Career plateau

A professional plateau is defined as a period in your career where you feel stuck and unable to advance. Feeling stuck in a job/position, being bored all of the time, and striving to find fulfilment are all symptoms. Finally, it’s the sensation of being stuck in your current position with no room for advancement.

When is the Most Likely Time for a Career Plateau to Occur?

Internal reasons for career stagnation include when an individual develops new skills and believes they have outgrown their current position. When an individual can no longer advance in the firm and hence feels “stuck,” this is an external cause of career stagnation.

Ways to move out of the career plateau:

When an employee reaches a career plateau, the following strategies can help them break free:

1. Upskill/Reskill: This is one of the most effective ways to break up dull work and transition to a more interesting and relevant stream of work within or outside the organization. Learning about new disciplines and market trends while working in the same or a different job function can help you reskill and find better jobs in the long term.
2. Job Enlargement: An employee might talk to his or her manager and HR about his or her concerns, and offer to take on more responsibilities in order to not only help but also learn and grow within the firm.
   This is extremely beneficial to the person’s development and preparation for future duties. The skills and experience gained will be more industry and role-specific.
3. Job Rotation: Moving from one department to another might open up fresh possibilities and help a person break out of a routine. Changing locations or responsibilities within the same company could have a similar effect.
4. Job Switch: If vertical growth and better work are not achievable in the current company, a person may be able to shift to another organization that may offer a better job and structure than the current one.

Example of Career Plateau:

John Smith has worked in the sales department of a heavy engineering firm for 14 years. He was promoted successfully and worked wonderfully during the first 8-9 years after arriving. John has been unable to advance in his career for the past five years, and he continues to work in the same capacity with the same obligations and KPIs. As a result, John’s career has become stagnant. According to the notion, John has reached a stage in his career that can be described as a career plateau.

To address this, John began marketing training and upskilled himself with industry-recognized marketing and heavy engineering certificates. Because of his 14 years of expertise and appropriate skillset, he started taking on more work from the marketing team and finally moved into a bigger role in the marketing department.

As a result, the definition and summary of the Career Plateau are now complete.