Stepping down the career ladder – “I don’t want to be a manager anymore.”
A great question came up recently from a past workshop attendee. We’ll call him Tom. Tom is concerned about how recruiters will perceive him. He’s applying for positions as an individual contributor, but his background entails lots of managerial experience. In his email he wrote: “My true love is engineering, and while I have lots of management experience, I want to work in a position that enables me to contribute directly to the product development / engineering process.”
This dilemma is very common. Many people start out with a passion for the work they’ve chosen, so they produce remarkable results. Because of their accomplishments and because it’s “expected” of them, they rise up the career ladder into management.
Some get there and find they are perfectly suited to managing a team and they love it. Hurray! Others get there and turn out to be poor managers but don’t realize it, or maybe they realize it but stay put anyway… much to the horror of those who report to them!
Still others – and I’ll include myself in this category – find that they strongly prefer being an individual contributor whether they are good at being a manager or not. They eventually opt out and decide to return to what they loved doing in the first place. Ah, but if you’re like Tom, what happens if you didn’t opt out until years have passed, and now you’re stuck with the label of “manager”?
On your resume
You need to deemphasize your manager side as much as possible. Wherever you can, reduce references to your prowess and accomplishments as a leader. Sometimes you just can’t escape having to list the job title itself. It’s never a good idea to change your job title on the resume unless you know for certain it will NOT be confirmed during an employment verification process conducted by the potential employer. And, well, since you can’t really ever know that for certain, just don’t do it. What you can do, though, is to be sure it’s not a header under your employment history. List your company name first instead. Also, be sure you don’t put your job title in bold or italics text. Anything in bold or italics draws attention.
In your written and verbal communications
Saying it the way Tom said it is perfect: “My true love is engineering, and while I have lots of management experience, I want to work in a position that enables me to contribute directly to the product development / engineering process.” Well done. End of story.
Alternative strategies
You can throw these two in for good measure:
- Consider getting a temporary job as an individual contributor so that the employer observes this to be the truth of you.
- Ask a mutual acquaintance to convince them on your behalf.
In the end, knowing and showing your passion is the best advice I can offer. Let them see it shining through you. They’ll either get it or they won’t.
Happy Hunting!