Switch career, but consider this first

“I a coming in your league. Becoming a coach now. I am getting certified with an international agency. Isn’t that something? Now no more bosses and reporting. I am on my own. Had a couple of job offers but did not see myself working under anyone anymore. It feels I have arrived.” Anirudh is GM HR of a big heavy engineering manufacturing company. He was grinning from ear to ear.

His enthusiasm must have been contagious. Another junior person from his team had also resigned. They were not working together though.

My immediate questions to him were: Was reporting the only reason to quit the existing job? Why coaching as a profession? How will he get clients? What was the plan of business development?

Anirudh was not so happy. “C’mon now! How come you speak such demotivating language? I thought you would be happy for me. I did not have any plans. I just don’t want to rust myself. Life is not about so much planning. There could not have been a Zomato, or an Uber if all of them thought so much.”

Now, how do you know they did not? What you read about them is a well-crafted script. My question was followed by the deafening silence of Anirudh.

“Where do you see yourself five years down the line?” Asked in every interview, the question becomes a lie, when answered: “Working here at a higher position”. This can only mean: Either you are going to indeed work at “this great an organisation”, and that they are going to promote you every passing year.

Look, there is a bigger reason that the entire perspective is awful. This is based on the assumption that the world is going to remain constant between now and then. And that is never going to happen.

If in 2013, people who worked in IT or HR, in 2018, they have mostly moved on, at times switching completely from the zone of career they were in. Every industry has been evolving. The business world is about disruption and it has shifted to apps. Whatever was the latest trend yesterday, has changed into an obsolete today.

In that light, it would be fatal to think in terms of unplanned and laced with a ‘false sense of pride’ kind of a career move. Most people forget that career planning needs just one point to begin with: Objective of that move. Simply put, why would you want to move out of the existing career path?

First thing first, think “Why do I need to move out and get on to something different?” Is the reason fear of missing out? Everyone around is doing something of their own. Or if not freelance, more and more people around you are jumping jobs and getting hike with each move? Does that make you feel stagnant and left out? Or do you assume that the next move is absolutely known to you despite domain change.

High uncertainty and extremely competitive environment make ‘copycat’ career planning both a waste of time and potentially dangerous. A career plan based on others’ achievements can lead you into a false sense of confidence, where you fail to see opportunities as they arise. You also miscalculate taking steps you otherwise hadn’t planned for.

My suggestion here is, take a deep breath. Sit down with a paper and pen and respond to these.

Logical: Why do you want to move out? Is it only a desire that is fuelling your dream? What is that is lacking in the existing one? Is there a possibility that you might not succeed? What is the way out then?

Direction: How are you going to take on the new challenge? Is there a roadmap? It also means changes and developing new skills. Are you up for it? In the next organisation, there may be a younger team directing you. Are you okay with that too?

Strategy: Do you know how to discover and create opportunities consistent with that career move?

New place, new opportunities and, of course, new challenges will exist as change is inevitable but growth is no more optional when you decide to move on from an existing path.

The writer is strategic advisor and premium educator with Harvard Business Publishing