New Age Professional’s Survival Guide

People who started their professional journey 30 years ago have very different rules and work ethic, as compared to the young, working professionals of today. The dynamics in the companies, the work hours, the interview and evaluation process and the duration of an average stint with a company, are all highly different from how the scene used to be three decades ago. The number of graduates going to a MBA college to pursue higher education too has drastically gone up in the last ten years. People today want to leave no stone unturned when it comes to their career and lifestyle in general. The mantra today is definitely go big or go home. With more and more new millionaires falling in the 20 something age bracket, the pressure to perform is higher than ever before.

Succeeding in a big organization has a lot to do with your ability to perform with a team and get along with others, whether it is your seniors or your juniors. The ability to tactfully deal with teams, clients and bosses is something that just cannot be taken for granted in today’s competitive world.

People that are innately mild-mannered and soft spoken often feel the need to go against their natural behaviour in order to survive in a corporate. While it is not imperative for one to be very head strong and aggressive, in order to succeed and climb up the career ladder, it is important to get noticed and rewarded for the efforts you are putting forward. Avoiding conflict and work dynamics altogether may be virtually impossible if you want to work in a team. Taking on roles that are more in sync with your nature and abilities is way better than choosing something radically different and then going against the grain.

For example, a person that usually prefers to work with facts and data and likes coordinating with one or two people in the whole day should not take up a marketing job where he has to constantly reach out and meet new people. This person’s strength probably lies in the accounts department or the admin division. On the other hand, a professional who is really fond of making pitches, business proposals, connecting with new people, should definitely not be stuck in a back end job. While it is good to don multiple hats to survive and thrive in an organization, it is also imperative to work with your skills to succeed and sustain growth. 

It is not possible for a big company to work its way around the nuances of every employee. The people who join the organization have to get into the flow of the system and work their way around it. A highly organized person, who prefers to do her work on time and balance other areas of her life, may have a really hard time in a media company where it is not uncommon to burn the midnight oil and sacrifice the weekends. At the same time, a dynamic person who doesn’t mind the long work hours and the travel should not be chained to the desk at a dead-end job.

It is better to choose a company whose ethics and culture match with your ethics and value system. Working for a company that is totally different from how you prefer to do things, may need a lot of adjustment.

However, it is also important to be flexible and scrutinize any opportunity that comes your way fully before accepting it or rejecting it. You may have always worked in a law firm, but may be you are meant to do something completely different.