On A Personal Note - Perspective on Your Career
My husband is constantly sending me fodder for my blog site. He especially likes a gentleman by the name of David Maister. David Maister has a blog site he calls Passion, People and Principles. Take a look, I found a great post there tonight called Perspective on Careers. He has a list of 12 items that I believe every employee working should post in front of them as a reminder that they are a responsible for their career. No one else!
Take a peek and see if you agree:
Perspective on Careers
- The cold, hard, truth is that you’ve got to look after yourself.
- You can’t assume that anyone is really looking out for your best interests (in spite of what they may say.)
- There may be a human resources department in your firm, managers, coaches and a mentoring system. But don’t get fooled. Your career is up to you and you alone.
- No one will tell you what experience you should be obtaining, let alone help you get it.
- If you want a specific experience, ask for it.
- Better yet, just go grab it.
- Do not expect that you will be promoted because you deserve it - it is unlikely that anyone is really keeping track.
- If you want to be promoted, ask to be promoted.
- Generally, things do not come to those who do not ask for them.
- None of this means you should be rude, disrespectful to others, or fail to be a team player. It just means don’t be naïve.
- In spite of what they may say, it’s up to you. You’re on your own, kid.
- Manage your own career. No one else will.
On a personal note:
My first time getting promoted in my corporate career came in May 1996. I was promoted from a Customer Service representative to a Manager in the Collections department. Collections was new department at our site in Salt Lake City, UT. They created the department there for redundancy. I submitted an internal posting for the position and received and invitation for an interview. I prepared for the interview and was subsequently offered the position. One of my colleagues asked me how I got the job. They wanted to know if I got permission to post outside of Customer Service.
The funny part is that in that organization, you didn’t need “permission”. I needed my supervisor’s signature on the posting slip, but I asked for it and he gave it and continued to work until I got promoted. My point is, when he asked me, I said, “no, I didn’t get permission.” I wanted the promotion and I followed all of the internal protocol and went for it. I interviewed and I was offered the position. I prepared for that interview. I knew nothing about collections, but I was confident in my ability to learn it and I knew I could manage people and processes. I have been doing that in one form or another since then!
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