Assessing your employment options.

Should you stay where you are, change employers or boomerang back to a former workplace?

Whew! You've made it--to a new dawn, a new century, renewed purpose. After king stock of your current job and career focus, you've set your sights on a plan of action (see "Reevaluating Your Career Plan," November 1999, and "Focus on Your Goal," December 1999) and determined the direction for the next phase of your career. Whether that means you've decided to stay with your current company, move on to a new workplace or consider returning to a former employer, there are proven techniques to help you succeed.

Let's say you've decided to stay where you are. One of the best and most overlooked ways to advance in your company is to form an alliance with your boss by establishing and maintaining an open line of communication. In his book, Beyond Performance: What Employees Really Need to Know to Climb the Success Ladder (New Perspectives, $20), Roland D. Nolen says communication with your manager--even when you are a manager--is key. "You must always keep your manager informed. Managers live on status information. If you're not telling your manager what's happening, he or she has no way of knowing what's going on with you--and no way to pass that information on to his or her boss." He suggests interacting often and keeping him or her apprised of your activities.

While forming an alliance with your higher up can be mutually beneficial, it can also be challenging, especially if you previously worked together as peers. Robert MacAlpine of Northeast Utilities in Berlin, Connecticut, found that out when his co-worker of 27 years, Jean-Claude Bazelais, was promoted and became his boss. As peers, they could laugh when Bazelais' interactive directing style conflicted with MacAlpine's more analytical one. "It is almost as though we were standing on reverse sides of a convex lens," muses Bazelais. Now as boss and direct report, their styles were getting in the way.

Bazelais suggested that he and MacAlpine work with an executive coach to iron out their communication styles and identify and capitalize on MacAlpine's behavioral strengths while minimizing their potential conflicts. MacAlpine found that he could be more effective if he became more understanding and open to others' way of doing things. Bazelais, on the other hand, found that he needed to be more patient and interact more with MacAlpine both before and after departmental meetings. The shared information, MacAlpine found, would solidify his partnership with his boss and help his career.

Suppose, however, you are at the point where you don't enjoy what you are doing where you are and just getting to work is a challenge. Your goal is to change companies. "When changing companies, you need to follow your heart," says Peggy Wolff, president of Wolff Consulting Group in Seattle. "But do some groundwork to make sure you are marketable. Expand your networking to find out what the marketplace is looking for and what they are paying for. This is no time to read ads; it's time to get out and meet people. You want to apply your years of experience [to make] your move a progressive one."

Perhaps your goal is not only to change companies, but to return to the "good ole days" at a former employer. Get over that feeling as fast as you can. You will never be able to go back to the same company. "Companies are entities that evolve and change," says Noel Hord, who spent nine years at Nine West Group Inc. Hord left his job as group president to take a position at US Shoe Footwear Group, only to rejoin Nine West as president and COO in 1995.

These days, boomeranging is not unusual with all the buyouts, mergers and general consolidation occurring in many industries. But your expectations should be realistic. "If you are thinking of returning to a previous company, you need to understand that it is not what it was when you were first there," cautions Hord. And, from a proactive standpoint, you wouldn't want to go back to the same company you left since both you--and the company--have changed.

If you've decided, however, that you have something to offer your previous company and being there can help you reach your career goal, then communicate with a former superior or supervisor. Find out who the key individuals are in human resources. Recall a former mentor or someone with whom you had a strong working relationship and get a status report on the company's current operation and goals. Determine if that corporate position is in line with your action plan and career goals. If so, contact the key decision makers in the company.

How important is it that you haven't kept in touch while you were away from your former company? "Not important at all," says Hord. "Keeping in touch should only be on a social or personal level as rejoining a former company should be from a go-forward point of view."

Finally, see the career door as open--to all possibilities. Concentrate on gaining the experience or skills that make you a candidate for a better opportunity with your current company, a former one or a new one. That's assessing all your options and taking a proactive stance, the best way to a new opportunity.