How to build a killer career

There’s a panic-stricken baby-boomer facing a redundancy and an ambitious Gen Y-er who will stop at nothing to get ahead.

A working mother is striving to up-skill while juggling home and work responsibilities.

A Gen X-er is in the throes of a mid-life crisis and is unhappy about where his career is heading. One of them killed the boss, but which one?

Three Brisbane authors have taken the everyday trials and tribulations of 2010 workers and woven them through a fictional murder mystery in a bid to help readers navigate their way through career issues and paths.

“Many people learn through story-telling,” says co-author Helen Burton, Queensland executive general manager of Lee Hecht Harrison career consultants.

“We wanted to have an engaging story that would make the reader want to turn the page while also providing characters who have very similar career challenges to those which prevail in society.”

The tale, How To Get Ahead Without Murdering Your Boss, is both a humorous whodunnit, written by author Alison Lees, as well as an informative how-to guide on taking control of your career.

Burton says more than 90 per cent of people feel they lack control over their careers and only 5 per cent feel able to do anything about it.

“I think a lot of people see their boss as the enemy,” she says.

“They really feel their boss is in control of their work lives and that doesn’t need to be the case. There are things you can do to improve your job satisfaction and employability. That’s the whole concept of the book.

“The overwhelming message is, you can take control and responsibility for your own career without having to murder to boss.”

The book advocates the six-step SEEFAR program, created by co-author and Uniting Care’s Vicki Webster. It covers self-understanding and identity, external image, environment, financial objectives, action and reflection and, finally, results.

The characters in the book, each facing different issues, work through the method, Burton says.

“We have a baby-boomer reaching potentially the end of his full-time working life and finding he’s not getting the respect he was used to at work and is facing a redundancy.

“We have a Gen-Y who is very ambitious and wants everything to happen more quickly.

“We have a Gen-X whose wife is having a baby. He has been in a demanding corporate job and on a promotional path and is close to the top job, but is questioning if that’s what he really wants.

“Each character has a reason for wanting to do away with the boss.”

Having spent the past 20 years consulting individuals and businesses about careers, Burton is confident the book nails the big issues.

“I have career-coached people on a daily basis . . . and have worked with all levels, from those on the factory floor to CEOs and feel very confident these characteristics reflect the career challenges people face every day.”

Many of the common issues – lifestyle balance, career advancement, business growth, redundancy and skills development – have evolved from the changing employment market landscape.

“Baby boomers still want to believe you can join a company and stay there for 20 years but it just doesn’t work that way any more,” Burton says.

“We have mergers and acquisitions and take-overs more frequently.

“The technology and pace of work is so quick that companies which may have been stable 20 years ago are unusual in today’s work place.

“Gen Y is comfortable with the fast pace. They don’t want to stay in one job. But a large percentage of Gen-X and baby boomers love their jobs and want to stay. That’s getting harder for them.”