The Game

That’s not my label – everyone talks about the process of managing a career in the System as “playing the game”. It’s a skillset all its own, and proficiency is only acquired through first-hand experience over time.

There are tips, of course, which I try to share with those who can (or care to) benefit from the information:

- more is more when submitting your resumé through the online application system – the key is to understand that it’s a database program which will search your submission for key words. The more hits, the better – so give tons of detail on each major project/accomplishment within each of your job descriptions;
- answer all interview questions from the point of view of what you would do – including details on your reasoning for your choices (see tip #1 above!); if you are up for a management position, talk about what your advice would be, and how you would organize your team to do the actual work. There’s a huge difference in vocabulary and focus when you talk from the point of view of the manager – many accomplished project managers (myself included) have sabotaged themselves in management-level interviews by presenting themselves as the doers;
- think about the intention behind the questions – departments are free to write their own interview questions, and sometimes, bless them, they’re not very good at it. Think carefully about what they are trying to reveal about you with the question, and compose your answer accordingly.

I say these things, and I think these things, and then I go out to another interview – or sit on another interview board – and I play the Game. In the fullness of my eight years in the System, I think my Game skills are finally getting pretty good. And I’ve now accumulated myself a fabulous coaching staff, and an entire town full of people who are behind me in my search for a place I can truly stretch myself and make myself at home.

Because for me, the reward for playing the Game well is a place where I can shape the future direction of the organization: bring stakeholders together and rally around a common vision and goal to make a difference in the world. That’s the stuff that makes my heart sing. That’s what I’ve been training for since starting my career back in 1978 as the voluntary manager of a science society based out of the National Research Council.

I’ve got 15 years to go in my career in the System – that’s enough time to really dig in and become a celebrated member of an organizational family tree. Just as my father, Dr. Roland Gagne, will always be remembered as Mr. Modeling and Simulation at NRC, I want to leave my own mark by being an innovative, passionate advocate for an important Canadian institution. A true public servant.

For that, I will play the Game. Besides, there is always something to be learned along the way.