Generating Opportunity

Overview

One of the reasons so many people find themselves in situations “beyond their control” is that they take a passive approach to their professional lives and careers. If you are lucky, as few are, then the opportunities for advancement or change will come your way just when you want them. Unfortunately, that is not the case for most of us.

So do not sit and wait. It is your career, so take charge of it. Waiting for opportunities to come to you doesn’t work, so make your own. The Achieve process explores the ways in which you can do just that – generate your own opportunities. This is about getting in the door at various companies and landing your dream career.

Opportunity Identification

Generating real opportunities in real companies is tough work. Know what you want, execute your Job Plan and activate your network. It is also about finding opportunities (white space) in your organization where talent is needed or holes need to be filled. One of the larger challenges is staying on-course during the mundane stuff such as: endless searches on job boards, discussions with recruiters and dealing with the frustration of not getting the offer or promotion that you expected.

Reviewing Goals

In order to clarify your target, identify organizations where you want to work for as part of an overall Job Search plan. Match your personality, skills, knowledge, expertise, and goals to different occupations and organizations to create your target list. Now you are about to meet with real employers to generate an offer, negotiate a compensation package, and prepare for a new journey.

For each opportunity you must assess whether it stacks up against the goals that you set for yourself earlier in the process. Take time to review, compare how each opportunity meets your goals by asking yourself some simple questions. The questions include:

• What salary goals did you set? What benefit and package goals? Did you meet or exceed those goals?
• What work environment goals were you looking for in this job/organization? How well does it meet those goals?
• What were your personal goals regarding your co-workers and management styles? How well does this job and organization meet those goals?
• What were your professional goals that led you to this organization and this job?
• What technical skills did you expect to gain from this job and organization? How do you see the organization/job helping you or enabling you to acquire those skills?
• What opportunities do you see in this organization?

Make sure to weigh the pros and cons of each opportunity.