Your Summer Career Development Plan

Find additional information and resources in the June 25, 2007 issue of ExecuNet's CareerSmart Advisor newsletter, where this article first appeared.

By Marji McClure, Contributing Editor

How are you planning to spend your summer? If you think it’s not the right time to actively develop your career, think again. Whether you’re in transition looking for your next great professional opportunity or you’re employed in a job you truly enjoy, summer is definitely not the time to put your career development on vacation. So get out those golf clubs.

Well, sort of. “My first thought [about job search activities during the summer] was golfing,” says Paul Mathews, president and founder of Conn.-based Hire Aspirations and an ExecuNet meeting facilitator. “Golf...being trapped in a golf cart with an industry professional or colleague is a great chance to talk about value proposition, objective and targets you are pursuing. Regardless of whether you are a golfer or not, do not take the summer off. Let your competition take the summer off.”

Don’t Stall the Job Search

Consider how you — and many executives like you — usually spend the summer months. Depending on the industry in which you operate, work may slow during July and August, but it certainly doesn’t stop. Recruiters and hiring managers may operate at a slower pace as well, but jobs still need to be filled.

“Summer is no different from any other time of the year,” says Hélène Seiler, executive vice president, pre-boarding for Stewart, Cooper & Coon. “Hiring managers typically take turns taking their vacations and never leave for more than a week.”

If a recruiter takes many weeks of vacation, a client company isn’t going to put their hiring initiatives on hold, notes Dilip Saraf, an executive, career and life coach at Fremont, Calif.-based Career Transitions Unlimited. “It also shows that such a recruiter is not grounded in today’s reality, and you must find other avenues to keep things moving.”

Networking and scheduling informational interviews are just a couple of job search strategies that can be more effective during the summer months than most executives realize. “Most people think it is too hard to get meetings during the summer with vacations,” says Mathews. “However, companies still have needs and problems in the summer, and some industries are busier in the summer than any other time of year. You should target these types of companies as well as other companies you are targeting throughout the year.”

Experts agree that the summer months are a great time to move forward with job searches, because a relaxed atmosphere exists during the summer season that can oftentimes make decision-making individuals more accessible than at any other time. “People are in a good mood and open to it...when the approach is right,” adds Mathews. “Sometimes it’s hard to reach people with vacations [scheduled]. The good news is that gatekeepers also take time off, so your target might be stuck answering the phone.”

Overall, many workers don’t take the vacation time they’ve earned. According to a recent survey conducted by Yahoo Hot Jobs, nearly half of all American workers failed to take their vacation days in 2006. Reasons respondents gave included having too much work to do, the cost of a vacation, and opting to save their vacation time for future emergencies. These could be some of the reasons why you’re more likely to find hiring managers at their desks during the summer and why you might spend more time at work yourself.

Managing Your Absence

One reason executives cite for not taking all their vacation days is they are afraid the company won’t run as well without them. To ensure that doesn’t happen, executives need to prepare for their vacations long before summer hits. Stever Robbins, an executive coach in Cambridge, Mass., says that executives need to have a minisuccession plan in place. “A critical part of their job is developing the people beneath them, so at any moment, they can leave and others on the team can step up to take their place,” says Robbins.

If you’re not sure you have those qualified people on your team and that makes you leery about taking vacations, you’re not alone. Robbins recalls a client who hadn’t taken a vacation in four years. “She never had the courage to go on vacation,” recalls Robbins. To begin taking vacations again and get comfortable about the process, Robbins’ client started taking mini-vacations about six weeks before her scheduled vacation where she would plan to be at off-site meetings for the day. “She would find out what didn’t get done when she wasn’t there,” says Robbins. “It enabled her to spot the weak links.”

Robbins adds that his client’s fears were unfounded; her staff handled her absence well. “If you’re doing your job, you should always be making sure someone you manage is capable of taking over your job when you’re ready to leave,” says Robbins. “If no one is capable, you need some different people,” adds Robbins.

Yet, for some executives, it is the fear that their team members will perform too well that prevents them from taking vacations at all. That fear is also unfounded, adds Robbins. “There’s a fear dynamic that [executives think] ‘if other people can do my job, I’ll get fired.’ That’s backwards,” says Robbins. “You’re valuable [to your organization], because you can develop people as good as you are. If you develop people, you’re building a strong company.”

