The Insider Guide to Careers
Insider information, secrets and tips about getting hired and building careers. For employees and job candidates.
When we talk about growth, people think of promotions. However, there is a lot more to corporate life than promotions, and we will discuss this in detail today.
Let us begin by identifying the driver. At many big tech companies in Silicon Valley, managers always ask the question – who owns your career? Many employees would answer by saying manager, company, etc. The manager would ultimately remind the employee that the employee themself owned their career. No one can do the walking for you. This was one of the reasons why Cisco has been rated the best company to work for, and it has been rated number one in many rankings for many years.
Whenever it comes to career development, the first thought of any employee is promotions. Having worked in HR, this move is sometimes more a curse than a blessing. The folks who do a fantastic job at their level get promoted and are often clueless about how to perform at the next level. Promotions work this way – you get a 50-100 % increase in workload for a 10-20 % increase in salary. The best way to get promoted is to do that higher-level job for one to two years in advance so that when you get promoted, you hit the ground running. Of course, during the time you do the additional work, you will feel that the compensation is way below par. However, in corporate life, you will never be perfectly compensated for your role. 90% of the time, you will be under-compensated because you are picking up new skills. The moment you get promoted and think you are compensated fairly, you will quickly be given far more work, and you will have the same feeling of being back to square one – of being under-compensated. The clever employee knows never to focus on compensation and instead focuses on learning new skills. The short-sighted employee always worries about compensation.
If a compensation hike or a promotion is important to you, it is recommended that you talk about it with your manager. Provide meaningful reasons detailing why you think you deserve a hike and have a skill-focused discussion. Do not just say you want a hike because of personal reasons, it makes you look unprofessional. Generally, managers have the financial freedom to give a small hike of about 5 to 10% to retain top employees. A small budget is always available to the VP. But the catch is that you have to prove you are a top employee. One way to do it is to study the job description of the role above you in your company or a competitor.
1) Study the skills required and divide them into technical, business and people skills. Do a mapping of your expected skill level (on a 3 or 5-point scale) and genuinely map your current skill level. If you are really doing a lot of work at the level above, there should be no skill gap. This mapping is an excellent objective proof of your skills.
2) Better still, get a job offer at the level above. It does not matter if it is from a smaller company or a startup. Some proof that you can do a higher-level job can support your case for a compensation increase or promotion. Promotions typically follow a process and need multiple approvals. Even though your manager will be your biggest votary, lots of other people have to agree, including HR and top management. It is important that your manager is completely on your side. In a way, you are at the mercy of your manager. If a compensation increase is what you want, do not go around asking for a promotion. Compensation hikes are much easier to grant and involve fewer questions. Being honest makes the life of your manager easier. Just remember that the more you make for your position, the higher the chance of you being laid off. If anyone makes above the 75th percentile of compensation for that job, compensation professionals will be the first to recommend your name for rounds of layoffs in the future. If you are average, be happy that you are being paid at the 50th percentile. The more you aspire for, the higher the chances of everything crash landing back on earth. However, if you are indispensable to the company, ignore my words.
Another way to upskill is to volunteer for additional projects. These are called stretch assignments or tiger projects. During my time at Samsung, the first Samsung Galaxy phone was developed by two senior managers who volunteered to lead a tiger team. You will have to multitask while doing your regular job, at the cost of worsening the work-life balance you have. At the same time, you have the ability to network with different teams, work closely with different VPs and build connections. These new people can help you fight for promotions and even absorb you into their team if you want to do something different. Often, the new team will bring you in with the promotion you always wanted because they want you badly, and more importantly, they have worked closely with you. There is also the option of job rotations, which means that you will work with another team for 1 to 3 years before coming back to your original team. This happens when you are identified for promotions to senior roles like VP and above, which require cross-functional exposure. These assignments can mean a lot for your future. Applying for jobs in other teams is another way to get out of the rut you are in. Cross pollination is strongly advised for career development. Companies always prefer insiders to external job candidates, as employees know the company and systems better. The catch is that they will check with your current manager about your performance and potential. You had better be on good terms with your current team leaders. Inside a company, you can never burn your bridges with anyone as that will hurt you in one way or another later on. If you do not like the company or manager, just quit and move on. All companies apply a 70-20-10 model when it comes to skill development. 70 per cent of learning comes from on-the-job training. You stretch yourself and learn. The more you stretch, the more you learn. 20 per cent of learning comes from having a mentor. Hence, identify a mentor and do your homework. A mentor is like a sounding board, so is always a passive observer. You create a working plan and religiously follow up on it. You set up time with the mentor and work on action points. Generally, mentorship involves a lot of work from a mentee, and it is rare that it works very well because of the hard work required from a mentee. For top management at VP and above, coaches are also provided to give direct feedback to leaders to identify gaps and work on an action plan. Coaches are more hands-on than mentors and take the lead in setting up meetings. Coaches work for shorter durations, like 3 to 6 months, compared to mentors who can be with you for years.
Only 10% of learning comes from an external trainer or an external program. Most companies will not sponsor external programs because of the very high expenses. An executive MBA program, for example, can cost 200 to 300,000 dollars easily. Companies have stringent criteria and lock-in periods after the program. Choose these options only if you want to remain long term in the company. Companies want loyalty and you should be able to offer it.
There is always work to be done in a company and a dearth of people. It has only gotten worse in recent times, with waves of layoffs. Everybody is working 50 to 100% more and all of them will appreciate some help. You can help colleagues or managers and that is how you build popularity in a team. You can always mentor juniors and newcomers by helping and guiding them. Most folks ignore early-in-career folks and you can be the opposite of that. The more you stretch, be a nice human being to your colleagues and do your best, companies will reward you sooner rather than later. After all, companies are human too.
