Managing your Career: Where to go now?

During the period when I was still studying at Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) for University of London International Programmes, I attended this wonderful workshop on career management and since then I planned a lot for my career. I shared about this career management technique briefly during the networking session at SIM last week and shall share more here with a few discovery I made myself.

MANAGING YOUR CAREER: LOOK 20 YEARS AHEAD & PLAN BACKWARDS

We were told to think about where we want to be in 20 years time after we graduate, then look at the relevant job advertisement of that position and work backwards. So for example, if I want to reach the position of HR Director in 20 years time, I will go and search for a job advertisement (best to be a few for better accuracy of the generic competencies required) on the position and look at the person specification on the requirements for the role. So if it says HR Generalist experience, I will have to think how to reach this stage. Either I can work as a HR Business Partner or have job rotation within HR function to get overview of the whole HR function. If I want to do HR consultancy in future also, then I might want HR Specialist route with internal rotation for generalist experience. Reason is because Compensation & Benefits experience will be useful for HR consultancy. Once I decide on the pathway to take for middle level, then I will continue to do the same until entry level and link everything together. As a student, I will then see what are the requirements for HR entry level and try to fulfil them as much as possible to close the gap to increase my chance of securing the job. If it is relevant work experience, then either work part-time in HR or do HR internship or HR temp jobs during holidays.

IF YOU PLAN TO CLIMB TO THE SENIOR MANAGEMENT OF THE WHOLE COMPANY...

To be a good senior management staff, you probably need to understand the whole company operations. This is why there are management trainee programmes for many big and successful companies (e.g. MNCs) as a means to develop their future leaders. In these programmes, graduates get to be exposed to a few job roles in different departments over the time span of 2-3 years (some companies have different strategies to develop future leaders though). These programmes serve a few purposes. Firstly, for you to understand the whole company operations so that next time as you head a department, you know how to coordinate with other departments (as you know what they are doing). Secondly, for you to find out your interest. It is important not only to have the ability but also the passion to perform well. Thirdly, for management to see which area you are more suitable for and to see your leadership potential. If they see you as one with potential and good performance, they will put you into their succession planning consideration to be next in line for higher position. Lastly, for you to network. When you know people from other departments, it is far easier for you to get things done much faster and easier. Such network is also a source of knowledge. It is impossible for any individual to know everything. You need to tap into others' knowledge. Of course, there may be other purposes as well but so far these are what I can think of.

Management trainee also can serve a purpose for fresh graduates who are unsure of what they want. It is perhaps the only way to jump from a job function to another to explore your interest without ruining your resume. You can always give the excuse that it is the programme in which you rotate, not because you do not know what you want.

Management trainee programmes are not easy to get into. Some of the criteria include having at least a Second Upper Honours degree from a reputable university, leadership skills and etc. As Management trainees are considered as talents that will be developed as future leaders, employers do not mind spending money to ensure they pick the right candidates for the role. Often, the first round would be some tests such as numerical, diagrammatic and verbal reasoning. Some may even ask you to write essays etc. A few may ask you to do personality test as well which I do not really like it as the validity of personality predicting performance is really very low and personality tests are not cheap. They can cost hundreds of dollars for a company for each test. Because the tests are not free (due to licensing rights, copyrights etc.), some companies may not even let you do the test unless you are deemed 'talented' in the first place. So coming from a reputable university background with good grades is important for such role. Other than these tests and interviews, there may be assessment centres where you will be placed into groups, given a task to complete as a group and you will be monitored how you work as a team, how you lead the group and how you solve the problems. It is not so much about the final result but more on the process as I was told by HR professionals in sharing session about assessment centres during my MSc Management & Human Resources at London School of Economics. Even if in the end your group gets first but in the process everyone keeps quiet and a person dominates the whole discussion as if its a one-man team, that person may not be considered as he is unable to get people to volunteer and help out. Imagine a CEO who keeps talking and the Management all keep quiet and do nothing. Can such company survive?

Also consider which company to join. There is a trend in Singapore that Singapore graduates prefer joining western MNCs than Singaporean MNCs. To them, it seems more 'prestigious'. But this may or not be a good move. If you really want to climb to the very top, notice that many MNCs will have their top management filled with their home country nationals. When I studied for my Globalisation & HR module for my MSc Management & Human Resources, I do notice that this is a common trend. A big bulk of operations are still in home country of MNCs and top management mostly filled by home country nationals. There is far greater advantage for home country nationals to climb to the top than others. 'Home country' refers to the country that the MNC originated from. For Singaporeans, if you want to get into top management, it is perhaps easier if you join a Singaporean MNC (e.g. SIA, ST, PSA, ComfortDelgro, Keppel, Sembcorp and SingTel).

That is all for today. I will write more about how to increase your chance to be even considered for an interview next time.