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Get Your Head Out of the Sand

Written by Bernie

Bernie Frazier, SPHR is the Founder and President of CAREERCompass, LLC, a speaking and career coaching firm in St. Louis, MO. She also spent almost 25 years recruiting talent to six organizations across four industries and led the talent acquisition function for four of those organizations, including one global team.

Slide1For the past 25 years, there’s been a major shift in how companies do business and how we work in the United States, but not everyone received or read the memo about it. Some people read it and made the necessary adjustments while others have remained clueless….or in denial.  The memo stated:

“Dear Employee: 

We are delighted that you have chosen to work for our company all of these years. You’ve worked hard, made many sacrifices, put up with a lot, overcome some challenges, made or saved us money, worn our company t-shirts and jackets, drank your coffee out of our company mugs, and made a little money yourself. 

We’ve celebrated your wedding, mourned your divorce (in some instances), celebrated the birth of your kids, and supported you when you buried your parents. Through it all, we’ve been here for you – creating opportunities to help you learn, grow, and advance.  Overall, we’ve had a great relationship. 

Unfortunately, we must make some changes to our relationship. Due to the onslaught of technology and globalization over the years, we can no longer afford to support your career like we’ve been doing.  Effectively immediately, you must now: 

  • Realize that while we truly like you and have enjoyed having you work for us, we can no longer drive your career progression. We simply don’t have the time or resources. If you want more, you’re going to have to figure out how to get it for yourself. Sorry!
  • Buy your own gold watch….and let us know from where you retire.
  • Apply good networking skills to your career – internally and externally. In order to get ahead, or even stay employed here, you must make sure you know people and make sure people know (and like) you!
  • Be very clear about what you want in and from your career. Then ask yourself, “Am I getting it here?” or “Can I get it here?” If not, you have a decision to make.
  • Proactively seek out ways to continuously add more value to our organization. This is the best way to secure your employment future and the possibility of any financial advancement. However, we still can’t guarantee either.”

Look familiar? If not, I encourage you to re-read the memo and begin to immediately apply the recommended actions to your career.  The employment contract of yesterday has been decimated in many companies.  While there are still some great places to work out there, according to yesterday’s standard of “great,” they aren’t as prevalent as in days gone by. You must now own your career by remaining alert to the dynamics happening in your industry, company, department and team, being clear about what you want, and developing a plan to get it.  If not, you could end up being the “deer in headlights,” wondering what happened!

Until next time….