Mind n Matter: How can I stay in competition as a beginner?

Lockdown or recession, bubble or trough, competition is here to stay.

With evolution at the helm, it is always a game of probability that one who enters the job world gets to stay and move to level next.

It is all about who has the ability to evolve than who possesses a gold medal or a distinction. It is all about your abilities to see your tomorrow and walk the path than please your boss and walk behind him/her.

To get a job is easy. To get a dream job isn’t easy.

At times it so happens that to get to the dream position, one has to start from where he/she never imagined- a position as low as Grade IV staff (attendant) or Executive level IV(field manager) even with a degree which shouts out for a white collar job. Those who hesitate or feel it embarrassing may have to wait for a long time or forever – competition and opportunities never wait for your timing and placement of your ideas.

They come and they go.

As one of the HR Manager once said, once you lose an opportunity, you have to wait at the end of the line as a tail ender or as a spectator for another chance because there are a million contenders waiting in line for an opportunity.

That is the way the competitive world works. It’s always WORK IN PROGRESS!

So in order to ensure that YOU sail with the winds and do not get thrown away into a NO MAN’S LAND, follow these 13 points which I have assembled in last 13 years-practical and carefully picked to help you to maneuver difficult times!

Here we go!

1. Qualification matters: Late Dhirubhai Ambani might have started Reliance Industries without a proper qualification but to ensure that the giant ship sails continuously, hiring qualified professionals was necessary. National or International, desi or otherwise, businesses might have got a kick start on the basis of an idea which gave the entrepreneur a first mover’s advantage but then, to continue and up the flag of success, hiring of professionals with proper qualifications becomes quintessential. It is they, who can infuse ideas, face challenges and ensure that the mast gets adjusted according to the winds in the industry. So, the first check must be QUALIFICATION.

Note: One must understand that qualification is essential to get a job but it never guarantees the stay.

2. Training and Development: every organization which you join, orients you with its culture, rules and regulations, the career path, targets to be fulfilled during probation period and thereafter. It also trains you to speak, convince, sell, handle issues and also hand holds wherever necessary. Once you clear the initial stages, they develop your talent and ensure that whatever remains as a block in the progress path gets cleared via peer programs or Developmental programs. Other than these, an employee is also expected to do his own R & D and chalk out strategies to ward of competition at his levels, his reportees and his reporting authorities. In simple words, the employee must stay updated and abreast to stay in competition. Not always will your organization assist you to learn or clear a block. They will observe your measures and your response to critical situations they put you into. So, watch your steps as big boss is watching!

3. Accept orders and responsibilities without ifs’ and buts’: Working in an organization requires flexibility. You may be a gold medalist in your area of specialization but then, if you can’t multi task, if you can’t go beyond your designation and job role, get ready to be rolled out. Remember, there is always a competitor ready to do your work and the work of a few more with greater efficiency than yours. Learning a new skill or a new trade will always be helpful as they will only enhance your value, expand your horizon and shape your future as a front runner for a position you have been dreaming of. So if you want to save your seat and the cubicle and give the top performer a jitter or two, get going!

4. Work on your will and skill regularly: A weapon unused for long becomes useless. It must be cared for and used regularly even if it means servicing it. Your will power and Skill power too, must follow the same path. Your desire to grow and get promoted must never be compromised. Don’t let your will power to be dominated by a failure or two. It happens.

In the process of achieving your goals and growing up in an organization, you fail at times, you fall at times. It does not mean that it ends there. You have to fight back strategically and with cunningness in a diplomatic manner and yet dawn the hat of a good boy.

Use time judiciously: As I said it earlier in point 3, learning a new skill or a new trade will always be helpful as they will only enhance your value, expand your horizon and shape your future as a front runner for a position you have been dreaming of. There are times, when, in times of crisis and pressure, as an employee, one starts bluffing and cooking up stories. At times, the best bet in the lot even fails to impress. It is during these times that if as an employee, one is able to come up with ideas to bounce back and be resilient; he/she gets noticed and appreciated. Those who fail will learn a new lesson and those who deny will search for an easier option which never exists in a competitive market. It is thus necessary to use time judiciously, to learn a new trick or develop one to ensure that in tough times, you last and not the tough moments.

6. Communication skills: Once when Lions talked and Dinosaurs danced, I came across a few excellent gentlemen who, I assumed, had that potential to do the impossible. However, a few meetings after, I realized that neither did the Lions talk nor did the Dinosaurs dance! These guys who held degrees from prestigious institutions, possessed excellent technical skills failed miserably when it came to speaking and presentation skills. By presentation skills I don’t mean nor do I talk about power point presentations but ability to communicate clearly what is intended. They started mincing words, wasted precious appointment minutes and failed to crack deals with High Net worth Individuals. What I am trying drive in is the fact that one must be skilled in speaking and convincing as well. It is necessary.

