CAREER PLANNING.

I have had a successful career so far in progressing an engineering career to the rank of Vice President, a career in a professional to the rank of President, and having published 15 books. One might almost think I planned the course of my career.

I was once asked by a group of students that very question: "How did you plan your career?"

Well, to start with I had some very well defined goals.

FIRST OBJECTIVES: Go to a good university and study mathematics, take a job in mathematics, and win the Nobel Prize. Well, two out of three isn't bad since the Nobel Prize is still to come. That's about as much planning as I did.

Coming out of University I had two job offers to work in mathematics. I chose the one with the smaller salary because the organization was a better one and I enjoyed ten years with them working up to the rank of Senior Scientist.

However, the work slowed to a crawl so I decided to move. The move involved emigration to a new country. However, I had experienced the United States for a year on a fellowship so it was not entirely strange to me.

Mathematics and the management of a scientific department to a rank of Fellow Scientist and Third-Level Management reporting to the General Manager occupied my time for the next sixteen years. Not much of this involved career planning other than working competently.

Only once did I have to take an active part in making a change I complained bitterly on one occasion that I didn't seem to be making progress and that I wanted to get into management. I must have been convincing because I was made a manager within a week.

LESSON 1: Some times you must be a squeaky door but you must be sure of your position to do so.

Then a project was cancelled and the company let over 900 of us go. Fortunately, I had good contacts through my professional society and I landed a better position with another company within a few months.

LESSON 2: Network before you need the network but then don't hesitate to use it.

After another four years on the West Coast of America another project was cancelled and another 900 of us were without a position. Fortunately, my network worked again and I found a senior management position in another company in yet another country: Canada. There was still not much planning in this career.

Canada is simply too cold so I took another active part in my career and returned to the States for yet another international company and stayed with them for seven years as Vice President. I had to leave them at the 'retirement' age of 65.

Then I became a full-time writer since I had dabbled in writing for the previous forty years. Now I could spend time on it.

LESSON 3: Don't be scared of change. Change is opportunity.

Learn more about this author, John Graham.
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