Is it me?
When it comes to career mapping, I don’t really get it…
I mean, I understand goals… and I understand job mapping—identifying the next position or two I might want and what I need to do to achieve them—but to map out a whole career…? I dunno… part of me sees that as dangerous.
After all, humans have a nasty habit of getting fixated on what we measure… so if I lay out a full career map, am I putting blinders on to all the opportunities that might hit me unexpectedly, or from an unanticipated direction? I have to imagine that the price of cutting out serendipity from my career progression would be steep—after all, how many people find the perfect job because they happened to be talking to the right person at the right time? Especially today, with so many people pursuing non-traditional, non-linear career paths!
And as for organizations using career maps to align similar jobs across different locations, man, I just don’t see it. Towers Perrin obviously does, but… well, two things: first, there isn’t a graphic in that document that I could understand at a glance, and in fact I needed the call out box on p6 to pull together for me what the document was trying to say. In short, the concept sounds like something cooked up by HR to solve a problem that may or may not be a problem. Second, the callout box on p.6 really turned me off: OK, so a company, through hiring, mergers, etc., ends up with people with similar titles but different salaries. That’s a problem for HR, sure… but is it a problem for the business? Maybe, maybe not. And even if it’s a business problem, is a cumbersome leveling process the right solution? What if the problem can be solved with a conversation between a manager and a subordinate? Like this: “The guys in Dallas have the same title but make more money than you, true. That’s because they do the same revenue as our office with half the staff. You make more sales, you’ll make more money, too.” And what if forcing everyone into fixed levels causes high potentials to feel stymied and leave? What did you accomplish then?
Here’s more of my thoughts and questions… Please help me understand.
Thanks!
Jason Seiden is Co-founder and CEO of Ajax Social Media, a training company that shows professionals how use social media to work more effectively.
I'm the CEO of Ajax Social Media. We're helping 1 million people shine by making their online stories better. 
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Liked your post (however the TP link isn’t working so not sure what you are referencing) and agree that trying to plan out one’s career in today’s organizations doesn’t work. However, a different variation on the theme is to develop experience maps for job roles that employees can use as a roadmap for developing themselves for the “next job” that they have their sights set on. Another way to use experience maps is with succession planning where rather than describe an individual as “Ready in 1-2 years” (what does that really mean anyway?) you can describe the particular experiences that individual needs to complete before moving into the new role. For example…Tom is one experience away from being able to move into the VP of X function.
MJ
@MJ—thanks, link fixed! And in terms of experience maps, those I like. Very helpful, and if you can avoid the irrelevant time-stamps, they are also flexible enough to accommodate life’s curveballs. Great point.
Couldn’t agree more with the notion that openness to serendipity is a vital part of almost any successful career (to say nothing of a rich and rewarding life). Here’s a very cool project that makes a similar point: http://lifeinperpetualbeta.com/.