I’m going to let you in on a secret that not many people realise about their careers.
You have the power to CREATE your own role.
I know this strategy works because I made this happen in my career.
Now, this may challenge your perception of how the job market works.
You see, the typical way people approach career advancement is by taking advantage of opportunities when they become available.
Either you’re searching job boards to see what positions are advertised.
Or you’re waiting in your current role until a new position opens up.
But there’s another approach you can take.
You may not believe you can influence the dynamics of an organisation – but you can.
You see, organisations are dynamic entities, not static entities.
It may not seem this way because organisations have defined structures in place so that people know who’s responsible for doing what.
But these structures are created because an organisation is trying to optimise itself for opportunities it can take advantage of.
And this means from time-to-time these defined structures need to change.
This is where you come in.
You have a particular set of skills, insights, connections and experiences that are valuable.
And if this value can further the interests of the organisation and its members, then why wouldn’t management be open to exploring how best to leverage you?
This means that if you have a job that you really want to do and it’s one which will really benefit the organisation, I would highly encourage you to consider creating your own role.
The way you do this is presenting a proposal to management.
You first want to get very clear on the opportunity you believe exists and frame this opportunity as best you can around the interests of the organisation.
Once you are clear on the mutual benefit, you can then have an open conversation with management about the prospect of a new position.
When you do this, remember that management may not have considered this prospect as much as you have, so it can take some time for them to be receptive to this proposal.
But if you’re able to open a dialogue which is in everyone’s best interests, then you should be able to move the conversation forward towards a new structure.
Obviously, the feasibility of this approach will be impacted by various factors. For instance, fast-growth start-ups will change their structures more quickly than large bureaucratic organisations.
But the principle is the same.
The key to career advancement is knowing you don’t just have to wait for roles to open up – you also have the power to create them.
Thanks for reading to the end of this article!
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