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If you
read books on investment or business, you'll know
that all the experts tell you to develop an "exit
strategy" for your investments or your business,
even while writing the business plan. Without using
a bunch of financial jargon, basically you set up a
plan to make sure you get the MOST out of your
assets when you sell or close the business or
investments.
So how
does this relate to you? Developing an exit strategy
should be an essential part of EVERYONE'S career
plan. Why? YOU ARE YOUR MOST IMPORTANT ASSET! Think
of yourself as Me, Inc. You are your own CEO. You
want to be in control of your own career, on your
own terms (relax if you're not quite there yet, you
will be soon!). In your current position, you've
probably invested a lot of time and effort to get
where you are, to know what you know. You've
accomplished quite a few things.
Think
about the following scenarios:
- There
have been rumblings at work about more layoffs. One
day, the dreaded news comes in that your department
is getting downsized. Do you have an escape plan?
- Your
great boss leaves the company for a better
opportunity. A terrific position opens up at her new
company, and she calls YOU to send your resume and
come in for an interview with key management. Is
your resume updated with all your recent
accomplishments? Are you prepared for a job
interview? Or would you scramble around trying to
get your resume ready, and worry about how you'll
perform at the interview?
- Your
boss leaves the company, and now there's an open
management position. You'd really like the
opportunity to be a manager. Have you positioned
yourself to replace your manager? Does your resume
reflect the accomplishments necessary to show
someone that you're the best candidate? Have you
practiced interviewing for a management position?
You
should be in control of your destiny at all times,
just in case anything happens, good or bad. How can
you turn all your useful knowledge and experience
into a "what-if" plan?
Common
sense tells us that being prepared is the best form
of crisis prevention. For example, you probably have
smoke detectors and fire extinguishers in your home,
right? Not because you think there's going to be a
fire, but because you want to be prepared, JUST IN
CASE.
Your
career exit strategy works the same way. You should
have a plan in place, just in case something
happens. Unfortunately, we've seen far too many
companies downsize or completely go under in recent
years (remember Enron, and WorldCom?). You certainly
don't want to be at the mercy of the company you
work for.
Okay, you
get the picture. So what can you do?
Here's a
simple plan to follow to put your exit strategy in
place. Putting this into action won't be done
overnight, so it might be easier to break it up into
smaller chunks.
Document at least 3-5 accomplishments or
challenges you overcome each week. This is
probably best done on Friday, but it's really up to
you. Try to be as specific as possible, and also in
line with your personal, team or company goals.
TIP: To make the most of these accomplishments, send
them to your immediate manager each week. This helps
you at performance review time, because you have a
specific list of accomplishments, and will help you
get the most out of any merit pay increases. Also,
this is the information that you will use to update
your resume. When you're ready for a new position,
you simply select the accomplishments that are in
line with the requirements of your new position, and
presto! You have an amazing resume!
Stay positive. AVOID the negative
rumor mill at all costs. You know what I'm talking
about - the people who love to instill fear in
everyone by the "latest" they heard from "someone"
about "something bad" that's going to happen in the
company (impending layoffs, bankruptcy, personal
gossip, etc.). IGNORE!
Know what you want to learn and set goals.
Is there a particular skill or some type of software
you need to learn in order to get you where you want
to be? What will help you be successful here is
setting specific, attainable goals (heard of SMART
goals? Simple, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and
Tangible) and not trying to do too many things at a
time. Many companies have e-learning and live
training courses you can attend. See if you can take
advantage of some of these opportunities.
Follow industry trends. Stay current on
what's going on in the industry or field you're in.
This will help you to know what you need to learn,
and will give you clues as to which companies are
the movers and shakers. Also try to keep up with the
latest technology in your industry, if possible.
Keep your resume updated. Don't be the
person who works somewhere for 5 years, and then
tries to figure out what to put on their resume when
they're desperately trying to find a new job or get
a promotion.
TIP: If you've been with a company for a while, and
haven't been tracking your accomplishments, refer to
your past performance reviews for ideas. Keep copies
of all your performance reviews!
Know how your company performs financially.
It's important to know if your company is doing well
financially, or headed for bankruptcy. Many
companies keep employees updated with quarterly
financial reports and overall performance. Don't be
the person who deletes these emails without reading
them! If your company doesn't send you this
information, all publicly traded companies have to
report their financial statements. Yahoo's Finance
page is a great tool to use:
http://finance.yahoo.com/. All you need is your
company's stock symbol. If you're not sure how to
read a financial statement, there are plenty of free
tools out there to help. Just type in "how to read a
financial statement" in your favorite browser, and
you'll get a lot of choices. Why is knowing how your
company performs important? This will help you make
decisions about whether to stay or seek employment
elsewhere in the future. If the company is deeply in
debt, and getting a lot of bad press, you may want
to consider moving on. If you work for a private
company, or a very small business, chances are good
that you won't have any way of knowing the financial
situation of the company. There are some resources
that will provide limited financial information on
private companies (like Hoovers, Dun and
Bradstreet), but you usually have to pay to access
this information. I wouldn't recommend paying for
this information. You'll know when things start
going bad (for example, your boss can't pay you this
week because he doesn't have enough money...uugghh!!).
Practice interviewing. Even if you're not
planning to leave the company you're with, or pursue
another opportunity right now, keeping your
interviewing skills up to date will help you
continue to build your confidence. Rather than being
afraid and nervous about a potential interview,
you'll be prepared and you'll know yourself and your
skills inside and out.
Stay in touch. Have a great boss or
co-worker that left for a better opportunity? Make
sure you get their contact information and stay in
touch with them. You never know when you may need to
call them to see if they know of, or know someone
who might know of, an available job opportunity. Or
better yet, when they will call you for a great
opportunity that just opened up!
Kristen Hudson has written numerous articles to help
people find happy, meaningful careers. She has
worked in several industries, and has interviewed,
hired and mentored hundreds of employees. Find out
more about her unique approach to career success on
her website:
http://www.career-development-help.com.
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