty and an obligation to pursue your career to the fullest. So, that means taking a risk on a start-up or using your skill sets to move the economy in different ways. At the same time, I would be concerned about someone who stayed at a company too long. If you can't come and make an impact in five years and learn the business and be able to go out and monetize those skill sets and help move the economy then it's a bit counterproductive.” If you aren't moving the needle for both yourself and your company, there's a problem, and you need to do something about it. If you aren't feeling challenged, you aren't growing or developing yourself, that can seriously hurt your career. If you want to promote yourself and get ahead you have to keep challenging yourself. That's the best way to accumulate the experience and connections you'll need.

*   *   *

O
f course there are a lot of other factors that can affect your timing. For example, as mentioned above, if you're not feeling challenged anymore and you aren't learning or growing, it's time to make a change. The same goes if you don't see a clear career path forward at your company. But before you jump ship, be absolutely sure you've really pursued every possibility. When I spoke with Cynthia Trudell, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer of PepsiCo, she said, “One reason young people might leave the company is that they believe their career isn't moving fast enough or they feel that the company hasn't provided the set of experiences that they may want. But I always get disappointed if an employee wanted to do something and we never knew about it. So it's super-important that you make sure that all company data about you, including your career ambitions, is up to date so there's no possibility that we don't know what you want to do and how you want to grow.”

Another reason to move on is if you no longer (or never did) enjoy what you're doing and you want to reposition yourself to do something that's more in line with your passions. That may sound a little petty, but it's a hard truth that affects a lot of people. Eric Schechter, Social Media Manager at Carnival Cruise Lines, put it quite nicely when he told me, “It's time to move on when your job feels like work. Life is too short to live every day in misery and not love and be extremely passionate about what you do for a living. If you're working just to pay your bills and put food on the table, I think it's more than reasonable to start looking for another opportunity.”

 

Making Change from Within: How to Talk to Your Boss About Your Desire for Change

When it comes to changing jobs within your company—whether that's taking on more responsibility or moving to a completely different department—your boss can be your biggest ally—or your biggest stumbling block. Since most managers are happy to support high-value employees (if nothing else, it makes them look good to
their
bosses), I'm going to assume that yours is safely in the ally category.

Even if you know that your boss will support you, it's important that you prepare yourself before you have the actual face-to-face meeting in which you tell them your plans and ask for that support. There are two things your boss will want to know (and that you'll
need
to know).

First, what specific openings exist and in what departments? You can find this out by spending some time going through the company's job board. If you don't have a job board, put some informal feelers out—but be cool about it. Second, who's going to replace you? I'm always a little surprised at how few people think about this. But when you do, it makes a lot of sense. After all, your company hired you to do a job, right? If you move to a different department, that job won't be getting done. So even though you want to be seen as irreplaceable, you need to find someone who can move into your cubicle and keep your soon-to-be-former team running as smoothly as you did (of course, no one could do the job as well as you, but you know what I mean).

Keeping these things in mind makes life a lot easier for your manager by eliminating any worry that your job might not get done. That, in turn, will solidify your relationship with your soon-to-be-former manager and gives them even more reasons to support you.

 

Changing Terms: When to Ask for a Promotion and How to Negotiate a Salary Bump

At some point in our career, most of us feel that we aren't being adequately compensated for the work we're doing. Maybe it's someone who got hired more recently and got a big signing bonus, or maybe it's that you think your boss didn't notice the great job you did on your last project.

Whatever the reason, once you've decided that a conversation needs to take place, you can't chicken out. But first, you need to get clear in your own mind what your goals are. If you want a raise, how much? If you want more responsibilities, what would they be? If you want a better title, what is it? And think about less obvious things. Would a private office with a river view do it for you? How about being able to work from home three days per week?

Most people dread these conversations, and it's tempting to IM or e-mail your manger. Don't. This is important and warrants an in-person meeting. The best way to make “the talk” with the boss less unpleasant is to anticipate the questions they might ask and have solid answers to back you up. Here's what you need to do to prepare:

 

•
Gather plenty of evidence that you're worth more than your firm is currently paying you.
You need to walk into your meeting ready to wow, and well armed with quantifiable examples of how you have contributed to the company. Try to put a dollar value on your accomplishments.

 

•
Know how much you're worth.
Find out what people with similar experience are making within your firm as well as what people doing jobs similar to yours at other companies are making. But be subtle about this. Asking people directly how much money they make can be misinterpreted in a lot of ways, so unless you feel completely comfortable with the people whose salaries you want to know, start your research on the Internet. One good site to look into is
PayScale.com

 

•
Know how much your manager depends on you.
The more indispensable you are, the better.

 

•
Know your floor and ceiling.
What is the least you'd be satisfied with? What's the most you could possibly hope for?

 

•
Be prepared to keep the conversation focused on your performance, value, and accomplishments.
The fact that you want to buy a new car or want to take an extended vacation to climb Mt. Everest is (or at least should be) irrelevant.

 

•
Time it right.
In a best-case scenario, you'd be in and out of your boss's office in five minutes. But sometimes these discussions can go on for hours. Take that into consideration when thinking about scheduling.

If you've had the talk and it's clear that you're not going to get what you want at your current company, it's time to consider other opportunities. Otherwise, you'll feel unfulfilled and resentful, you won't work as hard, and you'll have a poor attitude. Deciding to quit your job takes a lot of maturity. It's also a critical step. If you want to keep your brand strong and get ahead in your career, you'll need to be proactive.