“Timing is everything” someone once said……somewhere….OK OK, so I don’t know who said that originally but its relevant to this post so I’m using it.
So we’ve all been there, in a tough place at work whether it be because of a slump in sales, a poor line manager or for a million other reasons that tend to lead us to search for another job. For the vast majority of people we tend to move jobs only when things aren’t going right. We only get the motivation to move jobs when we are unhappy and/or feel under valued. Sometimes its unavoidable, a company restructure, company takeovers, a new line manager or a well earned bonus that is held back by management – these are just a small fraction of the reasons I hear on a daily basis of why people are motivated to start looking for a new role.
What I’ve observed over the years is that the people who get to the top all have the same thing in common, they manage their career and career moves incredibly well. They don’t wait until they are unhappy to make a move, they make the move when things are going well. I know this sounds counter intuitive to many, why would you change jobs when things are going great? Well simply put, a prospective employer will find you far more of an attractive option when you are at the top of your game. Employers ‘buy’ what YOU can do for them. So if they see you’ve just increased sales by 20% YOY or you’ve created and developed a high performing team to success then they will naturally want that sort of success in their own business.
In summary, I invite you to think about your career moves not as a reactive measure to fixing something broken i.e. a bad line manager, a poor set of results or the threat of redundancy. But to take a proactive mindset when it comes to managing your career moves. Take those key achievements, the sales target you’ve just smashed or the perfect execution of an agreed business plan and let them help you secure that next dream job. Use these key achievements to your advantage as they are the things that a prospective employer will be impressed by and ultimately be the reason they want to hire you!
