Start your year strong: A three-step career plan, by K Grant Harris

As part of ACS’s Refresh, Redefine and Recognise month for January 2026, ACS member K Grant Harris, MACS CP, Group IT Manager at Paspaley, shares how he is deliberately preparing for his next role in Brisbane.

It is a clear, structured look at career planning with intent, grounded in real-world experience.

In this article, ACS member K Grant Harris shares his personal three-step career plan for 2026.

January is when work finally slows enough for meaningful reflection. Inbox noise drops, projects pause briefly, and there is just enough space to ask a simple question: “What do I want this year to look like professionally?”

In my case, that question now has a specific focus: I am actively preparing for my next role in Brisbane. I aim to leverage my experience as a Group IT Manager to secure opportunities where I can deliver more strategic value, lead transformation, and contribute to a growing organisation in South-East Queensland.

For 2026, I am using a straightforward three-step structure to support that move: Refresh, Redefine, Recognise. It is not about doing more; it is about ensuring that every hour I invest in development makes me more relevant, more competitive, and better prepared for the Brisbane roles I am targeting.

Step 1 – Refresh: Get my foundations clean for the move

In IT, clean data is non-negotiable, and the same logic applies to a career pivot. Early in 2026, I’m doing a “system refresh” on how I present myself – roles, responsibilities, skills, and interests – so potential employers in Brisbane see an accurate and compelling snapshot of what I do.

. Practically, that means I am reviewing and updating:

My current job title, scope and responsibilities. I want to communicate the complexity and scale of the group environment I manage.
The technologies, platforms and frameworks I am actively using, including Azure, Microsoft 365, Power BI, ERP, AI, CoPilot, n8n, PostgreSQL, monitoring tools, and security platforms that are directly relevant to many Brisbane organisations.
My areas of professional focus for 2026: AI integration into business workflows, practical cyber resilience uplift, and better use of data for decision‑making – all aligned to what hiring managers are asking for in current Brisbane job ads.

I am also rewriting my personal development goals, so they are clear and directly connected to my job search:

Which capabilities will most increase my value to Brisbane-based employers this year?
How do I want to be known in that market: as a “safe pair of hands”, an “automation specialist”, a “cyber leader”, a “cloud strategist” – or a deliberate combination of these?
Which types of roles and organisations in Brisbane do I want to be ready for in the next 12–18 months?

Once that clarity is in place, it becomes much easier to align my networking, applications, and training with the direction I am heading.

Step 2 – Redefine: Targeted skills and learning for the Brisbane market

Strategic planning in IT always starts with understanding the current state, and the same is true when preparing for a job move. Before stacking more courses and certifications into my calendar, I’m doing a structured skills assessment against a recognised framework (such as SFIA) to gain a realistic view of where I stand today.

Using that assessment, I am mapping my capabilities across areas like:

Cybersecurity and risk management, with a focus on what local organisations are prioritising.
Cloud architecture and infrastructure, especially Azure and hybrid environments, which are common in many Brisbane-based enterprises and mid-market businesses.
Automation and integration, including n8n, APIs, and scripting, to show how I can drive efficiency and reliability in existing environments.
Data and reporting, with SQL and foundational Power BI skills to support better decision-making and governance.
Leadership, stakeholder management and governance, demonstrating that I can operate at both technical and executive levels.

From there, I’m shaping a 2026 learning and development plan designed to strengthen my Brisbane-ready profile. That plan includes:

Deepening automation and AI integration skills so I can walk into interviews with current, practical examples of where I have used these capabilities to solve real problems.
Strengthening formal cyber skills and knowledge aligned to recognised frameworks and controls, giving hiring managers confidence in my ability to improve resilience.
Continuing to refine architecture and design skills across cloud and on‑prem, so I can adapt to whatever stage of cloud journey a Brisbane organisation is in.

To keep myself accountable, I am setting quarterly checkpoints to review:

What I have actually learned and applied, not just what I have watched or read.
Which skills have moved from “theory” to “deployed in production” and can be discussed in interviews and on my CV?
Where there are still gaps that need structured learning, peer input, or mentoring to bring them up to market expectations.

This rhythm keeps my development aligned with the roles I am pursuing, rather than drifting into interesting but irrelevant topics.

Step 3 – Recognise: Turning growth into proof for potential employers

In a market where AI can generate plausible content in seconds, and cyber incidents are frequent, employers are looking for trusted, verifiable capability.

As someone actively seeking a new role in Brisbane, I need ways to demonstrate that my skills, judgment, and ethics have been tested and are not just self-described.

For 2026, a key part of my plan is converting learning into recognisable signals that matter in recruitment processes, including:

Targeted certifications that align directly with the roles I am applying for (in cloud, security, and automation), rather than collecting unrelated badges.
Micro‑credentials and digital badges that clearly evidence specific SFIA-aligned skills or leadership capabilities, which can be easily referenced on my CV and LinkedIn profile.
Documented outcomes: referenceable projects, security uplifts, cost optimisations, automation improvements, and reliability gains that demonstrate real-world impact.

These forms of recognition support my job search by:

Building trust with hiring managers and interview panels who want assurance that I can deliver from day one.
Providing concrete examples and evidence for CVs, cover letters and interviews, rather than vague generalities about experience.
Keeping me honest: if I am not willing to have a skill assessed or recognised, it is a sign I need to deepen it before relying on it in a new role.

Certification and formal recognition are not the end goal, but they are powerful ways to translate a year of deliberate growth into something that can be quickly understood and valued by Brisbane employers.

A year built on clarity, capability and recognition

For 2026, Refresh, Redefine, Recognise is the structure guiding how I upskill as a Group IT Manager who is actively preparing for the next role in Brisbane.

Refresh my professional profile and goals, so they clearly point towards the roles and organisations I am targeting in the Brisbane market.
Redefine my capability with a structured assessment and a focused development plan that strengthens the skills in highest demand.
Recognise that growth by turning it into recognised proof that hiring managers can see, trust, and act on.

This is my personal plan for 2026. It describes how I’m approaching a planned move to Brisbane with intention, structure, and a commitment to remain genuinely valuable in a rapidly changing profession.

Refresh your details and goals

Refine your capability and development

Reward your growth through recognition

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