Create A Business Plan To Ensure Success In A New Job

A client of mine called yesterday to say that he is on the verge of getting an offer from a large bank. Before they will extend him an offer the recruiter has requested that he submit a business plan outlining his plans to achieve his goals. The job is a wealth management role which would require that my client bring about $10 million in investment dollars to the job within the first year. If you are not familiar with this type of job it means that he needs to find and solicit individuals with that much money to invest and persuade them to invest the money through the bank.

My client is a relative newcomer to the community in which he currently resides so the potential employer wants to make sure he has a plan for finding and selling individuals in his new community on their wealth management services. Seems fair. But it got me thinking that, really, anyone starting a new job should create a plan before taking the job. The plan will probably have to be modified once you take the job because jobs frequently change over time. With that said, if you create a plan for adapting, learning, and succeeding in your new job before you start it will give you a good starting point and the associated confidence that comes with having a plan.

To give you a sense for how you might think about creating a plan let me walk you through a few elements that my client and I are incorporating into his plan:

Goal – we have a stated goal that is a specific, measurable, and achievable

Tactics – the specific actions that will be taken to achieve the goal

Analysis – we have analyzed our local market to determine which civic and professional organizations, philanthropic, and social/sporting groups my client should get involved with in order to meet people who have the characteristics of potential clients

Targeted List – we created a list of organizations that my client will join or has joined to start meeting potential clients

Every job is different so each plan is going to be different but you can use some of the thought process and some of these elements to help you get started when you create your own roadmap to success in your new job. I don’t necessarily recommend that you share your plan with your new boss or co-workers until you are sure you understand the expectations, politics, and goals required in the new job. The business plan is something you can create to give you a jump start before you commence work for a new company.