Your HR Career - The Biggest HR Career Mistake Just About Every HR Professional Makes

Many HR professionals are stuck in the old-school mindset that HR career success comes from following some kind of rigid, carefully laid-out career plan. Some companies have even taken years to develop carefully constructed "HR career paths" or "HR career ladders" for their HR folks.

This is all a bunch of bunk. And this is the biggest career mistake just about every HR professional makes.

That approach may have worked in the past, but it won't in today's workplace.

Talk to any successful Human Resources leader with 10-15 years of experience who is happy and satisfied with their HR career so far - including yourself. Ask them where they saw themselves at the beginning of their careers and a large number of them will tell you it was not necessarily what they are doing today. And it didn't happen from following some career plan they put in concrete.

The truth is there is no ONE established career pathway to the top of the HR summit. You can get started anywhere in Human Resources. You can have an masters degree in IR from Illinois. Or an MBA from Harvard. Or an associates degree from a local community college. Or, like a boss of mine, start your career as a marketing analyst and find your way into HR. It doesn't matter how or where you put your foot on the HR career path. But it does matter how you take the next steps, and then the next.

So planning some structured career path isn't the way HR careers work anymore. Linearity is out. The human resources career is now a checkerboard. Or even a maze. Or a spider-web. It's full of moves that go sideways, forward, slide on the diagonal, even go backward.

The sheer churn and pace of change within businesses resulting from economic downturns, globalization, and increased competition creates so much ambiguity these days that you cannot manage your career with a set-out plan. No one can predict what type of businesses and career opportunities will be available in 5 years' time and so trying to plan your career like you did in the old days is futile.

Here's one thing you should do to avoid this mistake:

Be open and flexible. Instead of being guided by some rigid career plan develop an internal 'compass' to guide your career decisions and then build in some flexibility so that you can take advantage of HR opportunities that pop up. Rather than say "My next move will be to a plant HR generalist role in Chicago" then I'll move into a "staffing manager role", when there's no guarantee that these roles will be open or if if it will even exists when you're ready to take it.

Instead, make career decisions based on how it will increase your personal portfolio of HR skills and strengths...and the extent that it will give you a unique story or experience that differentiates you from rest of the HR pack. The point here is to make decisions driven by what you can do to make yourself more marketable, instead of trying to follow some overly structured career ladder that makes no sense in the ambiguous, ever-changing world around us.

This is one of many career strategies you should take to recession-proof your HR career during tough times.

If you want to discover a lot more tips and strategies to recession-proof your Human Resources career during tough times, then download our free special report: "'7 Ways To Recession-Proof Your HR Career & Avoid Losing Your HR Job" at: http://www.HRRecessionGuide.com

Planning career change-five biggest mistakes you don't want to do!

Many times when we make a mistake we can learn from misstep. Consequently, it is not long before we make the same mistake again. It's the same with our careers. We rely on the recommendation of friends and family. A well meaning teacher or a friend of the points in a particular direction.

They mean well, but before that we know that we're climbing up a ladder of progression of the work we have no interest in climbing. Do you want to change jobs or posts, but you want to do it well. To learn from the mistakes of others, here are some ideas on how not to work out a plan: career change

Do not take responsibility for your future: Don't depend on others to recognize your potential. Don't let your company or organization define your future. Is your future to plan how you're going to get where you want to be. Your career is too important to leave in the hands of others. Advice from others is fine, but always the temper with analysis and passions.

Not be practical: It's OK to dream, but if you're 40 years, next year we are not going to be the starting Middle linebacker with the Green Bay Packers. Be realistic career plans and take a step at a time. Build your success, and how one's self-esteem grows your overall plans can become more ambitious.

, Limiting your career reach and the range: As you analyze your interests and passions are not limited to work only one type of work or to work in an industry. Keep the ambitions of employment as possible, gaping from self-employment to work in another area. As you develop more career options, you have a greater chance of finding a career that is a good fit for your skills and interests.

From above the detailed career planning: A number of career plans fail due to lack of flexibility. More details in a career plan greater chance that does not respond adequately to changes in circumstances. And you can bet that there will be changes. Your search will eliminate some opportunities but will discover many more possibilities. Keep your career plan with measurable benchmarks, flexible. How to reach intermediate objectives, career planning should become more aggressive, but within achievable objectives.

Taking unnecessary risks: career Unnecessary risks are taking a job with inadequate research. Unnecessary risks are changing careers without interviewing a sufficient number of people who currently work in that career. Unnecessary risks are going to work for a company or organization without having a clear picture of their future. Unnecessary risks are becoming self employed or starting a business with an incomplete business plans.

Study and research appropriate your approach should be developing of career options, and then make an informed choice. Prevent you from doing any of these five career planning Errors and you will be well on your way to finding the right career with their employer.

John Groth is a former Executive coach and career HR. Find career planning Ideas , valuable articles and a free seven-day career planning guide. Discover up-to-date career strategies and our recruitment Employment Idea guide all to assist you in advancing and manage your career.