After getting a job
Many college graduates consider getting a job is the ultimate goal but few understand that having a job is only the beginning. After they get a job, they have to learn how to keep their job and advance their career by getting promoted to the next level. Of course everybody knows, by go to work on time, work hard, and seek out opportunity for advancement are the key to succeed. But beyond these obvious things, there are other things that you must pay attention in this competitive market:
Few people understand that personality is important in the workplace, if you are humbled, friendly, and helpful than you will get promoted faster than others. If your work is excellent but you are arrogant then you may not get promoted because nobody wants to work with you. Many top students often make this mistake. Because they are smart, they act like “heroes”. The issue is in the workplace, no one work alone but always in a team. As they want to prove that they are good, they often do not share information, they prefer to do thing by themselves since they “know everything”. But they DO NOT know why they did not get promoted as they thought they should. Teamwork is the key to succeed in every company and students must learn this skill as early as possible.
Few people understand that manners are also important in the workplace. Many workers, especially information technology workers often come to work in casual dresses such as jeans, sloppy shirts, and without combing their hair. They use mobile phone to text message to friends at work and sometime even play videogames when no one pays attention. From management's view, these workers are creating an “unprofessional images” for themselves. Because they are technical workers, often work inside the company, rarely meet with anyone, so they are tolerated but most will never get promoted to the next level. Few years ago, there was a survey on “Dress for success” by a Wall Street magazine where business graduates were voted “the best dressed” and information technology (IT) graduates were voted the “worst dressed”. IT students protested as their heroes, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates were often seen in Jeans and black shirts. A Wall Street executive answered: “But you are NOT Gates or Jobs, you are workers and your image means you do NOT respect others so you do NOT deserve to get promoted. Many of you will stay in your corners, in front of a computer for a long time.” To succeed, you do not have to dress in fashionable clothes but being polished with clean clothes will make you stand out from the group and get noticed by management. A manager advised: “If you want to get promoted into another position, dress like you already in that position and that is the formula of dress for success”.
Few people understand that writing skills is very important in the work place. Although technical skills are needed but management also look for workers with good writing ability regardless of the type of work they do. Since many technical people used to send “text messages” to their friends, they adopt a “tech message style” of writing in their daily work. That is another mistake that often cost them the opportunity to get promoted. Managers often look at document and email exchanges, not only for proper grammar and sentence structure, but also for vocabulary and overall thinking processes. If workers cannot write well, using abbreviation often, they cannot work as a manager or in position that need to interact with customers.
Few people understand that broader knowledge is the key to get higher position in the workplace. No matter what your degree is or what type of job that you do, you should read more about industry's trends and marketplace every day to keep up with what is happening. Having a broader knowledge beyond your technical expertise will get you noticed by management. Reading more news every day will not only make you more knowledgeable, but will also provide opportunities for better conversations with managers. Many years ago when I was a software engineer, there was a team member named Steve, who read a lot, especially he always read business news in the Wall Street Journal and Forbes magazine. I noticed that he was often called by managers to meetings until one day I heard the company owner asked my manager: “Make sure to get Steve to my meeting, he knows the market trends well.” In a short time, Steve got promoted to assistant to the company owner.
Few people understand that “The reputation of the university” is also important in the work place. The common opinion is “Top schools” are not worth the extra money and efforts. When companies look at job applicants, they only check that they have a degree and skills. The fact that few people know is where the degree came from is an important criteria in hiring and some promotions also depending on the university's degree. A hiring manager explained: “Top schools always have the most up to date curricula and the best faculty. The more selecting in admitting students, the better the graduates and we prefer graduates from top schools than other state universities.” If you look at all the top executives of large U.S. companies, most of them have degree from top schools such as Harvard, Yale, Chicago, MIT or Stanford etc. Furthermore when you get into higher executive positions, your degree and association among these executives are very important as whom you know and who do you associated with.”
I know that many of you have high expectations for your careers. You are enthusiast and ready to leap but the fact is that it takes many small steps to get to the next level. Basically you have to prepare because having a wish is NOT enough, you must plan in details. It is not about work hard but also works smart. Every technical worker knows how to do their job but be able to solve problems, get noticed by managers and set your priorities will help you to go further. Know what you want and how to set a career plan is very important. First, you must know your strengths AND your weaknesses rather than just showing your enthusiasm. By continue to learn more, by improving your skills, by helping others, by being humbled will help you to distinguish yourself among others. The position of a manager or even an executive is not something impossible but you must earn them. Have you ever wondered why someone after few years, get promoted to higher position with better salary when others are still doing the same job when they graduated? The difference is one who has a career plan and one only wants to have a job.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
