Career planning should be part of being an effective maintenance and reliability career professional.  Employment in a global economy with the rigorous competitive pressure for market share will make all employment tenuous no matter how stable the company or business.  We can all think of companies that were on the top at one time and either are much smaller or don’t exist at all.  Jim Collins has written on the subject of how some companies become great and some do not.  He has now published follow-up studies on the same companies.

Don’t let your career stagnate.  I have seen many great maintenance and reliability people work to perfect their core skills through education and experience.  Unfortunately, many of them seem to get to a certain point and stop.  They work in a field dedicated to continuous improvement to achieve world class manufacturing standards but do not apply this strategy to their own careers.  If education and skills are not continuously developed, stagnation results.  The person then looses pace with peers and is not as valuable to his employer or future employers.  Advancement is unlikely.

Education seems to open your mind.  The work performed now might not be enough for you in the future because of the expanded view.  I have continued education much of my adult life in the evening while I worked during the day.  An Associate of Science, Bachelor of Science, a Master of Business Administration, and finally certification as a maintenance manager through Association of Facilities Engineers.  I was a highly effective floor level maintenance tech and have held just about all the positions in maintenance and reliability.

Has this kept my job stable?  No.  Other business pressures and circumstances outside of my control affect this.  2 jobs disappeared, and I was downsized in another.  I was able to come back and find better jobs.  My employer always received value from my employment. 

My current employment will end shortly as my plant has closed.  I am now searching like many of you.  I get down.  I get elated.  I get aggravated.  I wonder why some companies can’t identify the value I bring.  I have all the feelings and reactions like you do.  One thing I have going for me is that my education is current.  My next employer will be thrilled to get me because not only can I perform now but I am promotable due to education and experience.

Coming blogs.  In future blogs I plan to write about strategies to improve maintenance performance and driving change.

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