Why work?
Last time round I placed a health warning on my contribution to Forward. This was because I expected something I wanted to say to be controversial.
There was some discussion arising from the piece - some agreed, some disagreed with me. That’s good. But where I went wrong was in misjudging what would provoke your interest. I thought it would be my suggestion that it’s very hard to practice ethical public relations and that there may be times in your career when you will have to be prepared to resign rather than compromise your integrity. No one batted an eyelid at this claim (in public, anyway).
But my suggestion that you will look unambitious if you stay more than three years in your first graduate-level job received a mixed response. Employers were justifiably annoyed at the thought that their expensively-trained colleagues might become restless. (I’ve been an employer; I still work with them; but in this column I’m speaking out for PR graduates to the best of my ability.)
So I thought I’d return to this topic, and illustrate what I meant with a model. (Click on the image to view full size.) That’s not to say that this is a model that you must all follow. 
It’s certainly not to suggest that mine has been a model career. It’s just that over the years I’ve been noting patterns of behavior and these observations may be helpful to you.
My starting point is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This is the well-known theory of human motivation that argues that basic needs (food, shelter, warmth) have to be met before higher needs (belonging, esteem, self-acualization) can be explored. Projecting this onto a career trajectory brings its own hierarchy as I’ve attempted to show in this model.
As students of social media and communication, it only seems natural to us that transparency and full disclosure go without saying. It’s ethical and prudent, especially in dealing with the social nature of Web 2.0. However,