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Tired of Your Job? Consider a Lateral Move
By Sarah Schafer Moving laterally - from one position to one similar in status and pay in the same company or another company - is perhaps one of the most underused and misunderstood plays when it comes to long-term career advancement. But, executed correctly, it could be one of the more savvy moves you can add to your playbook. The lateral move as a career no-no is a myth, said Beverly Kaye, president of Career Systems International in Scranton, Pa., and author of "Up Is Not the Only Way." "It might have been true years ago," she said. "It is not true now." Kaye notes that moving across divisions in your company, for example, can mean adding contacts. It also can help you gain perspectives you may never have gained by simply moving up. There's nothing like working in customer service, for example, to learn new ways of manufacturing your product. And face it, said Kaye, "[even] the fastest-growing company cannot put a vertical move in every deserving person's hand."
INTERNAL MOVES Once you've decided on a lateral move within your organization - either because you want to try a new department, you need to relocate to another part of the country or you need to acquire additional skills to be more attractive as promotion material - you need to figure out how best to convey your thoughts to your manager. Tony DeJoseph, general manager for human resources at Fairfax-based Mobil Corp. said he often talks to employees wishing to move laterally at Mobil. His first concern? "I want to make sure they're not running away from something," he said. If, for example, you've been having trouble getting along with the people in your department, or you haven't been dazzling your boss with your work, you might want to think twice about asking for a lateral move. Most managers can distinguish between an escapist and an employee who truly wants to add to his or her repertoire of skills. "The savvy employee will say [to his or her manager] 'I'm looking to expand in this way, here's an idea I've been thinking about, what do you think,'" Kaye said. In fact, Kaye said, it's okay to say to your boss that you're not ready to move up. Perhaps you are ready to move up in your section, but feel you'd like to try something new, or you need to stay in one location and therefore are limited in your ability to move into higher positions. This was the case for Susan Evans, business development adviser for global human resources for Mobil. Evans has worked at Mobil for 19 years. Recently she moved laterally from an office adviser to her current job in human resources. Evans is getting her MBA, with a concentration in human resources, at Virginia Tech's Northern Virginia Campus. Her recent career move, while a horizontal one, "has given me an opportunity to learn a whole new field," said Evans, who had no prior human resources work experience. If you're thinking that, like Evans, you'd like to try something completely different (moving from, say, sales to manufacturing) you might want to test the waters first. Chances are you'll have many opportunities to do this. For example, Jim Cox Jr., chief information officer of Lockheed Martin Mission Systems in Gaithersburg, said his company's employees can volunteer for assignments in other parts of the company. Remember, if you're jumping into an entirely foreign area, be sure to find out exactly what kind of a manager you'll be working for. "There's a lot of patience your new manager will have to have," said Wayne Davis, deputy program manager for administration at TRW Inc.'s Fairfax office, "If you're coming from engineering to marketing, you're going to ask some pretty stupid questions."
ACROSS COMPANIES Everyone knows that in today's business climate, hopping from company to company is more accepted than it was in yesterday's workplace. But if your hops are sideways, and not up, is that okay? That depends, DeJoseph said. When recruiting for Mobil, he looks carefully at rsums that show the same or similar job titles popping up under different company headings. If you've been a project manager at the last three companies you've worked for, then you need to prove you've added to your breadth of experience. For example, DeJoseph said, maybe in each successive job you've worked with larger and larger budgets. Or, maybe you went from managing five people to managing 100. Luckily, Kaye said, creative rsum writing can do wonders for the sideways-moving worker. Kaye suggests using an "experience resume" to highlight what you've done, rather than what your titles have been or where you've worked. For example, you might simply list the type of experience you've had (i.e. sales) with five paragraphs underneath it describing the various experiences or projects you've had. At the bottom of the resume, Kaye said, you can list the timing of these experiences, as well as company names and titles you've had. Downplaying this information will keep the reader's focus on what you did, Kaye said, rather than for whom you worked and under what title. As with the internal lateral move, be prepared to discuss motives in an interview. But don't feel you need to make up elaborate explanations, Cox said. As long as you can defend your moves in an interview, there's a good chance your choices won't be held against you. But remember, Cox said, "I'm going to check."
GOING DOWN Lateral moves may seem risky, but there's another career move that only the more daring workers attempt. Kaye calls this move "realignment," but any way you coin it, it means moving down. Why would anyone ever voluntarily take a demotion? For Wayne Davis, the answer was simple: He needed to pick up skills he had missed along the way. Six years ago, Davis was working as a senior director for human resources at TRW's corporate headquarters. Hoping to get a promotion that would make him the director of human resources overseeing several field offices, Davis approached his superiors and asked them what his chances would be to land this new assignment. "The people I was competing against had worked in and succeeded at field operations," said Davis, who had never worked outside of headquarters. When a manager suggested Davis work at a field office in California, instead of turning up his nose, Davis jumped at the opportunity. A year and a half later, he was promoted to the job he'd originally hoped for. Downward moves should never be taken lightly. Davis had one crucial thing working for him: management support. He and his managers had decided together that Davis needed this field experience to make him a better candidate for promotion. Therefore, he practically had a guarantee that should he succeed, he'd be on the short list for his dream job. But Davis said there's one final thing to consider before stepping down: If you fail in the lower position, "it's the kiss of death." No pressure.
Questions about getting ahead? E-mail Sarah Schafer at schafers@washpost.com
© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company |
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