7. Be Eager and engaging: Discuss ideas with your colleagues, your immediate boss. These ideas or thoughts of yours must not be beyond your area of work. The reason is simple. The moment you start discussing about how your boss must work or how he must be giving orders or for that matter, suggest ways in which meetings can be transformed into energetic sessions, there is a possibility that you are venturing into his territory. He will not like it. Suggest common ideas which can benefit all in the team if you want to discuss but do not be the apple which becomes a sore. Come up with ideas and suggestions in meetings, gatherings, after work hours when you report about your day’s work. It helps. A word of caution: Avoid performance related discussions of your colleagues until it’s a part of your job.

Show your eagerness to exhibit a new skill. Your boss will be happy to have a resourceful team member with him. For example, if you are good with calculations and analytical aspects prepare a presentation and discuss with your boss the same or if speaking and presentation skills are impressive, work closely with your trainer and request him to give you a chance to break into T&D department. Such an employee becomes indispensable.

A word of caution here: Don’t let your boss or your colleagues feel that you are Lobbying. It happens when an employee forgets the line of authority and control. Be expressive and exhibit.

8. Be Consistent yet experimenting: In order to showcase your talent, consistency is quintessential. Consistency does not mean staying in one position for long. Let Flamingoes do that for you. It means that you must stick to your strengths- physically, emotionally and intellectually while leaving space for change via experiments and adaptation. When I say experiment, it does not mean a lab based experiment but something where a continuous research and development is involved. R&D at personal level to fit in as a flexible sailor in the rough seas of the competitive world. It is also about introspecting your-self, your objectives, your goals, your way of work, your worth and your network. The moment you review yourself, you try to bring about a change in your working style and your approach, fit in to the culture and adapt. This is when you win and find a seat for yourself even in the rush hour.

9. Learn to listen: One trait which even the best professional misses out on is listening. Ears are used to listen to rumors, ears are used to listen to negative feedbacks, they are used to listen to strategies to defeat rules but very rarely are they used to listen and understand the idea of / the logic behind an activity. During the orientation program, it so happens that all ears get shut the moment the HR Manager starts unwrapping the rules and regulations. Don’t do that. If you fail to listen to rules and clear your doubts, you will never be able to set your sails high. One must develop the habit of listening to his/her clients also. When you approach them or when they approach you, be sure to listen to what they want than thrust what you want. This helps. Developing listening habit helps you to cool your engines, read your clients psyche and think better before you permit your mesmerizing voice to represent what you think. It makes you develop patience, saves you from embarrassment and positions you as a strong player. Notice how the Doctors are. They are not loquacious. Be a Doctor.

10. Patience and Perseverance: A sniper waits. He does not keep firing. He is patient and determined to find his target than simply waste his bullets and precious years of training on anyone in the range. His work is to eliminate deadliest of all. It may take a few minutes to hours at times. As an employee, you too, will have to wait for the right moment. It does not come falling and calling. As a sniper becomes a sniper after training and a lot of hard work, you too become a best employee after training, meeting of targets and fitting into parameters which the company/institution sets. For some, the break may be immediate, for some it may take months/years. It is bound to come for those who are blessed with patience and are persistent. Your consistency is your identity and it is this consistency which helps you to become relentless. A consistent hopper can’t be relentless. He can grow up the ladder but can’t be trusted.

Rahul Dravid is nicknamed “The Wall” of Indian Cricket. Why? Mahendra Singh Dhoni is called as “Captain Cool” and both of them have been relentless and damaging yet patient. Can you be one?

11. Apply Common Sense: Somebody who tells you to switch a job and calls your boss a Hitler must have got the punch earlier for his gimmicks or might be testing your senses. Be careful. The moment you fall into such traps, your career is over. To ensure that you don’t stabilize yourself, there will be innumerable attempts by those who failed to succeed or lost patience. They might have been veered away by seductive offers or prophecies which are untrue. Do not believe in words of others until you experience them. If you start believing in people more than your actions and strengths, be sure to be walking in Wonderland (they exist in fairy tales and not in real). If your seniors have been able to do what is otherwise impossible for those who think about your welfare, you too can. Let the soothsayers take rest while you sweat out.

12. Learn from your failures/ shortcomings. Life is a bumpy ride. You and I cannot get whatever we want in the first instance. At times, it is easy, at times, we have to struggle. Job life too, is the same. It has its own rules and Universe. There will be bumpier rides, toll gates and erratic drivers. If at the end of the day you cannot sit back and analyze what went wrong the other day at work, at your level, then you cannot walk back to your workplace with confidence and determination to set things right.

If ego is the bottleneck to accepting and amending your shortcomings, then, make sure that you keep ego out before entering into your office chamber. Age or seniority does not matter when it comes to learning. To grow and succeed, one has to learn to accept orders as was mentioned earlier, execute tasks which are asked and be humble.

13. Accept responsibilities beyond qualifications: Last point for the day. I could have talked about it earlier but then, I pushed it to the last. It does not matter what your qualifications are, how intelligent you are or for that matter the class. If your boss asks you to deliver something, you have to do it minus ego. There is always a reason for doing something which you otherwise think is not your job. Remember: Big Boss is watching and testing you too.

Survival of the fittest still rules the unseen box offices. Pull up your socks or get ready to be triggered.

Remember this- The path is not easy. Staying afloat is difficult and retaining your position is uncertain if you can’t learn beyond what you believe in.