Why Career Zig-Zagging is Good

The only way is up or is it? Why does everyone have to be obsessed with climbing the career ladder? For some people climbing the ladder is all that matters, you have to admire them for that, however, what can be sad is that some people don’t enjoy the journey along the way. What if you’re someone who isn’t obsessed with climbing the career ladder, but you want to enjoy a career journey, gain lots of experiences and learn different skills. Instead of climbing the ladder you could try a career zig-zag instead. If you want to career zig-zag, it’s good to let people around you know as soon as possible, let them know you’re open and eager to try new work experiences, by doing that you’ll be first on their list when another department needs help, or there's a new job role. Many companies realise the advantage of having agile employees and actively encourage employees to zig-zag, it helps all round. If HR hung out with marketing more, if design understood the UX team better, or sales incorporated social into their techniques; it’s an obvious win-win. Not only is there variety in your job as a zig-zagger, but there are the extra knowledge and skills which will help you perform better, plus the win for employers is better productivity. To be a career zig-zagger, you should be able to adapt quickly, be someone who craves to learn and wants to up-skill. A zig-zagger would never consider they were starting at the bottom; they would see their new experience as a bolt-on to their existing job skills. For some industry dinosaurs career zig-zagging may sound very strange, but today it’s the modern career path. Technology changes everyday life very quickly, jobs that took years to train for could disappear or completely morph into something else, as a career zig-zagger you’ll be able to embrace change and hit the ground running. Industry dinosaurs who are concerned about career zig-zagging and say things like “all this zig-zagging never happened in my day” need to be more concerned about extinction. Career zig-zagging makes sense, how would you feel if you climbed the career ladder in one job role for years for the job to be dissolved as you get there or you get replaced by a robot! What if you climbed the career ladder, got to the top and then realised you didn’t like it, what other skills and experiences could you fall back on? That’s why career zig-zagging is a good thing. The road to success is rarely in a straight line, zig-zagging your way to success is the answer.