Always Between Jobs

Who expects to be in the same job in 10 years? 5 years? 1 year?

It doesn’t matter if you are employed by a large multi-national or if you are self-employed. You are not likely to be in the SAME job in not too distant future.

This is not to say you are not eminently employable. Rather the point of this posting is to suggest that you should always consider yourself “between” jobs. Always be preparing for that next job.

Why?

Succession planning is one reason. If you want to be promoted you will need to make sure you can do a smooth hand off. If you are self-employed or part of a smaller firm the same rules hold true. If you want to grow and if your company wants to grow there is a need to understand what needs to be done.

How to do this?

Document the process. Make it part of your daily routine. It does not need to be robotic and difficult. It can be 3x5 cards (my personal favorite), Evernote (another favorite), Microsoft Outlook Tasks, or anything else you know you will be able to use and refer back to on a regular basis.

One quick and easy way of thinking about this is to use a simple mnemonic I’m calling The 3 P’s – Prepare, Plan, Produce.

Putting the 3 P’s into Action -

Prepare	Ask Questions – Understand the challenge ahead of you.  Also, know how success will be measured. Whether you are working for a large company or as a consultant you need to ask questions to insure you know what is expected of your efforts.
Plan	Make a Plan and Work your Plan Have you ever heard the saying “If you don’t know where you are going any road will get you there” This is as true in business as it is in life.
Produce	Success will be measured by what you produce.  No matter what you are working on always make sure you producing to your plan. No matter what is being “produced” if it’s part of your plan you should expect to be measured by the results. Note: If you find you are working on things and producing things that aren’t on your plan you may need to go back to the Prepare step and make sure you know what is expected. Then, if necessary, re-work the plan.

Making it Happen

Use the 3 P’s daily and I predict you will be ready for that next job and that next challenge.

Like a good Boy Scout --- Always be Prepared.

And remember --- We are ALWAYS between jobs.

What do you think?  Do you feel that you are ALWAYS between jobs?  How to you make sure you are ready for that next challenge?  I look forward to your comments. If there is enough interest I’ll continue with this theme in a series of blog posts.

About The Author:
I have spent the better part of the last 16 years working in various aspects of the ECM space. I spent time at Kofax, Microsoft, FileNet, K2, and most recently Captaris (which was acquired by Open Text in Nov 2008). Prior to that I was a Unix VAR running my own company. Follow me on Twitter, check my blog, send email or find me on Facebook or LinkedIn.

** I am available for consulting projects and speaking engagements. My areas of emphasis are business development and alliance management at the Intersection of Enterprise Content Management and Social Media.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.