The `"What do you want from work / my career" question?
1. From work - enjoyment.
2. From career - as much money as I can earn while I still can. See point 1.
Simple.
Anyone says anything else different is lying or clueless ... 🙄
What do you want from work / my career?
Just to keep getting away with it before anyone notices really 🙂
Funny thing is in theory I am supposed to have an appraisal every year and do a pdp. I never have in over 30 years. Never once.
Ohh this is good..
I'm approaching yet another PDR, appraisal whatever you want to call them.
Utter utter waste of everyone's time.
I shall ask them to refer to the last 10 or so appraisals as they've wholly failed to help me achieve what I've wanted yet I seem to have been forced into things I hate..
Looking forward to it!
Cor blimey I love this time of year. PDR's are emphatically piss poor at assessing anyone's actual interest in the role they play within an organisation. I have to set and read 18 of them this year ( last year was 35) then they're read by my (side) vertical colleague (for balance and appraisal) then comments passed back to me to assess then pass back those "independent" views plus my own.. and record the whole lot.
To be blunt, I can tell what 80% of them will write and know that 100% of that is just generic corporate goo cut n pasted off the previous years PDR. The other 20% range from "engage more with the business" crap to "I need guidance to achieve my goals" as this is a recorded document my team know how to play to the rules all too well.
I reason to them that whilst it's a painful process, it's also an opportunity to step back once in a while to have a good hard think about both application to the role and whether you like doing it, or see yourself doing it all again for another year.
We get too involved and too caught up in daily "stuff" to be objective, this is one small way of finding or seeking objectivity.
I'm fairly blunt in mine, if I'm seeking a move or opportunity or oppose a directional shift I'll happily say so.
I have to do this shite and also inflict it on others, and enjoy neither thing. But, I can't believe there are many jobs you can just stand still without getting out of date, losing skills, whatever? And if you are doing something that doesn't engage you don't you want to move on to something that does? Either means gritting your teeth and doing something about development, maybe even with a plan god help us? If only I wasn't so ****ing busy...
So glad I'm self employed.
So much crap is spoken over these appraisals.
Speak your mind and you probably get labeled as 'not a team player' 'lacking ambition' etc etc.
Surely the correct answer is: "To reduce the amount of bullsh*t in the business" 😉
My appraisal - boss leans across from his desk: "You all right?" "Yep" "OK, back to work"
I go to work for money. Thats it.
It's a bonus if the people I'm working with aren't pricks.
As a freelancer, I am usually on a job for 3 months to 6 months so can suffer it if necessary. It's not always necessary though.
My appraisal - boss leans across from his desk: "You all right?" "Yep" "OK, back to work"
Which is how it worked in the old days. Boss says "he's a good lad" and you get a bit extra in your pay packet. Trouble today is managers don't do hands on management they just spend their days in (general "virtual") meetings with little close contact with their teams. Hence the need for boxes to tick.
Many years ago I got involved in getting the small company I worked for through adoption of QA procedures. We were all a bit dubious but at the end of the day it put in place some excellent improvements in our processes. On the back of that we decided to go for IIP (Investors of People). When properly implemented the PD process which came out of that was indeed aimed at helping staff with their aims. It was their development and it was up to them what they wanted. If they wanted to do the same job for 20 years that was fine.
In recent years my Mantra has been to
A) Do something I like doing. SO even if it's hard work, it's not always bad.
B) As long as it pays the bills who cares what the money is.
C) To get to the point where I don't have to do it 5 days a week
I've got A & B, helped by a bit of luck
C is looking likely within the next year or so.
How people work in offices all their lives is beyond me. Yes I have tried it. Not nice.
Work for yourself- its like having a mortgage on a house that you will one day own
Dont work for someone else its like renting a house
Salaries dont make you well off
Pension Funds and Property make you well off (when you are 50+ and knackered they give you options)
I'm increasing flexibility and agility in order to broaden my market offering and I need to up sell private dances in order to optimize my revenue.
