Changing jobs and moving through the jungle canopy share the same activity pattern
George ILIEV
The best avatar for someone changing jobs is the orangutan. Imagine an orangutan suspended from a tree, grasping the branches with its long arms, swinging effortlessly from tree to tree. Now imagine this orangutan is you, the branches are the different corporate departments and the trees are the different companies you will swing between in your career. If only changing jobs was always as smooth as the swinging of the organgutan.
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| Photo: Orangutan (Source: Wikipedia) |
The corporate world and the jungle
In the corporate world you swing, rather than hop, between companies: businesses are not a flat surface for hopscotch but a hierarchical jungle canopy, with many levels up and down. Trees lumped together are companies in the same industry, so it is fairly easy for your esteemed orangutan to swing between companies while staying in the same industry. Trees far apart are companies in different industries and it takes a bigger effort to traverse a larger distance.
Losing your job and falling to the ground
The main rule in the orangutan's jungle is not to fall to the ground. In corporate speak this means not to lose your job, or else you risk entering a downward spiral.
Recruiters often cite a well-known paradox: "the most important factor for getting a job is having a job in the first place." Even without access to recruiter advice, the orangutan does exactly that: it rarely lets go of its branch before it has grasped the next one.
Once in a while the orangutan may be forced to "fly" between trees in a long jump, the equivalent of leaving a company before you have another job offer in your hand. However, in such a forced jump, the orangutan is likely to land lower than its starting position and may occasionally drop to the jungle floor.
If you've had enough of the orangutan analogy, think of the swift, one of the fastest birds in the world. The remarkable thing about the swift is it never lands on the ground. If it did, its short wings would not be able to generate the lift needed to take off again. You need to be perched somewhere high to be able to fly out to somewhere higher.
The MBA: a shortcut through the jungle
The MBA degree is one of the few shortcuts in life. It is a walkway above the jungle canopy that allows you to move to a different patch of trees (a new industry or new location), which would otherwise be either impossible, or would take a whole series of consecutive moves.
If you are ever in doubt about your career, take your cues from the orangutan:
1) Move between trees and branches in a planned succession; and
2) If you ever lose your job, get another one as soon as you can.
