When You are Looking at a New Company

Harvard Business School Professor Joseph Bower, author of The CEO Within: Why Inside Outsiders Are the Key to Succession Planning writes about how leaders can, at the start of their careers, join companies that will enable them to reach the CEO position they aspire to. In interviewing him for Harvard Business Review Online, Paul Michelman uncovers the following questions you might consider asking a company before you join them.

• Why am I being hired?
  
• What kinds of career paths will be open to me?
  
• How is this company going to help me grow?
  
• What pattern of assignments am I likely to get?
  
• Will I have time to learn or will I be so rushed in my work or bouncing between assignments that I won't develop well?
  
• What kind of mentoring will I be provided?
  
• What kind of training does the company provide?
  
• How early can I gain the opportunity to run a small business?

The more specific and detailed the answers, the clearer the picture you will have of the opportunities you will have for career development. With the company behind you, it then becomes your challenge to consistently deliver against expectations and actively manage your career.