Smart people start a new job with an attitude and mindset different from everyone else. Here’s what they do to achieve career success.
Congratulations! You started a new job after a long search. The agony is finally over. Indeed, you are hoping for career success but need help figuring out how to achieve it.
Like most people, you want to settle down, get used to the job routine, and put in your best. You want to make an impact, save money and live a good life. It’s normal! It’s also normal to forget the long path you walked through to get the job. I hear you saying that now is the time to rebuild and achieve career success.
The above are the usual steps many people take when they get into a new job. Well, here’s the bad news! This approach rarely results in the career success you desire. These steps won’t take you far if your company runs into difficult times.
Guess what! The difficult time will come, and smart people develop career success strategies to guide them through. Here’s what they do and what we can learn from them.
1) As part of their career success strategy, smart people prepare and update their resume every time they start a new job.
It’s usual with most people to forget their resume once they get into a new job; after all, it has served its purpose. Well, the truth is, they remember their resume but keep it aside until when it is needed again. Then they pick it up, struggle to update it and start the job search process.
There is a problem with this approach. You rarely remember the significant milestones in your job history. You also need help to recognise your accomplishments. Yet the primary goal of a resume is to highlight your skills, outline your achievements and showcase your work experiences along your career history.
Those who desire career success do better. Smart employees know the best time to get job-related information is when the activities occur. So, they get the relevant information and update their resume along the job or work duration. But ordinary people wait till the need arises.
2) For career success, smart employees always get new skills allied to their expertise.
Smart people get a new skill every time they get into a new job. But regular people seek to reinforce their on-the-job skills to increase their competence. Strengthening on-the-job skills pays off only if the job role is very crucial to the operation of the company. If the job role becomes dispensable, only employees with cross-functional skills survive.
When smart people get a new job, they identify skills aligned to their job (hard skills) and get the training. Thus, they become so valuable that their organisation can only replace them at a considerable cost. Acquiring skills allied to their expertise makes achieving career success more effortless.
Ordinary people get distracted by trivial activities. So, they often need help to get job-related skills or embark on self-development. Thus, they make themselves dispensable despite their dedication.
3) Smart employees keep track of their accomplishments, challenges, and unique experiences at work.
Smart people keep a record of their accomplishments and unusual job experiences. They document their significant challenges and the steps they took to overcome them. Such events enrich their learning experience and become a part of their career success strategies.
Ordinary people immerse themselves in their jobs. They show no concern for activities unrelated to their jobs. And they only update their learning log when the need arises. Thus, ordinary people always have issues recalling past events in their career history. Therefore, they also experience challenges with achieving career success.
4) Successful employees always have an exit plan as part of their career success strategy.
Smart people usually set up an exit plan for their onboarding process in a new job. They know that layoffs may come unannounced and thus meet everyone unprepared. Also, they know that the accounting jargon last-in-first-out (LIFO) applies to layoffs.
An exit plan consists of two components. The first component is a potential exit date when the employee hopes to leave the job. The exit date may be flexible depending on the nature of the employment contract and the conditions that arise after that. Smart people look forward to this date and work towards achieving their career goals.
The second component of the exit plan involves actions to cushion the effects of layoffs. For example, part of the plan may include the following:
- Backup savings.
- New skill acquisition.
- A small side business or the ability to set up one.
- An alternative career path.
Smart people recognise that an exit plan should be a component of their career success strategy. Thus, they also strive to set up one while still employed. By setting up an exit plan, smart people increase their resilience to shock due to layoffs.
Ordinary people rarely have an exit plan. Instead, they allow the job situation to determine their career future. So, every unexpected change in their job situation creates anxiety and fear and may truncate their career success goals.
5) Smart employees always have a plan to manage their bosses.
Smart people understand the need to manage their bosses. It is vital for surviving in the workplace. New employees are anxious to develop a harmonious working relationship with their bosses. Bosses provide the necessary support base for them to perform.
Smart people also need their bosses to provide a fair and unbiased appraisal of their work, especially if they are on probation. So, they set out early to understand their bosses, needs, strengths and weaknesses. They also get acquainted with the work style and what impedes or facilitates communication with their bosses.
Ordinary people follow the general flow of events at work. They associate managing their bosses with showering praises, flattery or obtaining unmerited favours. These actions make it difficult to develop a harmonious working relationship with bosses based on mutual respect and understanding of one another. It also makes it challenging to achieve career success.
The last word
Starting a new job is always a good thing. But what you do on the job could be the building block for career success.
Smart people enhance their career prospects by utilising opportunities presented by their jobs. But ordinary people rely on their new job positions to dictate their career direction.
The actions of smart and ordinary people in a new job position present a good lesson for all professionals. Resources abound in writing the next chapter in everyone’s career history. But only those who know where to look can gather them to achieve career success.
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