Really I want to chug about in an old land Rover mending stuff and that, but given I'm working in corporateshitsville that ain't happening.
Really I want to chug about in an old land Rover mending stuff and that, but given I'm working in corporateshitsville that ain't happening.
You are me ? I fly around in shitty old planes fixing shit instead. It pays better. I save the difference ATM.
tjagain - Member
How old are you?My line is now "to pass on my skills / knowledge / experience before I retire"
POSTED 23 HOURS AGO #
tjagain - Member
Funny thing is in theory I am supposed to have an appraisal every year and do a pdp. I never have in over 30 years. Never once.POSTED 15 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST
?
^^^
i'm starting to think tj and jamabalaya are one and the same jeykll & hyde type character...
I do wonder why companies still bother with them. Been a contractor for the past 10 years or so but wherever I've worked they seem to be a demotivating exercise for all concerned. Mainly because the management have pre-determined allocations of grading, no rewards or pay rises to hand out, and it's mostly used to determine candidates for redundancy. A low point in the year!
Despite having recently gone permie I still have a contractor attitude to it all. When I get bored of this job and want something different, or think I'm worth more, I'll go find something else to do.
Yes Bikepawl - both are correct. I was told a few months ago I would be having an appraisal. thought about it a bit and then decided that would be my line but the appraisal never happened.
Why are you stalking me?
Why are you stalking me?
It's your long, flowing, luxuriant hair, unfettered by helmetage.
It's like catnip for weirdos.
Salaries dont make you well offPension Funds and Property make you well off
Umm salaries fund the pension/property/investments.
Umm salaries fund the pension/property/investments.
Unless mummy and daddy does that for you.
I leave mine blank. The company will do what it wants anyway and they don't like my answers when they call me in for meetings. Last week I was summoned to the global hr boss office to explain why it was blank. Saying all the options on the table look ghastly did not go down too well. Also telling them that the job I do makes limited difference to me but the location and package do.
The most interesting job in the world is still crap overall if it pays nothing and you can't spend time with family or friends. Different things motivate different people but most corporations want to see a drive for ladder climbing.
To make it to the end of the day/career without being blown up.
Why are you stalking me?
Well, he is a panther. Probably comes naturally.
Aww FFS, just reminded me I've an appraisal next Tuesday.
Its going to be a balance of honesty and lies. They need to know a little, but not too much.
Curious thing for me, my previous industry I stuck out for 15 years, the current one is supposed to be the more rewarding, but in reality it really isn't. It's just a flippin ball ache and if I left I wouldn't miss it.
[i]Why are you stalking me?[/i]
Well, he is a panther. Probably comes naturally.
🙄
I like this: [i]I go to work for money. Thats it.[/i]
Thats it indeed....anything/everything else is a bonus or not, whatever the case may be.
tjagain - Member
Why are you stalking me?POSTED 3 HOURS AGO #
I'm not, I was just curious. I can if you want though, I've got a bit of spare time.;-)
I'm a big fan of money. I like it, I use it, I have a little. I keep it in a jar on top of my refrigerator. I'd like to put more in that jar. That's where you come in.
Nothing to add apart from my pay rise this year, as a vaguely insignificant public servant, is £566.
Won't someone think if the [s]children[/s] crippling house renovation costs?
Won't someone think if the [s]children[/s] crippling house renovation costs?
"A house? You were lucky".
A previous manager said "we all work to put a lot of Jan on the table". That still holds true today, everything else is just garnish.
I dream of £566 - a vaguely insignificant public servant.
I always disliked the side of this that I saw as corporate bullshit but felt there is value in taking time out to look at what you've done and what you want to do next or want out of your career. So it was valuable with a good manager and rubbish with a mediocre one.
