Looking for career advice? Here’s what I tell my friends and colleagues

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, business leaders have learned important lessons that will help reshape the workplaces of the future .

Many workers have also taken this time to re-evaluate their priorities — in both their work and personal lives. Despite economic uncertainty, millions of workers have chosen to leave their old jobs, some unsure of what comes next — some call this the "Great Resignation."?As a result, many employers face a significant labor shortage.??

Frequently, I get asked for career advice from people who are thinking about changing jobs. It may seem unusual to ask someone who spent nearly 40 years at the same company about changing jobs, but I believe insight from my experience, as well as coaching thousands of others, can help identify what people should be looking for when committing to a new company. I also know that switching jobs won’t solve every problem — sometimes it’s better in the long run to stay, fix what’s wrong, and create a better situation for yourself and others.

Whether you’re one of the millions of people who’ve already quit their job as part of the “Great Resignation” or you’re just starting to think about what you’d like to do next, here’s my job advice based on the lessons I’ve learned throughout my career.

Lesson 1: When thinking about changing jobs, ask yourself if you’re running TO something, or running FROM something.?

Whenever people tell me they’re thinking about changing jobs, I always ask them the same question: “Are you running TO something or are you running FROM something?”

When you change jobs, you should be running TO a new opportunity that really excites you. You should be leaving to join a company that’s a great fit, or to take on a new role you’re looking forward to working on every day.

You shouldn’t take a new job just to run away FROM your old one. Maybe you’re in a frustrating work environment — a bad boss, an overbearing travel schedule, feeling stuck in a role you’ve been doing for too long. If that’s the case, pause and try to address the issue. From my own experience, I found that if you’re working for a good company those issues can be resolved after your concerns are raised. A bad situation is often temporary, and outweighed by remembering the good things that brought you there.

At the end of the day, if you find that the issues are problems that can’t be fixed then you know it’s time to move on. Just remember, you still want to run TO a new job you’re passionate and excited about.

Lesson 2: Make the most of your current position by looking for ways to deepen and then share your knowledge.

A job isn’t just about WHAT you’re doing; it’s all about HOW you’re doing it.

Whatever it is that you’re working on — go deeper. Learn how it works. Learn the background. Research the science, the theory, the strategy, or the history behind it. Ask questions of the people who know more than you, and then dig deeper into those answers.?

When I was a junior systems engineer, I had to plan for the installation of big IBM systems. Before I tackled the assignment, I taught myself and apprenticed to learn how the systems worked. I helped my fellow engineers physically install the systems. I read all of the engineering books I could get my hands on. I didn’t want to just build a plan to get the systems installed (the WHAT of my job); I wanted to know HOW the systems worked.

And then, take what you’ve learned and share it with others. Respond to people when they ask for help. Volunteer to take on the extra project so you can teach others and share your experiences. In essence, you’re building a network that’s based on the knowledge you share, not who you know.

Lesson 3: The difference between a job and a career is doing what you love and working with a company whose purpose aligns with your own.

I never would have spent nearly 40 years at IBM if it was just another job to me. Instead, I built a career doing what I love, working with people I admired, and tackling new problems that challenged me to think and grow.

It’s unrealistic to expect that all of us can get paid to do exactly what we love every day (after all, there are some things that just need to get done). Therefore, it’s important that you at least work with a company whose purpose aligns with your own.?

My final piece of career advice would be that it’s important to acknowledge that staying on the right career path often requires stepping outside your comfort zone — because that’s the only way to grow. I may not have changed employers, but I changed jobs within IBM many times. And each time, I thought it would be my last. I was stepping into really hard jobs, and part of me was afraid I’d get fired.

But these experiences are what crystalized for me that growth and comfort never coexist. I was running TO risky challenges because I wanted to work on issues that were bigger and bigger. I focused on the HOW of my job — spending a lot of time learning and a lot of time sharing — building a deep network of people whom I had helped when they wanted help. And along the way I built a career, more than just a job, doing what I love and working for a company whose mission and purpose aligned with my own.