According to a recent CareerBuilder survey, most American employees are eager to learn new skills and take on new responsiblities. But about a third doubt that they will be able to make a lateral move at their current workplace.

Sometimes, a lateral opportunity comes disguised as a job that nobody else wants. If you are serious about ‘growing in place,’  consider taking on an orphan project. Such assignments are already on the radar with higher-ups — for the wrong reasons. You’ll get points for being willing to try, and more points for gaining traction with a problem that others have resisted.

This strategy worked for Michael Mogul, president of DJO Global, a medical device company. As he said in a recent profile in the New York Times of a management responsiblity thrust upon him, “That happened often in my career: I’d find something that needed fixing, raise my hand and be given the responsibility. I’d end up with more work, but it always helped my career.”

If the benefits of jumping in aren’t immediately obvious, talk it over with your boss, and possibly with another manager whose results will be affected by the adoption. Design a plan that includes skills or networking that you want to gain for your next career steps. That’s what they call a win-win.

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Tempted to chuck it all and start over fresh? New business, new industry, new possibilities!

Don’t! Building on what and who you know in your current industry is the single strongest business start-up success factor. And that’s not me talking: that’s the Wharton School of Business, which analyzed small business success rates, drawn from data collected by the Kauffman Foundation.

You can get the best of both worlds by detecting a sweet spot that represents a fresh take and a new horizon of options, while bridging from your current staff position.

I’ll spell it out, step by step, on Oct. 3 at the Women’s Business Development Center, 8 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago. In just one morning, you’ll build a plan that plots your steps from where you are now to where you want to be — making the most of your proven strengths, contacts, and industry knowledge. Sign up soon — I know this is filling up because I spoke with several women who are coming, at last week’s Entrepreneurial Women Conference. The $25 fee is a small price to pay for detecting your surest chance of entreprenerial success!

Photo courtesy of Morguefile contributor kconnors.

New grads are jazzed about careers in money management, alternative investments, and accounting…and they should be. Careers in finance typically involve the ultimate validation of performance: the bottom line.

Yet, these career paths are often volatile. Wall St. has of late become a parade of box-carrying laid-off workers, and corporate types often find that they are lumped in as overhead, vulnerable to staff layoffs.

How does the career lattice pay off for money workers? Julie Steinberg of Dow Jones’ FINS network outlines the big picture in her Q&A with me on June 18. Here’s one more tip, customized from The Career Lattice: make the most of the performance meter of documented financial results you have captured. Many staffers have a hard time quantifying proof of their performance. That’s usually not a problem fo money workers.

As you build case studies that show you in action, set up these short narratives with a financial goal. Then show — in two sentences — the steps you took to achieve that goal. End with the goal, achieved, in a number.

Did you identify tax advantages that resulted in a net gain of $2 million to your employer’s net revenue? Uncover an obscure opportunity in a hot commodity that scored a big return? Simultaneously keep the lid on operating costs while balancing a portfolio to deliver consistent results despite industry turmoil? Short stories like these tell potential employers — inside your current organization and outside — how you think…in words and in numbers.