Do you actually use the A/B/Z career planning tool described here? Is that out of date? Do you think that’s a very good way to plan your career, or might you suggest others?
We still endorse the general gist of ‘come up with an A/B/Z plan’, but no longer use that specific tool. Our more up to date framework is here.
I think the idea of doing an A/B/Z plan is a really good one. My impression is that because applying for jobs is so aversive, people often minimise the number of things they apply for both by not aiming as high as they could and by not considering what they would do if things really went worse than they’re expecting. Hiring processes seem to contain quite a lot of randomness, and even when they don’t are hard to predict from the outset. That means it seems worth both shooting for things that you have only a small chance of getting but would be excellent if you do get them, and worth making sure you know what your back up would be if things go much worse than you expect.
One thing to say about these is that people sometimes read ‘plan A’ as ‘the role I most want’ and ‘plan B’ as ‘another role, which is easier to get’. In fact, ‘plan A’ is intended to be some type of role—for example, going to grad school—so would itself involve applying to a whole range of specific options of differing levels of competitiveness.
We still endorse the general gist of ‘come up with an A/B/Z plan’, but no longer use that specific tool. Our more up to date framework is here.
I think the idea of doing an A/B/Z plan is a really good one. My impression is that because applying for jobs is so aversive, people often minimise the number of things they apply for both by not aiming as high as they could and by not considering what they would do if things really went worse than they’re expecting. Hiring processes seem to contain quite a lot of randomness, and even when they don’t are hard to predict from the outset. That means it seems worth both shooting for things that you have only a small chance of getting but would be excellent if you do get them, and worth making sure you know what your back up would be if things go much worse than you expect.
One thing to say about these is that people sometimes read ‘plan A’ as ‘the role I most want’ and ‘plan B’ as ‘another role, which is easier to get’. In fact, ‘plan A’ is intended to be some type of role—for example, going to grad school—so would itself involve applying to a whole range of specific options of differing levels of competitiveness.
Thanks a ton for these responses Michelle, very helpful. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back to you soon with some more questions and clarifications.