Thursday August 2, 2007

The Printable Career Assessment

by Mark Kraemer in Business

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A Rewarding Career is a Balancing Act

Inspired by David Seah’s Printable CEO Series, I’ve created a handy Printable Career Assessment (PDF – 16KB) to help me with regular checkpoints on managing my career. I hope you might find it useful as well.

You’re likely familiar with the project management triangle. A successful project requires proper identification and prioritization of time, scope, and budget. The same basic principle of balance can be applied to your career using the dimensions of intellectual, emotional, and financial rewards. Each of the three areas must be balanced appropriately if you’re to stay satisfied. While we all have limits and standards, there’s typically not a magic answer or level for any single dimension. A significant increase in one area could easily offset a disappointment in another.

Financial reward is fairly obvious. Am I getting paid what the market bears? Is that enough to help me reach my personal financial goals? Keep in mind there’s usually more to financial reward than just your wages. If you work for a company that offers health insurance and other benefits, consider their worth in this area. Stock options or other incentives for growing the value of your company are worth factoring as well.

Intellectual reward is about being challenged and satisfied with the type of work you’re doing. Are you working in areas you find exciting? Are you getting the opportunities you’ve been seeking? Or, is the kind of work you’re doing uninspiring? Use the intellectual reward area to rate what you think about the level and focus of your work responsibilities.

Emotional reward is how you feel about the work you’re doing and how it relates to the rest of your life and responsibilities. Are you having fun? Are you paid really well for doing really challenging and rewarding work but it takes 60 hours a week and leaves you with no time for friends and family? Some people might refer to this area as “work/life” balance, but that implies that there’s a distinct line between them. Regardless, the bottom line for this area is probably “do you enjoy getting up in the morning and coming in to work?”

Here’s another example of how the three factors might mix. There’s a large airline in town that has a reputation for typically paying at or below market salaries (minus for financial reward), but they have great travel benefits (plus for financial reward) and they have a really fun environment with flexible working hours (plus for emotional reward). That might mean that the specific project opportunities and kind of work performed (intellectual reward) is likely the deciding factor in the mix on if you would be satisfied working there or not.

Current State – Where am I now?

To use the Printable Career Assessment, rank yourself between no and yes in each category and explain why. Think hard, but not too long about the reasons why you’re satisfied or not with that area. Jot down some notes underneath; it can be very clarifying to see your reasons in writing.

Future Vision – Where do I want to be?

Happy or not, there’s always room to improve and move forward. Use the future vision column to express how you’d like to change this area over the next six months to a year. Use a shorter time frame if you’re particularly unhappy with that area.

Road Map – How do I get from here to there?

The journey from here to there starts with a single step. Students of GTD will recognize this as “what’s the next action I need to make this goal happen.” There’s likely a combination of things you need to perform yourself as well as resources or other commitments you need from your employer to move your ideas along.

Try using the Printable Career Assessment as a framework for the conversation around your next review. It’s a great way to organize your thoughts before a performance appraisal and help communicate what changes you’d like to see and demonstrate how they’ll help both you and your company. Refer back to it every month or so to see if both parties are keeping their ends of the bargain.

Thinking about switching jobs or changing careers? Project how you think the new gig would match up on these three levels as a way to see if the grass is really greener over the fence.

Download the Printable Career Assessment and let us know what you think.

Have other tips for maintaining a rewarding career? Share them with us in the comments.

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