Supply Chain Career Videos by Alvis Lazarus | How to take right career decision?

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Article by: Alvis Lazarus, Supply Chain Consultant
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In this article I am going to discuss about a very important topic, “Taking the right career decision”. It is applicable for a fresher or an individual who wants to take a new job, leaving the old one. Here, I am going to tell you the different do’s and don’ts, while you have to take decisions regarding your career.
There are three baits that can lure you to a bad career decision. They are as follows:

• Fancy designation
• Fat packages
• Luxury that you enjoy in office

These are the three baits that can lure you to bad career decisions. I am not telling that they are not needed, but they should not influence your career decisions. Bad career decisions can hurt you in future. Once you move to a wrong path, it is very difficult to come back to the right track.
Fancy designation: Designation has the least importance. It does not matter what you are called compared to what you are actually doing that is what you are contributing and gaining as knowledge. There are people who are called as directors but they perform very diluted roles. Don’t go behind designation, find out the role and what you have to do.
Fat packages: Money is good. If the role is diluted you will be taking your monthly salary but you will not be able to learn or contribute towards your organization. This will make you lazy at office and your sharpness will also deteriorate. You will not be ready to take further challenges.
Luxury at office: I shall always say that office is the place to work not to enjoy luxury. Consider a situation when you are not able to take your own decision and you are left alone. Do you think that luxury at your office is going to console you in such situation and make you feel motivated to contribute? Its not. So these three factors are good but they should not guide you in taking career related decisions.
“Lets now find out what you should do.”
First and foremost, you should look for a well written job description. No matter what excuses are being given by the hiring manager, the HR or the consultant, you should always ask for a well-defined job description. Your future boss who is not willing to spent ten minutes for writing your job description, which is so crucial for this hire, do you feel he is going to spent time with you in future, so as to help you to solve your problems and for other activities. Unless you have a job description you don’t know what you are going to do or what is your role. So, without a proper job description you should never move forward with that opportunity.
Next, you should know your hierarchy in your organization. Its not only where you fit in, you should know exactly what your boss does and how his role moves up the corporate ladder. You should also know your peers and the people who are going to report to you. You should understand exactly how your role fits in the organization. This helps you in one thing. When you join an organization, the problem is always with growth. You may realize after joining that your role is stagnated. If you understand the hierarchy before joining to that role you will know exactly, what is your next step in the organization.
The third one is discussion with your hiring manager. Once you have got the job you will be spending most of the time with your boss. So, it is always better that you both are on the same page before you get into the job. So, without discussing with your hiring manager you should not be moving ahead with that role. You should have a detailed discussion regarding the expectations from you, your expertise, know more about the role, take his confidence on what all things you can add value and others.
So, these are the three things that you have to do while you are taking decisions on career change or regarding your first job.