Take Ownership of Your Career, No One Else Will

Posted on October 20, 2008
Filed Under Career Development

Webster’s dictionary defines ownership as: the state, relation, or fact of being an owner; also : the rights or interests of an owner. I like the last part; ‘the rights or interests of an owner’. Whether it’s your house or car or golf clubs, something that’s yours means that you have an interest, but it also means you have a responsibility. No one is going to fix your car or house without you doing something first, you have to take the initiative. Same is true in protecting those resources, you have to take out insurance and otherwise protect your investment.

Your career is no different. You alone have an interest in it, you alone are responsible for protecting and improving it. Just like your house, if you don’t take care of it, it will eventually fall down. Maybe not literally, but certainly figuratively. Here are some ways to own your career:

Be proactive, not reactive. In the same way you don’t wait until the grass is a foot tall to mow it, don’t wait to provide a little maintenance to your career. Too many people stay in crappy jobs because they’re scared to try anything else. If you don’t like your job, find a new one and it doesn’t have to be at another company. Employers don’t want to lose good employees. It costs them thousands of dollars to do that, plus months to train the new person and they have no guarantee that the person they hire will be any good. Also, companies love to hire from within, you’re a known entity, the company already knows you and your track record, you’re the safe bet. If you’re not happy with your current job start looking within your own company. You’ll be surprised how easy it may be.
Fix what’s broken. If your problem is a lousy boss, fix it. That’s right fix it. No one else will if you don’t do something first. Now sadly you can’t fire your boss, but you can try to make things better. First talk to your boss, tell them how you feel. If he/she isn’t open to your views, then at least you know where you stand. If your boss is abusive or harassing you, you may want to escalate the problem to their supervisor or to HR, but beware, starting down this path can be treacherous. A better option might be simply change your job. Again you don’t have to leave your current company, start looking internally. Talk to your friends and co-workers and see what may be available. And look on your companies intranet if they have one; internal jobs are frequently posted there. Once you find a job you’re interested in, go talk to the manager of that position before you talk to your boss. That’s right before. Take him or her for coffee, tell them you saw the position and would like to learn more about it before formally applying for it. This will give you a chance to meet your perspective new boss and get a feel for him/her. It will also give you some feedback on if they’re interested in you. If it’s a good fit you’ll know and then you can go through the proper channels. Believe me this happens all the time and I’ve done it myself.
Don’t become stagnant. What I mean here is that you should constantly be trying to improve yourself professionally. Whether that’s taking additional courses in your field, taking on new challenges at work, or polishing your skills in other ways like blogging, don’t stand still. Remember it doesn’t always have be with a promotion in mind, sometimes it’s just about creating value within your organization. The better you are at what you do the more valuable you are to the company, which translates to job security and more opportunities and yes, more money.

Folks I don’t have to remind you that the economy is a mess, as is the stock market and the real estate market. In a nutshell there’s lots of instability in corporate America and we’ve already seen layoffs and I expect we will see more in the months to come. If you haven’t done so already take ownership of your career, don’t wait for the rain to buy an umbrella.

Until next time…
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