No One Cares About Your Career Except You & Your Mum - To Get Ahead You Need a Development Plan

Successful people rely on planning, not luck

Image created on Canva by author

Some people like to imply that their life is effortless. Their ideal job or partner just dropped into their lap with no effort. I used to believe their stories and feel jealous that jobs and boyfriends didn’t fall out of the sky into my lap.

“I just got shoulder-tapped for a job. The pay is so much higher, and the people are amazing.”

“Hey guess what? I’ve just got engaged! I wasn’t even looking; I was happy to be single.”

Later, I heard that the colleague who got the great job had been preparing for that role for years, and the friend who had just got engaged had been out there, going on dates week after week until she met someone.

Society makes us think that trying to get what we want isn’t cool. It’s better to be thought of as someone with innate talent than someone who works hard.

So, people pretend their accomplishments come easily. They are the chosen ones of their own hero story.

But that leaves the rest of us wondering why these opportunities don’t appear out of the nowhere for us. Is it bad luck? Are we destined to be forever single, making meager pay in a low-level job? Are we inherently unworthy?

No, no, and no.

Once I discovered that these good luck stories were just that, stories, I realized that we have more control over our lives than we think. All it takes is planning followed by action.

Planning + Action = Results

When you prepare to take advantage of opportunities that might come your way, you get lucky. When you’re not prepared, you miss out.

If you want a new job, you need to prepare because no one cares about your career except you and your mum—not your colleagues, not your boss, not your best friend.

As a Learning and Development Manager, part of my role was creating development plans. Sometimes, the plan was to get someone up to speed with their job, and sometimes, it was to help them move into their next role.

I’m assuming that you already know what your next role will be. If not, go back and work that out before taking action. Otherwise, you may take the wrong action or end up in a job you don’t want.

If you’re not sure, here are some career path examples:

Created on Canva by author - Examples only, you’ll know your career path better than I do :-)

Now that you know the role you are aiming for, there is a simple three-step process that will help you get it:

• Identify the skills and experience you need to get an interview and be selected for that role

• Do a matching exercise to work out what skills you are missing

• Make a Development Plan to get those skills

A Development Plan is simply a plan detailing how you will get the skills you need. For example, in the image below, you need nine skills to get your ideal job. You’ve already got four, so there are five left to work on.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Created by author on Canva - Took me ages to line up all the boxes!

Step One - What skills do you need to get an interview and be selected?

Let’s assume you are a Customer Services Team Leader and want to become a Customer Services Manager.

You will have to:

• Get an interview for a Customer Services Manager role

• Get selected for a Customer Services Manager role

So, let’s work out what skills must be on your CV to help you do that.

You can easily find what employers are asking for by looking at:

• Job adverts

• Position descriptions

• The LinkedIn profiles of Customer Service Managers

You can also talk to:

• People who are already in these roles

• Your boss

• Whoever hires for this role in your organization

You can do most of this research on the internet if you have to; you just have to do a lot of Googling.

When conducting your search, generate as many query variations as possible.

Position Descriptions for Customer Services Managers

Job Descriptions for Customer Experience Managers

Remember to use recruitment agency sites to search for vacancies as well as online job search tools and Google.

You could also use ChatGPT, though I wouldn’t rely on it exclusively as it will spit out generic answers.

Aim to get five or six position descriptions or adverts for your ideal role in your industry. It doesn’t matter if these jobs are not local, we’re information gathering not applying for a job.

List all the skills and experience required from every source. Do a sense check to make sure these roles are ones you would apply for, and in your industry.

Requirements for the Customer Experience Manager for a bus company would be different from that of a bank.

For the Customer Services Manager role, the skills could look like this:

Created by author on Word - With much angst about which colors are easy to read.

I’ve used three position descriptions I found on the internet, listed the skills required, and highlighted similar skills. You’ll need to do it for five or six.

The core skills look like this:

• Experience in leading a team in a customer service environment

• Proven record of achieving customer service KPIs

• Extensive experience in customer support with the ability to build strong customer relationships

• Effective communication skills, both written and verbal

• Excellent standard of English

• Outstanding organizational skills and the ability to multitask

• Proficiency in Word, Excel, Outlook, and the Microsoft suite

• Proficiency in Customer service software & the ability to keep up to date with new technology

• Strong interpersonal, networking, and relationship-building skills

• Collaborative approach with the ability to give and receive feedback

• Strong problem-solving skills

• Resilience and the ability to drive change

If you have these skills plus a few years of experience in your industry, you’ll have a much better chance of getting an interview.

Step Two - Match your skills to what you need to apply for the job

Ok, it’s time to go through the list of skills and assess whether you have them. Be honest, no one is looking except you.

Your assessment might look like this:

Image created by author on Word - We’re into the black and white working documents now!

This is a typical example for a Team Leader who wants to apply for a management role. The areas where further training is needed are highlighted in yellow.

New leaders struggle with business writing, organizational skills, giving constructive feedback, and computer skills.

Your list, of course, will be very different.

Step Three - Make a Development Plan

Now that you know which skills you need to get the role you want, take your highlighted skills gaps and brainstorm how you could learn those skills.

Remember, training is not always a course. There isn’t a ‘Train Jane up from being a Customer Services Team Leader to Customer Services Manager at XYZ Company’ course.

That’s why we create Development Plans. To get you started, create a table like the one below, and put in all the ways you can think off to get the development you need.

This will give you some options to explore.

Created by the author on Word - Remember, the last column is a brainstorm of what might be possible

If you can, ask your employer to help with your development and fund some of it. Explain that upskilling will make you more valuable to the organization.

Sometimes, asking your manager is impossible, or they say no to the training. If that happens it’s up to you to get your development on your own.

Luckily, there is a massive amount of training online, some free.

Look at:

• YouTube

• TedTalks

• LinkedIn Premium

• Coursera

• Teachable

• EdX

• Google

• Substack

• Books (Libby, the library app is free)

• Podcasts

• Masterclass

• Documentaries

• Interest groups on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media platforms

If in doubt, Google ‘free training for XYZ’ and see what comes up.

Google is your friend, ChatGPT, not so much

Also:

• Ask friends, colleagues, and family if they can mentor you in any skills you need.

• Ask your manager if you can help with projects or stand in for them when they are away on holiday.

Once you’ve determined where to get the training you need, put some KPIs around it and create a Development Plan. Include providers, costs and timeframes.

Created by author on Word - Last one, promise!

I've assumed in the example that your manager supports your training, and the organization is happy to pay for some of it. If this isn't the case, you can still go ahead on your own.

This may involve paying for courses and taking leave days to attend but remember that there are masses of free classes on the Internet. Just remember to include the word 'free' in your search.

Self-funding will cost you, but at least you don’t have to ask for permission.

Takeaways

These are the main points to remember:

• No one cares about your career development except you. and possibly your mum.

• Therefore, you must be the one to take action.

• This means you must take the time to plan how you will move to the next step in your career.

• If your organization isn't willing to pay for your training, you may have to use your annual leave and your own money to get it.

• Self-funding is painful financially, but at least you don’t have to ask for permission

Action Points

• Work out what the next step in your career looks like

• Use your detective skills to find position descriptions and job ads and compile a list of skills you'll need to get an interview and a job offer

• Highlight the missing skills.

• Make a plan to get the training you need

• Carry out the plan

If you’ve got any questions, please leave them in the comments.