How to Effectively Manage Your Career (page 4)

by Susan Zitron Woods
Zitron Career Services

Found in this article:

Creating A Personal Career Plan (page 1)
Your Internal Motivators (page 2)
Non-Negotiable Career Criteria (pages 3, 4, 5)

3. Relationships with Your Peers

Examples:
+	My peers must be technically competent and conduct themselves with a professional demeanor.
+	If my peers play a critical role in the success of my sales and client support, they must operate as a team and be committed to achieving the company's goals. This means they must be willing to cooperate by being respectful of each other, and each other's responsibilities, and by being timely in their responsiveness.
+	My peers must be willing to share information that would help each of us do our jobs better, especially as it relates to attaining individual and collective goals.
+	FOR SALES POSITIONS: My peer group should experience friendly competition, but no cut-throat tactics.
+	My peers should be excited about their jobs and the goals of the company.
*	I prefer to be in a peer group that enjoys social contact, such as occasionally having lunch together.

Now write your non-negotiable values and strong preferences regarding your relationship with your peers.

4. The Corporate Culture

Examples:
+	Turnover rate should be relatively low, and preferably under 10% annually.
+	Employees should be promoted from within, and the culture must be a mutually supportive environment where people are a valued resource, recognized and continuously trained.
+	Everyone should know what the company's goals are, and how department goals fit into them.
+	The company should be clear in its goals, so that it is well planned and not operating in a continuously crisis-driven environment.
+	The culture must be customer-driven versus engineering- or manufacturing-driven. From the CEO on down, everyone must be responsive to customer needs as a number one priority.
*	I strongly prefer that the company provide increased functional training, as well as industry learning opportunities.
*	I prefer a company that has a sense of community, along with humanitarian and environmentally responsible ethics.

Now write your non-negotiable values and strong preferences regarding the corporate culture.

5. The Quality of Your Life

Consider your quality-of-life criteria as the marriage between your job and personal life.

Examples:
+	I must have balance between my business and family life. This means that I must be able to have dinner with my family at least one to two nights per week, working after dinner on projects that require my attention.
+	I am willing to work weekends when a project demands it, but not as a way of life.
+	I am willing to commute up to one and a half hours, but prefer no more than a 45 minute commute.
*	I prefer the company either provide me with a car phone or give me an expense allowance to pay for one.

Now write your non-negotiable values and strong preferences regarding your quality of life.

6. Relocation

Examples:
+	We must live in a city with fresh air and beautiful vistas.
+	The school system must be excellent and there must be a strong cultural community, including museums, the ballet and good places to shop.
*	My number one choice is to remain in the Bay Area.
*	If we had to relocate, we want to move to: the Pacific Northwest, Colorado, Portland, Seattle, Denver or Boulder.

Now write your non-negotiable values and strong preferences regarding relocation.

7. Industry and Products or Services

Most often, the area of product or service and the various industries are strong preferences. However, some people do know that they will only be going into specific industries, so, for them, this is non-negotiable.

For Technical Sales and Marketing:
+	I will definitely read industry literature and check the Internet to source industry opportunities.
*	I prefer to remain in the semiconductor industry, selling to OEMs.
*	I would consider telecom systems level products. This means I would work for manufacturers of end-user products.

For a Manager, Information Systems:
*	I would consider a position at American Express, Household International, AT&T, Discover Card, Master Card. We would have to relocate to do this, so it is a second-tier choice.
*	My background in financial services and banking lends itself predominantly to the above companies; however, I am open and available to any industry that requires expertise in the management of IS and operations departments.
*	I would love to work in the mutual fund industry, especially The Franklin Fund, The Dreyfus, AIM, Montgomery Securities, etc.

Now write your non-negotiable values and strong preferences if you have them, regarding your preferred industry, products or services.

8. The Company's Viability and Leadership

What size company is important to you, in revenue and employees? What kind of experience does senior management have to bring to the company? Is it important to know their market share, if the products are industry leaders or strong contenders? Must you know what the company's strategic plans are? What do you need to know about their financial history? Does the company have to have a mission statement, and if so, what do people have to know about their department goals, as it relates to the mission statement? Must the leaders have industry experience or just strong leadership skills-or both? What else do you need to know about the company before you can say yes to an offer?

Examples:
+	I must work for a large company that has business units of smaller operating companies, like Hewlett Packard.
+	I must work for a company where revenue is in the $50 million to $500 million range.
+	I won't work for any organization where I have to plead for a customer due to the company's lack of commitment or integrity. I will work to manage tough customer issues. I am concerned about the company's attitude and management of such problems. Customer needs must be a top priority, or no go!
+	The company must be investing in the future with an on-going budget for R&D.
+	The company must be financially stable, able to pay their payables and meet payroll.
+	Turn-around situations are acceptable as long as I can be assured that the turn-around is sustainable. I will have to evaluate this based on the market share they hold, and by speaking to other industry people.
+	The company must either have a strategic plan.
+	Strategically, the executive team must be constantly evaluating their objectives and what is happening in the market in order to maintain a leadership position.
*	I prefer that the company be a formidable competitor, which means that the competition includes this company's goods and services as their benchmark... or that the company is moving into that position.
+	The company must be providing true value to customers. People should be able to judge their products as providing value to a specific market niche, if not the whole market.
+	It is important that key executives, from the president on down, be able to articulate where they see the company heading, and have consensus on the strategy of the business and how department goals fit into it.
+	Senior executives must have knowledge of the marketplace in order for me to say "yes". The key executives I will be screening more closely are the directors of marketing, sales, customer service and technical support.

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