EngineerHer

I know, I know. We haven’t even hit the midpoint of October yet and I’m already mentioning November. I’m sorry. And yes, I am about to talk about career planning again. I’m sorry for that as well.

Y’see, my darlin godfather passed away during Covid and I’ve not had a chance to visit his grave. Cos it’s in Derry, which is a good 5+hrs drive away. But a few weeks ago, I was in Belfast for a conference on how to use LinkedIn better (more on this later) and took the opportunity to visit.

It was a typical Irish graveyard visit. I brought him pink roses cos he would have hated them. I met his wife and we had a 10min chat by the grave, then adjourned to her car cos the weather was wild.

Nothing to do with careers or engineering, but since visiting the graves is a big thing in November in Ireland, it got my mind thinking about the month.

Why am I calling November a career month then?

Well, alright, we all know the hiring market slows down a bit in November. That’s just experience and for a lot of people, just surviving the end of the year is the focus now, and any and all major life decisions are being pushed to the new year. So why think about career planning now? You may be considering calling me a bit cracked right now.

Totally understandable. For most agricultural societies – which is how most humans developed, remember – the winter months are the ones where there might be no less work but it’s less frantic. This is the time there’s more time indoors, contemplating, building relationships, telling stories, sharing experiences, etc, etc, etc.

In the corporate world, it’s when we start looking at performance reviews, which have a heavy influence on promotions, pay rises and bonuses. Y’know, when your boss suddenly remembers she did agree goals with you a few months ago…

It’s also when performances are calibrated against other teams and departments. The narratives are forming. So it’s kinda your last chance to give your manager the ammunition they need to sell your case to a wider audience.

I once sat in a room for a calibration activity, and my boss was pushing back against my high score for a team member. The best possible outcome happened. Everyone else in the room made my argument for me. This person was just performing away and getting the work done and generally making everyone else’s life so much easier that other managers were advocating for her.

Perfect scenario for me!

But what if you’re not in that position?

It’s rare, let’s be honest.

And half the time, even if a manager thinks you’re that good, they’re also considering who else needs a pay rise, where you sit against their own team, what your needs and aspirations are versus someone else. And sometimes – who’s likely to leave and what impact that will have on them. Not the business, although any manager will couch the argument in business terms. What really matters to any manager is the impact you have on the people, priorities and problems they deal with every day. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll have career planning talks throughout the year with my team – but there are always some would have a greater impact on me personally than others. And that’s different to the ones that would have a greater impact on the business.

So, now is the time to gather your receipts. Get ready for that performance review. Sit down and work through what you have achieved this year and what the impact to the business was. Now, I work in maintenance – very often my impact is something along the lines of “I didn’t stop the business from running and when it did stop. I got it back on track as quickly as I could”. (Copilot or your AI of choice will help corporatise this wording!)

But there will have been specific examples when the proverbial was going to hit the fan and you stepped in and either solved or mitigated the problem.

• When part number XYZ was delayed on delivery, I sourced an alternative to tide us over until it arrived
• I had a procedure in review that saved us an audit finding cos we had already discovered the problem and were fixing it
• I successfully rearranged the planned maintenance on Line 3 to remove 4 hours of downtime a month

I know none of this sounds massive, and they’re only examples, but seriously – start gathering your data now.

Orlagh, I can’t remember last week, never mind January

OK, so from next year, you’re going to keep a list, week on week, of achievements and wins throughout the year. Consider it part of your usual career planning.

But for this year, there are a few things you can do:

• Look back over your calendar – you will remember the painful meetings
• Consider your emails – you remember something you were having a tough time in dealing with with John Smith – search for all the emails you have from him. (OK outlook isn’t the best here, but try…)
• Look over your notebook, planner or diary – those scribble notes contain a lot of information.
• Ask other people. Seriously – see what your team or others remember you doing this year.

It’s not easy, but the performance review is worth putting time into.

And like I said, next year, you can put systems in place to make this easier.

What if you think your future lies elsewhere?

Well then you have time. Not loads of time. But more than you’ll have in January when everybody else suddenly decides they want a new job too. It’s our most precious resource. And it’s one we can’t make more or or get back. So the best time to start is now.

With all those platitudes out of the way, here’s what I really mean.

Think about what you really want. I mean, deep down. OK – deep down, this time of year, most of us are thinking “lotto win”. Grand – then make sure to buy a bloody ticket.

But longer term, and just on the off-chance that lotto win doesn’t come through… let’s think abut what it is you really want from your job. Because creating a career you love isn’t really about the job title. It’s about whether your career supports the life you actually want to live.

• What’s the pay range?
• Commute length?
• Holidays per year?
• Training you want to complete?
• On site vs hybrid vs remote work?
• Tasks, initiatives, projects you want to be involved in?
• Tasks, initiatives, projects you really, really don’t want to be involved in?
• Level of seniority? (Higher isn’t always better)

There is so much you can change in any job that doesn’t necessarily mean upheaving your entire career. So think broad as well as deep….

Finally….

If you’re reading this and thinking “I know something needs to change, but I’m not sure what”, feel free to book a conversation with me. Sometimes you don’t need answers immediately. Sometimes you just need someone asking the right questions.