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

by David Maister

1. The cold, hard, truth is that you’ve got to look after yourself.
2. You can’t assume that anyone is really looking out for your best interests (in spite of what they may say.)
3. 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.
4. No one will tell you what experience you should be obtaining, let alone help you get it.
5. If you want a specific experience, ask for it. 
6. Better yet, just go grab it.
7. Do not expect that you will be promoted because you deserve it – it is unlikely that anyone is really keeping track. 
8. If you want to be promoted, ask to be promoted.
9. Generally, things do not come to those who do not ask for them.
10. 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.
11. In spite of what they may say, it’s up to you. You’re on your own, kid.
12. 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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