Why You Should Be Managing Your Career Like A Business

The world of work is now a very fluid one. Gone are the days where people would have one job for life. Loyalty just isn’t enough. Job security and career management are what you make of them from your own resources by taking a Pioneering Professional approach to them, or not. That is why if you’re aiming for success, it is crucial that you start managing your career like a business – one of the secrets of being a Pioneering Professional!

So, what is Pioneering Professional?

It is a programme that teaches how to develop the underlying attitude and 7 key attributes that will ultimately guarantee personal success. It gives individuals the opportunity to review and enhance their thinking and skills, raise their game, enjoy their careers, and take their performance to the next level. Pioneering Professionals understand that they are the CEO of their career and it’s up to them to define their business plan, invest in their business and define their priorities. Remember: no one is as interested in your career as you are. Not your manager (although they may be supportive), not the organisation, no one!

In the 2014 Kelly Global Workforce Index, only 35% of participants believed they had the opportunity to grow their careers with their current employer. Nearly 10 years on and the latest report from Kelly OCG, Re:work Report 2022, has found that employers face fierce competition for talent and are struggling to adapt to fast-changing employee expectations. The world of the workplace has changed significantly in recent years but we’re still seeing the importance of taking control of your career management and development. Don’t wait for your organisation to define your career plan. Take initiative and use our 10 priorities, that we teach in out Pioneering Professional programme, to keep you on track:

1. Have the mindset of managing your own business

Adopt the mindset of managing a business, even as an employee in an organisation, to stay proactive and self-directing in managing your own career.

2. Invest in your own business

You wouldn’t invest in a business that didn’t invest in itself would you? So, invest in developing and enhancing your own skills, abilities and capacity to learn.

3. Maintain visibility

Maintain visibility by ensuring your good work and successes are noticed. Take opportunities to demonstrate that you can make a difference and add value.

4. Network actively

Build your network of contacts, both inside and outside your current organisation. Many career opportunities are generated this way and it is also a useful ‘insurance’ policy.

5. Scan the market

Keep your finger on the pulse of the career market (internally and externally) and developments within it. Familiarise yourself with what’s out there but also realistically appraise what you already have.

6. Keep ‘interviewee’ skills current

The ‘moment of truth’ in many career opportunities is the selection interview process. It is perhaps more difficult and nerve-wracking to do oneself justice if the process hasn’t been experienced for some time. Some people even go as far as to make sure they experience a selection interview at least yearly, to keep their skills still current and effective.

7. Manage relationships well

Remember, as a Pioneering Professional, you are managing your boss as well as the other way around, and the way you deal with co-workers will be key to your success. It has been stressed that Emotional Intelligence is now regarded as supremely important in organisational life. Relying on technical ability just isn’t enough.

8. PRIORITISE AND BALANCE YOUR NEEDS

It’s rare for anyone to have everything they want at the same time and you will have to compromise on your wish list. Pioneering Professionals realise this and manage their situation, prioritising and maximising certain wants while balancing others. You may find your dream role in a company that requires a longer commute than you anticipated, but as time goes on you may be able to find a similar position closer to home, or arrange flexible working to reduce your time spent commuting.

9. MANAGE CHANGE TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

Change is inevitable. We may be able to deny it in our personal life, possibly to our detriment, but to put at risk the assets of our own business by doing so is certainly not smart. Necessary change in skills, working practices, technology and the like will be inevitable. The choice is whether we can respond flexibly and work with it, rather than letting it disable us. The key is to seek and identify opportunities in change rather than letting it hinder you.

10. HAVE A FALLBACK PLAN

Sometimes events occur, almost like a stray meteor, or a global pandemic, unforeseen and random. Having a contingency plan in advance helps enormously in managing an unexpected job loss or similar situation with clarity and direction – and even panache! Especially, should such an event occur, it can cause you to make decisions when you are least able to do so – when you are perhaps experiencing the shock, stress and anger of what has happened. It is for this reason that people sometimes make inappropriate decisions about what to do next.

WHAT’S THE NEXT STEP?

Managing your career like a business is just one part of the overall picture. The Pioneering Professional approach makes a crucial difference in life overall and not just in the workplace. We teach self-directing skills for life to help others become high fliers. From adopting the fundamental attitude and 7 Key Skills of highly success people to influencing and negotiating better than you’ve ever done before, there’s so much to learn from Pioneering Professional.

If you’d like to learn more, discover the The Pioneer approach from the book.

Or learn first-hand with the game-changing The Pioneer programme.