Career Planning 101

What's career planning? Scot Herrick at CubeRules says:

Career planning is really about a simple formula, given to me by one of my previous managers:

Performance + Skills = Opportunity

Performance means that no matter what the job, performance counts. This is consistent across many good managers that I’ve had the privilege of working for in my career. Performance, to potential managers of your skills, means that you will go into a position and be successful, regardless of the position.

Skills means that you have the necessary prerequisites to be able to perform in the position.

If you have skills and no performance, you are a person with potential. If you have performance, but not the right skills for a new position, you won’t be given the opportunity.

In short, a person can only control their performance on the job and the skills they acquire.

Scot's point is that there are many things in your work you can't control: your manager, the job market, your company's performance - and I'd add even more things, like the economy, the demand for your skills (which might high right now, but...) and the joys and pressures of life in general. So, it's important to pay attention to doing the best you can with the aspects that are under your control.

Career Planning: Dynamic Duo Drives Opportunities [Cube Rules]