I have received a number of questions recently from new grads facing dilemmas when faced with new opportunities offered to them by their current employers. For most, sideways moves into equivalent functions have been asked of them as companies enforce role changes in response to changing business demands. Others though have been pitched as development opportunities for which the recipient is supposed to be grateful when clearly they are designed with only one winner in mind; the company. Of course, all change should be approached with an open mind and in all but a few cases the role changes suggested to the new grads I have spoken with have all been appropriate and of potential. Nevertheless, it’s important to judge each opportunity (or suggested opportunity) on its particular merits and so I advise new grads to use the 4 P’s; Promotion, Positioning, Pay and Personal as a mechanism to help them understand the ‘what’s in it for me’? The 4 P’s allow you to act as your own objective assessor when considering your next career opportunity. They ask 4 simple questions: Are you moving upwards? Are you being groomed to move upwards? Are you being paid more (or likely to be)? Are you benefiting from a personal perspective? It is not necessary that the answer to all of these questions is yes. However, should the answer to all of these questions be no, then you really should consider whether what you’re being offered is actually for your benefit?
Promotion is the first of the P’s to explore. In the event that you’re being promoted and being asked to ‘step up’ into a bigger role, typically it’s in your best interests to accept the move! Promotions normally result in greater experience, improved conditions and of course, they demonstrate progression on your resume. But that said, if being promoted actually puts you in harms way, for example, if you’re asked to resolve an impossible situation where there is a high likelihood of career damaging failure and it’s clear you’re being asked as nobody else wanted the job, then it’s important that you ask questions of whether it’s right for you? Accepting a promotion simply because you’re offered a title is a fools errand. Important also is to consider the impact of the promotion on the other P’s. Under normal circumstances, a promotion will mean more pay and better positioning but if the impact on your personal life (through increased responsibility, travel, hours, etc) is prohibitive, then potentially the opportunity is not one you should so happily pursue?
Secondly, it’s important to consider where a new opportunity will position you in your career. Positioning is important, especially when considering sideways or even seemingly more junior roles that you might be asked to assume early in your career. Remember a career is a marathon not simply a sprint and so there are times when such moves are appropriate, especially when you’re trying to gain some breadth in your knowledge. Let’s consider the junior sales person who is asked to move away from sales into the administration centre. Potentially, this is a bad move; moving away from the customer, assuming responsibility in a non-revenue generating area, etc. However, if the move allows the individual to understand the full product life cycle, understand post sale client issues and develop a network within the company that will eventually allow her to return to Sales more capable than before of serving the client and generating revenue for the company, then the move presents long term advantage as it positions the individual perfectly for later progression to more senior levels within the organization.
In the current economic climate, talk of pay is almost considered crass! However, what you make for your labor is a critical benchmark against which you can judge your performance and your progress. Very often, large corporations only review compensation details on an annual basis regardless of whether you are asked to move roles or not. This arrangement whereby you accept change imposed upon you by your employer in lieu of some potential compensation in the future is clearly weighted to the advantage of only one side in the agreement. And whilst I would not advocate making pay demands every time you are asked to take on new responsibilities, at the point where you are asked to make a job change, it is appropriate to ask a question about your likely future compensation. Something as simple as, “can you indicate to me what the likely implications this move will have on my current and future compensation?” is a wholly appropriate question to ask. If you are satisfied with the response, which of course, does not necessarily have to state that you’ll get a raise, then you can rest assured that you’re moving in the right direction. If however, you receive a wavering or even negative response, you have to ask whether the move is in your best interests after all?
Finally, it is absolutely critical that you consider your personal circumstances when approached about a job change. The stresses associated with change are well documented and while sometimes welcomed, for example if a new challenge is needed, if they place an undue strain on your personal commitments, the likelihood is that you’ll fail in your new responsibilities while also failing in your personal ones. Regardless of how ambitious you are, to forget to consider the impact of a new role on your personal life is reckless. And it’s important to be honest. If you intend to retain your commitment to the athletics club you jog with twice a week and yet the role you are being asked to take requires hours that will clash with that commitment, you need to make a choice about which one you’re going to honor and which will be dumped. Even if you anticipate a compromise, some clash at some point is inevitable and so it’s important to decide what your priority is before you take your new role. For making a snap decision when faced with the dilemma can leave you exposed to making a wrong choice and damaging both your work and personal relationships.
Successful careers are splattered with change and any successful individual will be offered and will take opportunities that change their roles or functions on many occasions. The current economic climate is such though that companies are often being forced by circumstance to ask their employees to assume different responsibilities perhaps not always after robust enough consideration. In most cases, companies do act to achieve a compromise between what’s best for them and what’s best for the individual to achieve a win-win situation but under intense business pressures like those we see today, this cannot be taken for granted. In order to effectively judge the opportunity offered to you it is important to step back and cast objective judgment over what is presented as your next role. The 4 P’s; Promotion, Positioning, Pay and Personal allow you to consider what is asked of you with necessary objectivity thereby allowing you to make an appropriate decision on whether the change is best for your career or not. Only when you have made this decision should you move ahead.
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