Up or Out: Where Do You Want to Go at Your Job?

The revelation about how the recession is disproportionately affecting young people — even those with jobs — should keep us all on our toes. It looks like it might be easy for our career path to dead end. So, we might want to get behind the steering wheel and determine where it is we want to go.

I’ve heard friends complain that they don’t feel like there's any opportunity to move up the ranks with a bigger salary and title. (Of course, patience might find that in a few years there will be; it just might feel like there isn't opportunity now.) Some company cultures expect a revolving door of young people, who stay for a couple of years and then move on to the next best thing.

On the other hand, others feel like there isn’t enough impetus to help them become better and then move on to a different job. In other words, the company culture focuses on keeping employees around for the long-term and thereby not encouraging skills to move on to the next segment of their careers (which, let's face it, is the likely route for most people in their 20s).

Both of the above situations are easier to pin down and resolve, but the worst is ambiguity. I will call it the black hole, or being in a job with no future to move up OR out. The scariest thing is to sense that your manager doesn’t even know what you want to do with your life.

How does one climb out of the black hole? The key is to support your own ambitions — whether to move up the ranks or move up and out — without shaking the bridge you are on. That requires you to know the next step you want to at (up or out) to quietly work toward it until you get there.

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