Each new job sounds good when you start, but how can you tell that offer you are about to accept is really going to move your marketing career forward?
At its core, each career transition has three components, call it the “career success triangle.” If you are high quality marketing talent, you want to make sure all three are positive, in order for the move itself to be considered successful.
Ultimately, there are no guarantees and things may change after you start, or there will be things that impact your transition that you have no knowledge of at the time of your decision. All one can do is make the smartest decision with the information that is available to them and hope for the best.
The best place to start is to make sure these three items are in alignment with your ultimate career goals.
- Role – Is the role a step forward in your career? Is it either a step-up in responsibility with a like size organization or a lateral move to a larger company? Additionally does it move you forward on your path to your long-term career goal?
- Manager – Are you about to go to work for someone you respect? Most importantly, someone you can learn from? Someone you will enjoy working with everyday for the next three – five years?
- Company – Are you about to go work for a great company? Is it growing? Is it in an industry that will grow? Are you passionate about what the company does? Do you see yourself as someone who fits well into the culture? Do they have a defined culture? Can you grow your career without having to leave the organization?
Ultimately on you can decide what is going to be the best career move for you. How much you are moving away from pain or towards gain? How each step you take puts you on the path to your ultimate career goal.