Saraf agrees that having a strong team will only make you appear more valuable. “For anyone, especially an executive, the best career advancement policy is to make yourself dispensable,” says Saraf. “Although this is counter-intuitive, if you consider how your superiors feel about this, you will realize why this is so. For an executive to minimize the impact of their being away, they should start thinking about succession planning long before the vacation is approved.”

Executives should delegate appropriate responsibilities before leaving and let the boss know what to expect during their absence. “Making a list of critical developments that will not surprise your boss is essential so that even when things pop up, your boss can deal with them with some forewarning.” If you do delegate work to others, make sure everyone — inside and outside the company — knows who’s doing what. “Change voicemail and email messages to forward to a colleague or subordinate that lets a sender or caller know who is handling items while the executive is out of the office,” says Nada Norval, senior vice president, transition services for Cleveland-based Ratliff & Taylor.

A list for direct reports can also be helpful in making sure things run smoothly during an executive’s absence. “I post a sheet of paper with my name on it, and everything that needs to get discussed with me or decided on gets listed on the sheet,” says Mathews. “When I call in, the sheet is pulled by my admin; and I address all concerns.”

Planning Team Member Vacations

While it’s vital to have all of your bases covered before you take your summer vacation, it’s just as important to do the same when each member of your team takes time off too. “At the beginning of the summer, map out what’s supposed to happen,” says Robbins. Then, determine how it’s going to happen despite team members’ vacation-related absences. For instance, says Robbins, if your employee Bill is leaving on vacation, it’s important that others know what they need from Bill before he leaves.

Team members also need to determine who will fill each void, ensuring that all job responsibilities are covered. “The best way to fill the work gap due to vacationing employees is to work collaboratively with others (their peers) who have a different vacation schedule to share some of the burden during the time they are away,” says Saraf. “Managers, in turn, should also encourage their direct reports to work out an arrangement where the manager does not have to formally assign the workload among the working employees.”

Cross-training team members can also help alleviate potential problems that could arise when employees take their vacations, notes Saraf. “Most companies now exist with smaller-sized staffs and have depended on cross-training, which means workers have to step in for each other to fill the gaps,” says Norval.

There are several other strategies executives can put in place to ensure that their company’s operations maintain their momentum during the summer. Robbins notes how, if you’re collaborating on a project with other people, you can’t move faster than the slowest person. So, if possible, time projects so that the slower people are using the summer months to get their tasks accomplished. Another suggestion Robbins has is to reserve the summer for projects that don’t require a lot of collaboration so progress won’t be stalled when team members are out of the office.

A Smoother Return

To maintain control over your office environment and avoid the need to return early, set parameters before you depart about how and when you should be reached by your direct reports. “The best policy is to alert your staff to look for critical items that cannot wait and to deal with them in earnest,” says Saraf. “If any item must require your attention, you should be reachable. The mantra is that you do not want to come back to a surprise, nor should you be fretting over what might be going on in your absence. This defeats the purpose of a vacation.”

Whatever you do, don’t come home early to deal with potential messes. Robbins suggests instead blocking out two to three days in the office after returning to catch up on work. Mathews suggests blocking out that first day back. “It is a tremendous feeling to be all caught up after your first day back,” says Mathews. “Without this approach, it can take weeks to catch up.”

Take a Real Vacation

When you do take vacation, don’t forget the true reason why you took time off — to relax so you’re ready to handle the demands of your job when you return. “Your vacation is for you to recharge, regroup and re-energize. It is easier to achieve this goal if you remove yourself from the transactional exigencies of your everyday job,” says Saraf. “If you fret over your emails while sunbathing in Hawaii, you have just transplanted your job on that beach and taken your cares with you.”

If activity at your company typically slows during the summer months, embrace that slow down and adjust your own expectations accordingly. “You can only be as productive as you have resources and connections for,” says Robbins. “If everyone’s taking the summer off, be productive — by giving yourself some rest and recharge time as well.” Use the time off to re-assess your career and your life. “Get some rest, listen to your family and friends, explore new perspectives about who you are and who you want to be as a leader,” advises Seiler.