career

advices from anons

• Stay relatively quiet in large group meetings. Early on in my mid 20’s, I was the cocky know it all. Don’t be that guy. It’s annoying to not only your peers, but to your bosses. Unless you’re the absolute EXPERT on a topic, listen more than you speak in meetings. As hard as it can be sometimes, stay humble and relatively quiet.

• Don’t be a kiss ass (too much). Bosses can see that from a mile away. If a VP, Director or someone else high up takes a liking to you, take advantage of that, but don’t go overboard with flattery of that boss or brag about the relationship to peers.

• Don’t hook up with co-workers if you really want to move up the corporate ladder. Especially subordinates. People talk. Even if you know you’ll never tell anyone, you don’t know who the other person will share it with at your company. When HR gets involved, this can set a career back decades. People remember. While not always the case, I’ve generally seen those tangled up in workplace sexual relationships eventually need to jump ship and move on to another company. As the old saying goes, “Don’t shit where you eat”.

• Engage and always be friendly with other department leaders and personnel. Quite often I’ve seen various departments disliking each other. Operations hating on Marketing. Marketing hating on Legal. Legal hating on Procurement. Everyone hating on HR. Put those interoffice disputes aside for yourself. You never know when an opportunity may arise in a different department that could catapult you into a better position. When those positions pop up, it pays high dividends having a good relationship with other department heads and them knowing you on a first name basis.

• DO NOT be a L on the P&L (Especially if in Operations). If in sales or management on the Ops side, being a L is a death sentence. If your department is classified as an expense on the company’s P&L (HR, Legal, Marketing, PR, etc) make sure you are one of the top performers in that department for whatever tasks you are assigned. The 10-20% job cuts generally come from non-profit generating departments. While HR, Legal, Marketing and various other departments help “indirectly” with profits, they aren’t the boots on the ground which produce the revenue/profit.

• Perform - ultimately this is the most important metric. But even this won’t guarantee ascension. But if your metrics which your performance is based on aren’t there, you definitely won’t ascend and you may be shown the exit door.

• Be prepared to jump ship and go to the competition (or anywhere else). While I’ve seen loyalty rewarded, I’ve seen a higher percentage of employees get rewarded with a bigger title and higher pay when they went to a competitor (or came to us from a competitor).

• If looking to bounce from your current company…stay there until you have a new job lined up. You’re much more desirable if you’re CURRENTLY employed and you ask the interviewer to keep the interview extremely confidential. It’s almost like a relationship. They sometimes want you even more when they know you’re taken. Come to an interview with “I’m in between jobs”, and the demand for you as an employee just took a major hit.

• Be available for relocation if with a National or Worldwide company. It significantly hurts your prospects if you can’t move. And, conversely, helps if you can easily travel/relocate.

• Start a side hustle and aspire to be your own boss so you don’t have to deal with this stuff when you’re in your 50’s & 60’s. It comes quicker than you think.

• Take care of the mailroom, security, janitors, etc. They can literally open ANY door, and they generally know what's happening before you do. They will also make your office life more comfortable. Know their names, treat with respect, bring them pizza & donuts.

• Don’t share too much personal info with coworkers, especially if it’s drama. Coworkers can use the info against you if they are vying for a promotion and it ALWAYS seems to get back to the bosses.