Career Portfolio versus Career Path

I’ve been thinking a lot about the enormous transition that seems to be happening in the workforce today. Amidst so much change and uncertainty, how can we as leaders do better at finding talented employees – the people who make up the very foundation and culture of our organizations, the ones with whom we spend so much of our work lives? 

What if we changed our paradigm of recruiting and hiring? Could this set the stage for attracting outstanding candidates? In our Leadership Insight, Do You Have a Growth Mindset? we discussed how individuals with a growth mindset see challenges as opportunities to problem solve and learn. What if we looked at hiring for our organizations with a growth mindset?

For this month’s Leadership Insight, I invite you to read this HBR article, Why You Should Build a “Career Portfolio” (Not a “Career Path”) by April Rinne.

The article challenges strict, silo-oriented, career-path thinking, offering instead a wider lens through which to view candidates, all of whom are on a multifaceted, work-life journey.  Of course, skills and training still matter, but there is so much more to each person than what’s typically listed on a resume. As Rinne says, a career portfolio “includes your unique combination of skills, experiences, and talents that can be mixed, matched, and blended in different ways.”

Having written a few references for employees seeking to attend medical school, I’ve observed how limiting career-path thinking can be. It’s confounding to see a straight-A student with minimal life experience bypass one with good grades who also plays classical piano, has led wilderness adventure courses, and volunteered at a nonprofit before applying to medical school. In my mind, there is no question that experiences like these not only enrich the lives of the individual but will likely enrich your organization, as well, no matter your field.

Our world has been turned upside down by this pandemic. Maybe shaking up our viewpoints and paradigms regarding recruitment will provide a panorama of diverse candidates to consider for our organizations. I think it’s certainly worth a try.

Thank you for reading.  I always welcome your comments and input.  Feel free to reply. 

Lead well out there, 

Renee