After about 15 years working for big companies I now run a business with a small number of employees. It's a family business I didn't start up but I did introduce a very short and simple appraisal because I want to know the answer to the question, because I want to try to give people what they want out of their jobs and I want to know if they want to move on to do the kind of jobs I want done in the future. It's not an easy balancing act to get the process right but I like short and simple and I don't score people. However I do want some structure to make sure the conversation is useful and people are treated fairly. So far I think my team find this refreshing in comparison to not having it and I hope it'll make their careers more valuable to them.
Had my appraisal recently and this cropped up lol!
It essentially turned into me saying that with rising living costs, failing pound and competition paying more, I'm keeping my eyes open.
Appreciate the feeback. Perhaps we can touch base for a one-to one on this?Bring a shovel.
You're thinking small again, JCB is the way forward 🙂
Turns out i got this wrong. What im being asked is, what do I want out of life? This is on the basis that work will help me toward that goal. Examples are earning loads, a certain position at work, paying off a mortgage before X years, organising a charity event, a travelling break, pretty open really.
I have my meeting about it at 9:30 tomorrow. No idea what to say.
That really is none of their business!! Make it about work - what you do or don't want to do outside work is eff all to do with them. This thread reminds me how glad I am not to have to do civil service or corporate PDRs ever again. Whilst the principle may be good the reality is an unwholly mash up of bulshit & half truths. If it's something you have to do then play the game, but don't imagine it's anything more.
And what exactly is wrong with lack of ambition? What's wrong with not wanting to climb the greasy pole?
I received an Email today essentially asking me to apply for a job as software development manager, managing a team of 6 developers.
Why on earth would I want to manage people? There are more important things in life than that. Not to mention the commute...
Glad I'm a contractor now
john_drummer - Member
Glad I'm a contractor now
+1 to that.
Number of times I've been offered or pushed in the direction of management and each time it pushed me further to contracting. I'm glad I did. Now I see stressed out friends doing the management job after the previous managers jumped ship or upgraded to something more senior that's dumping them on the redundant heap when companies go through hard times and they fear losing their jobs as they'll never get the same job again with their (lack of) skills.
There's the entrepreneur though. Having ambition to set up a business, see it succeed. That's a worthy goal in life/career. I think about that direction, but once said business needs more than one person then I'm into management again 😮 .
Anyway, priorities. Bikes. Buying more bikes. Riding bikes. Buying a bigger house to store more bikes.
I initially thought I wanted a career. Turns out what I actually wanted was paid.
Was a quote from I can't recall where, but a very true one in my case.
Turns out i got this wrong. What im being asked is, what do I want out of life?
That's what they want you to think.
Turns out i got this wrong. What im being asked is, what do I want out of life?
I quite fancy opening my own bike shop so as my employer you can help me achieve this life goal by giving me unlimited time off on full pay until the business is highly profitable and then you can make me redundant with a generous severance package.
Don't worry, I plan on opening four hours per day 3 and a half days per week unless it's nice weather outside or I'm tired. I'm sure I'll be raking it in before too long.
My wife was asked this question about 8 years ago, or something along the lines of "what do you want out of life / where do you see yourself in 10 years"
She responded with "I see myself with 3 children and a dog at home", bizarrely it didn't impact her career at all and she continued to move up through the ranks and is now at Vice President level / national head despite having has 3 children in the last 5'ish years and spent well over half of that time on maternity leave, the last stint being 11 months off.
It's not like it's a small company she works for either, think the eagle of banking.
Personally I see myself as regional head in the not too distant future and that's about it.
My wife was asked this question about 8 years ago, or something along the lines of "what do you want out of life / where do you see yourself in 10 years"She responded with "I see myself with 3 children and a dog at home", bizarrely it didn't impact her career at all and she continued to move up through the ranks and is now at Vice President level / national head despite having has 3 children in the last 5'ish years and spent well over half of that time on maternity leave, the last stint being 11 months off.
It's not like it's a small company she works for either, think the eagle of banking.
Personally I see myself as regional head in the not too distant future and that's about it.
no dog then. quitter.