Planning an exit strategy
- Nadine Wessel
- Sep 13, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 16, 2022
Are you not enjoying your work anymore? Perhaps been unsuccessful with an application for promotion or needing to move locations – then you need an exit strategy. The best reason to have your own exit strategy is it gives you the power to make the change that is best for you. In a perfect world an exit strategy is ideally a 3-6-month plan. Less than 3 months could leave you feeling pressured to take a job that doesn’t quite fit your career or life plan, which is okay, but you will need to accept it.
First things first. What do you have in savings? If the job situation goes downhill quick (perhaps you were in a resist, retaliate position that I discussed in my post 3 Choices when experiencing change) then how are you going to make ends meet? My advice would be to not quit out on a job without having something in the back pocket. A wad of cash helps and will give you some breathing space in the short term.
Second, set the plan. What is your timeframe, when do you want to be out by? Having a clear idea of timing is good to keep you focussed on the horizon. This also helps with preparing your resume and cover letters when applying for roles. The resume needs to be up to date, for me this means with a professional photo and no more than 5 pages long (with an appropriate level of white space). After being involved in countless recruitment panels. If you write a resume that is 12 pages long. I can guarantee you, this does not adequately convey an ability to strategically communicate at an executive level. Nor is a recruitment panel interested in what you did in 1988 in a field that is completely unrelated to the job you are applying for. Be smart, read the job advertisement, respond to how you can match the job requirements. There are online services to help you write a resume, or just go talk to a colleague in the Human Resources department, or a friend that has role you aspire to and get their feedback. This will be cheaper and quicker for you.
Thirdly, lay the groundwork. Here you start sounding out people you know, with your pitch of “hey, I’m looking to move into XYZ area, just putting it out there if you hear of anything come up”. You could be starting to grow your network in the area you want to move into, attending an event to network (more on networking in a future post), or just flagging with your boss that you would like to expand your horizons.
I used to be so scared of telling anyone my plans. Assuming they would be so judgemental and that my current colleagues would despise me for wanting to leave. When I joined Government, I was literally shocked by the openness of people applying for other roles. But now I’ve come to realise that it’s important part of moving on and up, to be open and not hold shame for wanting to grow and develop yourself. Plus, the amount of opportunity that opens up when people around you know what you want to do next is very inspiring. I have written my own role descriptions not once but twice in my career by sharing openly about what I want to do next. It is possible, back yourself.
Lastly, eye on the prize, start applying for jobs, number one rule is to always call the contact on the job advertisement before submitting your application. Introduce yourself, explain why you are calling, ask them “if now is a bad time to ask a few questions in regards to the role”. Taking inspiration from the book Never Spilt The Difference by Chris Voss, Voss suggest that by asking “if now is a bad time”, usually elicits a “no” response, this is GOOD, this demonstrates they have the power. You want them to feel this.
Now the power is yours with the following left, right, uppercut questions and a knockout punch at the end to your potential future employer:
What does success look like in this role?
You want to understand what attributes or skills they are seeking, often they will talk about the business deliverables, so if they say “growing revenue” you can play to your sales experience, or if it’s about “leading the team” you can amplify your leadership and team culture skills.
Who are the key stakeholders to this role?
You want to know who are the important people to this role that you would need to keep happy, is it the C-suite, customers, or employees? Get them to talk about who has the biggest influence and whom you would need to spend 80% of your time working on to keep happy.
Why is the job being recruited for?
Sometimes this may be covered in the advertisement, it could say “due to a growing market share or blah, blah, blah” so really ask, what’s driving the need for the role, what is the problem they are trying to solve? If they say that the last 3 people in this role only lasted 2 months then that could be a red flag!!
Bonus question: What is your timing for recruitment?
Get them to outline a timeframe, when will they do interviews, do they have a potential start date. This shows you are an organised and successful person so you’ll need to plan for time in your schedule for an interview and possibly finish up other commitments before starting a new role.
However, important point, do not use the phone call with the job contact to sell yourself. They don’t know you from soap, and probably don’t care about you, yet. So ask the four questions, see if they ask you anything and if they don’t, do not blab about yourself. Thank them for their time, hang up and pat yourself on the back for securing the golden information to write the best cover letter of all time. I’d wish you luck, but you are already 90% ahead of the other applicants.
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