英文版本，请见下方。

在中国，我的猎头公司注意到很多候选人从一个机会跳到另一个机会，但这些机会却无法引领他们实现最终目标，他们原本大有希望的美好前途也在这过程中岌岌可危。很多冲动做出职业决定的人都会发现自己所处环境越来越不如人意，越来越不能为他们职业发展加砖添瓦，也无法让他们离自己的职业目标更进一步。

要想避免这种情况的发生，你需要认识到，自己今天做的每一个职业决定和工作变动，都不仅会影响当下，更会影响未来，比如你能否吸引未来的雇主、能否抓住未来的机会等。因此，你需要考虑现在即将做出的工作决定能否与你的职业发展总体规划相吻合，能否带领你朝着职业目标一步一步迈进。

很遗憾，在这个市场上，做出重要职业决定时受外部因素影响过多的人比比皆是，他们在做出职业决定时忽略了个人兴趣和目标。举例来说，很多有MBA学位的人都会告诉我们他们想进风险投资或者私募股权行业发展。但如果问他们为什么，就会发现他们对于什么是风投、什么是私募股权的理解非常肤浅，对如何在这些领域内取得成功知之甚少。很多情况下，候选人做出职业选择时，主要的依据还是薪水和头衔。虽然这两点对任何职业决定都很重要，它们却并不应该是选择一份工作时的核心因素。

 别人会怎么看待你的工作变动？

下面这个情况并非十分罕见：一位候选人的简历上显示，他在过去六年里，在四家不同公司做了四份工作。每次工作变动都让他的头衔随之升高，为此他非常骄傲，当时，他已经是一家本土企业的市场总监了。尽管这位候选人认为，每个工作变动都能说明他承担了更高的职位/职责，但我们的客户却不这么认为。他们不仅对他过去取得的成就持保留意见，也怀疑他能否在一家公司长久工作。这位候选人对工作变动的认识有失偏颇了。他只考虑到了自己想要什么，目标是什么。这么做似乎在一段时间内效果颇丰，但现在，每换一家雇主，每到一场面试，他就都要为自己的所有职业变动做出合理的解释。

另一位候选人的情况就和他不同了，这位候选人在一家跨国公司中工作了很多年。期间，他拒绝了几个来自其他主要竞争者的工作邀约。最终，他同意去一家规模较小的精品公司管理其在中国的销售/市场工作。他说，这个决定对他而言轻而易举，因为他觉得能在一家规模较小、没那么多条条框框的公司工作，可以帮助他实现自己的长期目标——有朝一日建立并运营自己的公司。

 为合适的理由，做恰当的决策

此外，我们还遇到过很多处于职业中期的职业人士，他们最终会觉得自己受到工作的束缚。在现在的部门做了5、6年，甚至8到10年以后，他们想做点别的更有趣也更有意义的事。他们觉得未来充满了变数，对现在的工作没有归属感，对整个职业状况不甚满意。不幸的是，在这个人生阶段，他们身上还有经济和家庭的重担，对他们来说，在这个阶段做出重大职业改变十分艰难，希望不大。而且，等得越久，做出改变也就越难。这种状况着实令人沮丧，但遗憾的是，我却经常听到这样的故事。

所以，即使至今为止，你还没有想清楚自己的职业目标，至少也应该尽早认识到，决定进入某一领域、某一职能部门，将会对你的未来产生巨大影响。职业决策是否正确，将严重影响你对工作的喜爱程度和你能否取得成功，甚至会全方位地影响你的生活。

因此，在做出重大职业决策时，你应该尽可能地考虑合理的因素。所谓合理的因素，主要是指个人因素及对你个人非常重要的因素。这么做能为你节省很多时间和精力，不必为了回到更感兴趣的职业轨迹上再下功夫，也可以帮你在职业发展中后期，不要陷入不如意的状态不能自拔。

Recognize How Each Decision You Make Today Affects You Later On

In China, my recruitment company sees many promising careers falter as candidates jump from opportunity to opportunity without them leading to where they want to ultimately go.  Many who rush into career decisions can find themselves in increasingly lesser quality situations that are less able to add to their career development or bring them close to their career objectives.

To avoid such a situation, you need to recognize that each career decision and job move you make today impacts not only your present situation, but your future ones as well that include your attractiveness to future employers and your ability to capture new opportunities later on.  As such, you want to consider how your job decisions today fit into your overall career plan, and in what ways they will bring you closer to your career objectives.

Unfortunately, too many people in this market are heavily influenced by external factors when making key career decisions, instead of basing these decisions on their own personal interests and objectives.  As an example, we meet many MBAs who tell us they want to pursue a venture capital or private equity career.  But when we ask them why, they have only a superficial understanding of what a VC or PE career is about, or what it takes to be successful at it.  Many have a “herd mentality” of just following what others around them are doing.  In many other instances, we see candidates who base career decisions mainly on compensation and job title.  While, of course, these are important for any career decision, they shouldn’t be the key factors for taking a job.

How Will Your Career Moves Be Viewed By Others?

In another situation that’s not uncommon, one candidate’s resume showed four jobs with four different companies in six years.  He was quite proud of this, having received title promotions with each move that now placed him as a marketing director in a local company.  Although this candidate made career moves that he thought always reflected greater titles/responsibilities, our clients didn’t view them this way.  They not only questioned his track record, they also doubted his ability to stay beyond just a couple of years with an employer.  This candidate’s approach to job changes was too one-sided.  He only thought about what he wanted and what he was looking for.  While it seemed to have worked for a while, he now has to defend each job move he’s made in every interview he has with a future employer.

On the other hand, we worked with another candidate who spent many years with a multinational company.  Over the years, he turned down several offers to join other major competitors.  Eventually, he accepted an offer to manage the China sales/marketing efforts of a smaller, boutique firm.  He told us his decision was easy because he felt the exposure and experience he’d get working with a smaller, less bureaucratic firm would better lead him to his long-term goal of starting and running his own business someday.

Make The Right Moves For The Right Reasons

In addition, we also meet many mid-career professionals who eventually end up feeling trapped in their job.  After 5-6, or even 8-10, years in their current industry or function they want to do something else that would be more interesting and meaningful to them.  They feel uncertain about their future, lack commitment with their job, and are dissatisfied overall with their career situation.  Unfortunately, with significant financial and family responsibilities to weigh at their stage in life, they’ve reached a point where making a major career change is extremely difficult and unlikely.  And the longer they wait, the more difficult such a change becomes.  It’s actually a pretty depressing scenario, but unfortunately, one I’ve heard described too often.

So even though you may not have your career objectives all figured out yet, you should at least recognize early on that your decisions to enter a particular industry or job function have a huge impact on your future.  Making good career choices greatly impact how much you’ll enjoy your work and how successful you’ll be at your job, even how your life will turn out overall. 

Therefore, as much as you can, you want to base your key career decisions on the right reasons.  Mainly, those are ones that are personal and important to you.  Doing so can save you a tremendous amount of time and energy spent trying to get on a career track that’s more attractive to you, and help you avoid finding yourself feeling trapped in a situation you don’t want to be in later in your career.

（责任编辑：职场达人）