Navigating career choices
I had a conversation with a great candidate this week who was asking me how I would think about choosing between the role we were talking about and a great position that her current company is offering. I walked her through a shortened version of the following paradigm, but it’s always interesting to think about why we choose roles and make decisions that can affect our careers. So I’m writing this to hopefully help others think about to make important career decisions. There is no single answer that will work for everyone, but hopefully this gives a framework that helps.
Options
The overarching approach I always take is to look for a role that gives me the most options. The thing I learned most in my MBA was that options have inherent value, so expanding those options delivers more value to you. How does this apply to a career choice? One of the most impactful moves I made in my career was going to Google and working in strategy - this job created several new options for me that didn’t exist before - it opened up strategy jobs, got me into tech, taught me new skills for breaking down problems that I could use, and strategy jobs in general are well looked on as feeders into many others positions. Even though I had a clear idea in my mind that I wanted to be a leader in the future, I didn’t know how I would get there and this job opened up several new paths that I could pursue to help me move towards that dream. I have tried to think through the options when making any large career choice since then.
Maximization
Another important principle that I encourage anyone who talks to me about career to think through is to focus on what you want to maximize. This was a principle I developed after I had been managing teams for awhile, but which I solidified with the help of someone crazy enough to work for me three times. He had a great set of four focuses that he would tell every candidate who was thinking about coming to our team:
Team characteristics
Industry or Product Focus
Function
Location
He would always focus on choosing his next role based those four factors. An approach like this is crucial as you’re making such a big decision, because it moves several other factors off the table and makes it easier to assess. It also gets down to what really matters you. What other factors should you be thinking about? First I recommend being honest with yourself, there is no judgment as this is a decision that works for you. Factors I have heard or consider for myself include: where you will get the most learning, the career path the role puts you on, work/life balance, money, title, higher purpose, enjoyment of the core work in the role, opportunity for concrete skill development, people you will be around, leaders you can learn from, fun work environment. Again, these will change over time but knowing what you’re deciding on is crucial. While this is a highly personal choice I will recommend that those early in their career continue to prioritize learning as it will pay dividends throughout your career by giving you more options and hopefully allowing you to be more successful in future roles.
Responsibility
The last piece of this framework for me builds on the aforementioned learning. I recommend finding roles with responsibility. This can take the form of scope, team leadership, or a defined territory/quota/book of business/impactful set of projects. I believe this is important because time and again I see responsibility leading to growth. As I have mentioned in a previous article, I believe the best development occurs when you’re challenged and feeling the weight of a defined responsibility will create that challenge for you.
I would be remiss if I didn’t say sometimes the best option is to stay in the current role you have. It may be giving you the most options currently available, maximizing your current set of value determinants, and giving you a strong set of responsibility to grow on. I hope this has been helpful in giving ideas on how to think through new opportunities. Please let me know what other things you look for when making career decisions.