Your career is your life’s business. As companies assess their market, you, too, must navigate risks and opportunities. Proactive awareness is vital in today’s evolving landscape, shaped by technology, policies, and personal factors.
The ever-changing landscape shouldn’t cause fear or insecurity but encourage you to take action for career freedom. Knowledge counters fear.
To understand your professional value in the market, make conducting ongoing market research a part of your career planning strategy to stay well-informed and adaptable. Remember, market research isn’t job hunting or search; it’s about gaining insights for informed career strategic planning, which extends beyond immediate job goals.
Crafting a strategic plan requires looking ahead for at least a year or two. If you don’t have a true strategic career plan, market research is essential for its creation.
Market research helps you evaluate upcoming opportunities and risks. While creating new goals and development plans, you might identify short-term opportunities or threats that can shape your Career Plan. In essence, staying informed and conducting thorough research is key.
Research Within Your Company
The first rule of conducting market research for your career is to start with your current company. You have a relationship with and some responsibility to your current organization, and it’s where you should first explore career possibilities. This authentic approach capitalizes on your existing strengths.
Initiate your research by sharing your Career Plan’s core aspects with your direct leader. A well-defined purpose and goal-oriented plans display your long-term commitment to genuine growth. Before market research, complete your unique Professional and Personal Inventory and Goals, aligning with your values and purpose. Thoroughly know yourself, both professionally and personally, before assessing opportunities. Craft a CareerTruth career plan that evolves with insights from your research.
Know yourself and them: When engaging with your current company, prepare by knowing yourself and your organization well. Discuss with your leader possible development avenues, including their insights on your growth areas. Your workplace should be a secure space for exploration.
Make time: Market research requires time investment beyond your current role. It’s an investment in your career’s future, distinct from your daily tasks. Be open with your leadership about your endeavors. Their response is part of your research.
Take it to your leader: If your leadership supports your strategic career planning, that’s wonderful – you can gain knowledge freely. If not, seek insights outside. Where else to research? Since you’ve crafted a solid career plan, explore insights beyond your organization in industries where your transverse skills are valuable.
If you are between jobs or companies and once you are working in your next organization, keep this rule front of mind – You must do the good research within your company first so you can maximize the value of your existing strengths before you consider a required change. Yet, the full market research requires understanding what is happening in the overall market that includes other companies, which you can bring to your current company.
Research Within Your Industry
Become a dedicated industry student. Your industry brims with information sources. Analyze companies within your ecosystem – those your company interacts with, competes against, or services. However, safeguard your company’s privacy during these discussions. Remember, this research nurtures your growth and doesn’t need to include proprietary details about your company.
Online resources offer valuable data and current insights for market research within your field. But, make sure to engage with peers and industry leaders for comprehensive understanding.
Leverage Your Knowledge: Your existing expertise makes your current industry a natural focus. Your input holds weight in relevant conversations.
Enhance Your Skills: Research not only aids your insights but also boosts your job performance. Present fresh perspectives during meetings based on your findings.
Impress Your Leaders: Demonstrating commitment to research highlights your dedication. Leaders recognize your genuine intent and professionalism.
Forge Connections: Meeting new individuals and seeking insights expands your network. This offers skill-development opportunities beyond your current role.
Research the Market to Apply Your Skills Transversally
Expand your research beyond your current industry to encompass functional domains that utilize your core skills across sectors. Industries such as pharmaceuticals, commercial real estate, consumer products, or B2B services could align with your transversal skills. These skills could encompass digital technology, people strategy, financial management, sales leadership, or general management.
Numerous industries seek these functional proficiencies, especially when your current company adheres to best practices and has a great reputation.
Your life stage and priorities might influence targeted research. Consider aligning with an area that closely resonates with your purpose, even if it doesn’t directly correspond to your current work season. Such an approach widens your options while ensuring your career serves a meaningful purpose.
Be Bold and Creative: Explore organizations where your current role aligns with industries of interest. Prioritize those where you can share insights as best practices or offer new growth opportunities. For instance, if you excel in digital capabilities within a B2B model, connect with businesses lacking a strong digital presence. Similarly, if you’re in a large corporation with exceptional financial systems, target companies needing financial restructuring for growth.
Pursue Diverse Research: Engage in meaningful conversations across various business types. These discussions exemplify Open Networking—an invaluable skill that fosters learning and sharing.
Align with Purpose: Research organizations that resonate with your mission. These could span nonprofits, quasi-governmental entities, or for-profit ventures. Identify how your skills can contribute to their growth and purpose.
Engage with Purpose-Aligned Organizations: Reach out to leaders aligned with your purpose. Inquire about their mission, growth strategies, and needs. Offer support gradually, starting small and potentially expanding over time. Remember, this isn’t a job search but a research process. Ideate, brainstorm, and network with intention. Your research evolves through multiple interactions, fostering Open Networking effects.
Embrace Diversity: Research organizations of varying sizes, scopes, and types. Valuable career challenges and growth opportunities exist in companies of all sizes—local, global, public, private, or nonprofit.
Continual Learning: Maintain an ever-curious approach. Your research serves as a wellspring of innovation, driving your own growth and business development.
As the business landscape evolves with technology and dynamics, proactive awareness becomes your compass. Your research aims to attain knowledge that empowers you to thrive through any career season or challenge. Keep the spirit of inquiry alive, seeking insights that fuel your professional and personal growth. Reaching out to leaders within your company, the industry you currently serve, and even more broadly, will serve to illuminate the possibilities and paths for your career.
Be a person “of” the market. Consider the market research to be the continuous analysis of the landscape of your career in the opportunities and risks to the business of your life that encourage your growth and development, not just a job. Leverage your knowledge gain in market research to pursue new responsibilities or Big Ideas. Your ability to research, seek understanding, gain feedback on ideas are the currency of your meetings in the market.