| Achieving career success is not an exact | | | | thought, ambition, assertiveness - go against |
| process. Nevertheless, there are common | | | | the culture of organizations. |
| sense rules that winners follow to achieve | | | | |
| their career goals. | | | | 4. Job Tip: The organization will never be a |
| | | | perfect universe. |
| Here are six of those real-world career | | | | |
| guidelines that are critical to developing | | | | Organizations are no better or worse than the |
| and executing a successful career path. | | | | people who inhabit them. The organization |
| | | | will do things of which you do not approve; |
| 1. Job Tip: Do not hire anyone you can't | | | | it will make mistakes. |
| fire, unless you are under the harshest kind | | | | |
| of pressure you can resist. | | | | So, don't enter the organization with a |
| | | | missionary zeal to purify the structure, its |
| When you hire a new employee, hopes are high | | | | purposes and those who make it up. Focus your |
| that the relationship will work out to | | | | attention on making your best efforts to move |
| everyone's benefit, even if it's a shotgun | | | | yourself toward your goals and those of the |
| wedding. However, the wise manager will take | | | | organization. |
| care to avoid a position where he can't | | | | |
| dismiss that person if things don't work out. | | | | If, after time, you find that you cannot |
| | | | achieve these objectives, you have two |
| This means resisting situations where | | | | choices. Compromise your standards or leave. |
| employment is based on any reason other than | | | | That is the way it is. |
| the needs of the company and the particular | | | | |
| worth and "fit" of the person being | | | | 5. Job Tip: Don't expect your comrades to |
| recruited. | | | | support you to the bitter end if you are in |
| | | | serious conflict with the organization. |
| When possible run for cover when you are | | | | |
| being pressured by a friend to hire his | | | | If you and your associates are in a |
| friend. Especially try to duck the bullet | | | | knock-down-drag-out squabble with the |
| when the "do hire" message comes on a | | | | organization, be very cautious if your |
| personal basis from the boss. | | | | associates say, "We'll hold your coat, |
| | | | Charlie; you go fight 'em." Or the corollary |
| In the real world there may be no escaping. | | | | to that, "If you get fired, Charlie, we will |
| If that is the case, protect yourself from | | | | leave with you." |
| the start. Have a clear understanding with | | | | |
| all concerned of the basis on which you are | | | | That all sounds fine in the heat of the |
| acting. Insist that everyone understands | | | | moment. But if it comes to actual conflict, |
| that so long as you are held responsible for | | | | most people shy away and begin thinking more |
| the results of your department you have the | | | | about job security and house payments than |
| absolute right to hire and fire. You should | | | | they do loyalty to the cause you once shared. |
| insist on being let off the hook if that | | | | |
| right is denied. | | | | 6. Job Tip: Most people are waiting for |
| | | | something to happen. For one reason or |
| Be sure to document the performance of the | | | | another, the majority of people spend most of |
| offspring of the shotgun wedding. You need | | | | their careers waiting for the spark to light. |
| facts, whether he or she is a raging success | | | | They want someone to come along and tell |
| or a total disaster. | | | | them what to do. They want to wake up some |
| | | | morning motivated to achieve success. |
| 2. Job Tip: The only reality in any | | | | |
| organization is individual perceptions of the | | | | On the other hand, a few people are |
| information that is available. Therefore, | | | | impatient. They are chomping at the bit to |
| "reality" is what those in power say it is. | | | | shape their world. They win big or lose big |
| Learn to live with it. | | | | in the process, but they get to choose the |
| | | | game and set the stakes. Meanwhile, those |
| 3. Job Tip: The very attributes that make for | | | | who wait for career success are dancing to |
| a successful career - independence of | | | | someone else's music. |