Build a Career Advisory Board
Time to hail your C.A.B.
If you have followed my blogs for the last several years, you know that I am a fan of developing quick and easy acronyms to reinforce career management ideas. I started to do it when I moved from the corporate world into higher education and students and faculty seemed to remember my little phrases and so they just stuck. The C.A.B. concept is one of those little acronyms that I have used for years to explain the concept of a Career Advisory Board.
Imagine a cab (taxi, Uber, Lyft - you name it, the principle is the same) ride that will get you from point A to point B — the concept of this C.A.B. is the same – it is a vehicle or a method that will help you get from one point to the next point in your career. Whether you are a new, emerging professional or an experienced professional, there is value in developing your own C.A.B. If you have to grow or change in an ever evolving workplace, you will need all the help and support you can get. That is the value of a Career Advisory Board.
You get to decide who will ride in your CAB!
Success in today’s workplace requires that we are able to evaluate information from multiple sources and come up with the best course of action for us. There is room in your C.A.B. for many people. Potential riders could include former supervisors, team coaches, mentors, career coaches, professors, pastors, parents, entrepreneurs or human resource managers.
Your goal should be to evaluate the advice and perspectives coming in from your Career Advisory Board members and filter out the best, most relevant information to use and apply. Just like Google maps, your C.A.B. can help you take detours, identify short cuts or show you many ways to successfully navigate your route.
Your Career Advisory Board doesn’t have to be large. My recommendation would be between five and ten people. These are folks you will tell about your professional goals, your milestones and who you know you can count on to support your initiatives and goals.
If you want to step up your networking game too, invite them all to dinner or find a way to connect them to each other. Let them know they are riding in your C.A.B. with you and show your appreciation often and in meaningful ways.