Why Professionals Need a Career Strategy, Not Just a Job Plan

Research & Sources / Personal & Career Development

You can drive across a whole country by always taking the next exit that looks interesting. You will definitely end up somewhere. Maybe somewhere nice. But probably not where you would have chosen if you had looked at the map first. Many careers work like that: one job, then the next attractive offer, then the next. A career strategy is looking at the map.

Job plan versus career strategy

A job plan answers: how do I succeed in my current role, and what is the next step up? It is useful, but short-sighted.

A career strategy answers bigger questions: what kind of work do I want to be doing in ten years? Which skills, relationships and experiences will get me there? Which offers move me towards that, and which only look good today?

Why strategy matters

Goal research by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham found that clear, specific goals lead to much better performance than vague ones.¹ That applies to careers too. “I want to grow” is vague. “In five years I want to lead a commercial team in a technology company” gives direction to every decision.

Kennon Sheldon and Andrew Elliot found that goals which fit our own values are pursued with more energy and bring more well-being than goals adopted because of outside pressure.² A career strategy is a chance to check whose goals you are really pursuing.

How careers really change

Herminia Ibarra studied professionals who changed careers. She found that people rarely find the right path by thinking alone. They find it by trying things: small experiments, side projects, new relationships, conversations with people already doing the work.³ So a good career strategy is not a rigid plan. It is a direction plus a series of experiments.

A career strategy in five questions

• Where am I strongest? Which work energises me and gets the best results?
• What do I want more of, and less of? In tasks, people, lifestyle and income.
• What is my direction for the next five to ten years? One or two sentences, not a job title.
• What is missing? Which skills, experiences or relationships do I need to build?
• What are my next experiments? Small, low-risk steps to test the direction.

Using it to decide

When an offer arrives, a career strategy turns a difficult question (“Should I take it?”) into an easier one (“Does it move me in my direction, and does it build what is missing?”). Sometimes a smaller title in the right direction is a better move than a bigger title in the wrong one.

What this means for you this week

• Answer the five questions in writing, one page maximum.
• Check your last two career moves against your direction. Were they exits or steps?
• Plan one small experiment for the next month.
• Talk to one person who is already where you want to go.

Exits are not bad. Just check the map before you take the next one.

Sources

1. Locke, E. A. & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation. American Psychologist, 57(9), 705-717. doi.orgSpecific, challenging goals lead to higher performance than vague “do your best” goals.
2. Sheldon, K. M. & Elliot, A. J. (1999). Goal striving, need satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being: The self-concordance model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(3), 482-497. doi.orgGoals that fit our own values are pursued with more sustained effort and add more to well-being.
3. Ibarra, H. (2002). How to Stay Stuck in the Wrong Career. Harvard Business Review. hbr.orgCareer changes succeed through small experiments and new relationships rather than by first finding the perfect answer through reflection alone.