Feeding Baby Elephants: Chapter 3: Making Tough Career Choices

Quote of the Chapter: “If you opt for a safe life, you will never know what it's like to win.”?― Richard Branson, Screw It, Let's Do It: Lessons In Life

Lets start from the beginning

Taking this job was the toughest career choice of my life. My job then was really fulfilling. I was doing exactly the things I liked, technical with a bit of everything. I had no idea what to expect on the next job. The work environment was the best anyone could ask for. My boss was teaching me to be a good leader and was giving me opportunities to shine. I was excelling, even getting an employee of the year award along the way. My job grade had just been upgraded from a B-level to a C-level (Patterson Job Grading). Above all these aspects, I had made some amazing friends there. In all my work life, this department ranks 3-fold on friendship. They are still my best friends even now, 7 years on. These are the people who stood with me when I lost a parent, when I got married, when I had my son, when we had birthdays. Whenever we had functions, they were top on my invitation list. Basically, I was comfortable. This was a safe place for me.

Then came this job offer. It was a 2 year contract, with no guarantee for renewal. This was a tough decision to make. When I got the call, around 3pm in the afternoon, I walked straight to my boss and said; "Mukoma (My Brother), I want to talk to you as my brother first and not as my boss". We had a chat about the offer and he gave me his advise. I digested everything and the next morning, I handed him my resignation. My wife was expecting our second child, my mom's memorial was weeks away, our wedding was less than 2 months away and my new boss was soon to tell me that we launch in exactly 30 days. It was like suddenly my life was overdosing on steroids, spiraling out of control. I still made the decision and made the move.

Three years later, I would be faced with another tough career choice. This time, it was changing departments. I had an excellent relationship with my boss, he had built me into someone much more that an actuary. I remember him to joking to some colleagues on how I had transformed and enhanced into thinking more like a business person and less like an actuary. I was transformed from just a number cruncher to a more complete professional. He had given me unlimited opportunities, everyday was a stage made for my success. I will talk more about this in the chapter on building a team. So here was that dilemma; my new role involved leaving this amazing boss who had groomed me and start working with a new boss in a new department. This could easily have been misread as preferring one boss over another. I remember my HR manager calling me to "understand my decision". The first thing I said to him was, "Let me be very clear to you, I am not choosing one boss over another. I am choosing pursuing my career path as I see myself in future. I am chasing a long term passion and dream"

So let me help you make tough career choices:

1. Be Objective: My first career decision was so clouded by emotions. I was leaving my friends. I was leaving my comfort zone. I was leaving a job I was respected. These are important aspects of any work environment, but there are other important things too. I was sure that there was no clear career growth path. I also had not encountered any new concept in over a year. I could do my job the whole day without even applying myself. I was doing everything in the department just to keep myself on my toes. I needed the change to keep me inspired and growing. These are critical things you have to look at objectively. List all the issues that you consider important in a job. Rank them in order of importance and score the two jobs against each factor.
2. Map you Career. Before you are even presented with an opportunity to make a tough choice, you need to have a clear career map. Its an overview of what you want to have achieved and when. Keep track of your core skills and areas that need improvement. When presented with a new opportunity, assess the areas on your map that will be impacted most. Also evaluate the areas impacted by you leaving your current job. When I was presented with my second opportunity, my career map showed that I lacked managerial experience. I needed experience in building a team and having a bigger team reporting to me. I knew my job then would not give me that opportunity. Looking at my career map; having just qualified as an actuary and also having more than 5 years experience, this was more critical than anything else.
3. Be ready to leave the comfort zone. My third toughest career choice is the one I did this year. The question I was asked the most was, "You have an amazing job, why are you leaving". I must admit, my previous job was one of the best jobs out there. The business was growing, hence more opportunities. It had oversight on two different departments (health and non-life) and two different fields of expertise (underwriting and actuarial). I had opportunities to influence the industry through my representation in the Insurance Council of Zimbabwe and also being a member of the reserving committee. Its the kind of place one would be happy to grow old in. It was comfortable. However, in my career plan, I needed to have experience in more than one market. Therefore here I am, learning completely new concepts in a totally new market.?