NOW THAT YOU HAVE A JOB; WHAT NEXT!?
I will be talking to you specifically about the science and art of building a career. Like I said, I purposely used the science before the art and I am going to explain what that means.
When you start a new career/job, you need to be sure that this is something you can do over the one haul. It doesn’t matter how boring it may look to you. Get to understand it and how what you do creates value for the organization. Work out how much your role adds to the revenue your organization generates. Or, in order circumstances, work out how much savings your role creates. I don’t know how to calculate for every role, but you just have to do it.
When you take time out to work this out, you will begin to see where and how you operate along the value chain. Then depending on how much you like the job, or organization, you can now decide to integrate your way up or down that chain. While working out your value add, you need to ensure you get to the closest N100,000 or $500. If your role is not generating up to N100,000 ($500) in revenues or savings, my brother/sister, you are expendable. It also depends on the size of your organization though. But if you find yourself in this situation, you need to upscale your skills very quickly. This cut off mark of N100k has no scientific basis; that was an example of a work of art from me.
A rule of thumb is that your employer probably earns about 10 - 15x your salary. But you really need to work out this figure. This exercise will open your eyes to other parts of the business and the role you play in the entire ecosystem. Say you have identified it, now get to work and look for ways to increase your value add. Become a linchpin. (Recommended reading - Linchpin by Seth Godin)
By understanding your role, you will find it easy to identify places where you can actually add value, both laterally to other non-contiguous units and horizontally along your value chain. This exercise of discovering your value is the science of building your career. You cannot be too creative about this. This exercise also takes time: it can last as long as 6 months for you to get it bang on. Also, in the process of doing this, you will be able to see the bottlenecks in your organization and how to fix them. Next comes the artistic part.
The art of building a career kicks in when you have made up your mind to be the best at what you do and generate the maximum value you can for your employer. At this stage, silos no longer exist. When you start fixing things, people will start loading you with more work. It is only natural. The pay may not even rise. Economy is hard. But you are not doing it for your employer; you are doing it for yourself. What you do not gain in financial terms, you gain in respect and you can begin to make demands.
Demands do not have to be monetary, but tools for you to deliver the additional work. You will be able to make a strong case because you now know how to break your value add into Naira and kobo. And an example will suffice here:
You work in audit, and you push paper to finance for payments. But you notice that there is always a backlog. In your exercise, you noticed that your suppliers have been grumbling about delayed payments. You find out the reason for the backlog is that second signatory, a top 'Oga' (superior), is the one delaying the payment. And the reason he’s delaying the payment is because he’s overwhelmed with other work and sometimes forget about the cheques and people are afraid to talk to him. You noted that the solution is probably to organize the cheques for him to sign. And you write a recommendation, to that 'Oga' alone. Tell him about your suppliers grumbling and the impact on the business and damage to the brand.
You volunteer to be organizing the cheques for him to be signing at a specific time of the day. Or perhaps recommend that an intern should be hired to do proper organization full time. You have sorted out an issue. The Oga may or may not agree to your recommendation. But you have done your part. Note it down. If he accepts it, add it to your CV. By the time you do this three or four times, the people who matter will begin to notice. Your CV is getting longer. You are now the master of that value chain. Even if your employer does not promote you, your market value has skyrocketed in two years.
There is no algorithm for this. Your interpersonal and intrapersonal (the way you relate to yourself) relationships have to be tight. You have brought your soul into your work and imprinted your DNA into the process. You are now a linchpin. By the time you send your CV out, HR managers will be intrigued about this how lowly audit staff was able to organize work for an executive director or even come up with a sustainable way of cutting electricity costs.
This is the science and art of building a career and making yourself indispensable.
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