Job Search Strategy 1/6: Getting Moved Internally

Getting Moved Internally…you can help make several cool things happen within your existing employer.

The obvious one is to get promoted. While this has become harder and harder, if you know the ladder you are climbing is the right one for you, working towards this can be a good thing. One should never hang the whole success of their career on the potential of promotion internally, but it is the classic way of moving ahead.

The other way to go is lateral…into a new job, assignment, or project. This strategy can open up new opportunities, put you in front of new people, challenge and stretch you. In today’s project economy, this is a solid way to keep variety and growth in your portfolio of work without waiting for the elusive promotion.

The third, and less obvious internal strategy is to redefine your existing job. It isn’t always possible, but with reorganizations and the changing demands of the market, often, without changing your job title, you can finesse a change in responsibilities, focus or accountabilities. Perhaps you can offload things that you hate to do or that you aren’t good at. Often, job dissatisfaction comes from a person to job mismatch. If you have the opportunity to fit the job to you, seriously think about it as a way of getting

Many people automatically look outside their current employer for a solution to their career problems. Often, the most obvious solution is internal. This is doubly valid when there is soft hiring market.

Think carefully about your options.