8 Rules In Developing A Great Career

Written by Chris Ng

If you are an entrepreneur or happen to strike a lottery, the following article is of little relevance to you. If you are a true hardcore employee, here are few rules that may assist you in developing a great career.

Rule 1 - "Do not beg for a job"

You may encounter the following possible scenarios:

(i) You attended an interview few weeks backs, but you have not heard a single news since then. You are very anxious and would like to follow up on the status of your job application.

(ii) You met a former boss on the street and he asked you whether you are keen to join his company. After indicating that you are interested, he still has not called you back to arrange for an interview. At this juncture, you feel like calling him back to ask him what is going on.

(iii) You call up the HR Department of a company and convey that you would like to join them, even there is no publicly advertised vacancies for the company.

(iv) A company is willing to offer you a job but the company only pays you a minimal salary increment. You try to renegotiate but the person from HR tells you "take it or leave it...."

Whatever circumstances you are in, or what you are planning to do, DO NOT BEG FOR A JOB....it will certainly devalue your human capital. We are not "professional whores", and we do not need to bargain just for a job. If we are capable professionals, people will eventually discover our talent and will value our talent at the "fair value". Do not underestimate our own abilities and continue to discover our core competencies. Do not sell hard, people can tell our true value...

Rule 2 - "Good things will come to people who wait"

You may be a "job hopper" after frequently hopping from one job to another.

Your rationale for being a job hopper may be of the following:

(i) to get more increment

(ii) distressed situations - company being taken over or closing down

(iii) not happy with boss

(iv) to get higher position

(v) better benefits in new company

Advantages of this move

Yeah - you may obtain short term benefits or a "greener pasture".

Disadvantages of this move

Too much job hopping does not consolidate job experience - i.e you are neither here nor there (not a specialist in any field).

Example: a 3 years experience in audit, 1.5 years in sales and marketing, 1 year in event organising and 1 year in banking. question - what is this guy good at?

Most companies do not view frequent job hoppers favorably because they are perceived to have minimal commitment / royalty to their jobs.

Overall, think more of the long term perspective with your career. Do not resign purely on emotional grounds. Calm down and make a rational next course of action.

Rule 3 - "Work for a stupid boss"

My mother tells me to work for a stupid boss. Well, I tell my mother that it is really a stupid idea to work for a stupid boss. Imagine how much can I learn from a stupid boss.

Thinking deeper, I believe that are benefits of working for a stupid boss, which cane be summarised in the following equation:

Work for stupid boss -> Stupid boss relies on you -> Stupid boss promotes you

-> If you threaten to resign, Stupid boss gives you a pay rise and promotes you again (wahh, double promotion!)

Rule 4 - "Take up a position only if you are competent enough to take up the position"

This is totally true! It is quite obvious that there are some directors, senior managers, executive vice presidents, VPs, AVP and any of the higher positions in your organisation that do not deserve the positions of which they are currently in now....they may be lacking of certain skills (e.g business development, technical, etc) to be in the position where they are now.

In Malaysia, we still have organisations that tolerate non-performing staff and these type of staff continue to drain the resources of the organisations....making inefficiencies ballooning in our corporate world...

If you are not competent to be a VP or AVP, do not take up the job or else, it will be an instant mockery, whereby people will be laughing behind your back, saying you are such a stupid VP or AVP, etc..

Rule 5 - "Dealing with iBoss is to make iBoss believes he or she is capable"

iBoss is not a new product from Apple. It is simply an abbreviation of "idiot Boss".

When you are dealing with an iBoss, you gotta make the person feels as if they are damn smart.

Even if they think of really stupid suggestions (that do not make sense at all!) in front of you, just praise them! Use expression such as "that is so unique solution, something i have not heard before and truly original..."

If they make really stupid mistakes in front of you, just can consider using expression such as "this is not your fault but it is just pure bad luck, things do not go your way..."

It will make your life better, and more rewardingly, you will be promoted faster than you think, for able to click well with an iBoss.

Rule 6 - "Life is a box of durians"

In Forrest Gump, life is a box of chocolate. At least chocolate smells and tastes good.

Durian tastes bad, and I do not know why some people really hunger for them. When I say "life is a box of durians", it generally means that working life is subject to challenges, unwanted situations and unforeseen circumstances. Example of unwanted situations are as follows:

(i) your CEO resigns

(ii) your deputy CEO resigns

(iii) your department head is fighting with the deputy department head

(iv) everyone is fighting each other, massive political breakout

(v) your company is in the midst of being taken over

Bad things do happen in life or work life....keep calm and make a rational course of action.

Rule 7 - "Avoid an employment bond"

In Malaysia, if you jump from a bank to another bank, the receiving bank needs to pay our Reserve Bank an amount equivalent to your 6 months salary into the training fund. As a result, the receiving bank will typically sign an employment bond contract with you. Typically the bond could last up to 24 months and the penalty of breaking the bond is that you need to pay back 6 months of your salary.

Once you are bonded, you limit the flexibility in your career options. Potential employers may not want to consider you and worse still, if you are facing a dire situation in your workplace, you will be forced to stay on and not able to tender your resignation.

Rule 8 - "A job is a just a job"

Do not be too emotional about a bad boss, a less conducive work environment and a sucky remuneration package.

A job is a just a job. It pays you to continue with your daily life, nothing more and nothing less.

When you would like to resign, think carefully on the consequences of being unemployed. How are you going to pay for your living expenses?

In Conclusion - Do not leave your current job because of push factors, but rather you should leave for the the pull factors.