Hire Your Replacement
By Alice LaPlante
Succession planning is a long-honored practice in human resources (HR) circles. But although it's standard for organizations wishing to buffer themselves against the untimely departure of their most senior IT executives, it's a relatively rare action for enterprises to take on behalf of their low- or mid-management IT positions.
Why not initiate your own personal succession planning? That's right -- actually finding, hiring (if necessary) and training your own replacement. Although that might have seemed like a risky proposition 12 months ago when IT jobs were scarce and pay raises seemed like little more than rounding errors, today it might be the best thing you can do to advance your career." Given today's shortage of qualified IT workers, grooming your replacement is a very solid strategy," says Mark McManus, vice president of IT research at consulting firm Computer Economics in Irvine, Calif.
Show What You Know
Training a protégé makes sense for a variety of reasons, all of which demonstrate that you are thinking strategically:
It removes potential barriers to promotion Ironically, being too good at your job in a time of scarce personnel resources could actually work against you. "It's a candidates' market for IT jobs," says Tim Bosse, executive vice president of recruiting giant Hudson's IT and Telecommunications Practice, in Philadelphia, Pa. As a result, your company may be having trouble finding high-caliber people who possess the right mix of technology, managerial and people skills that you do. (article continues)
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