How to Boost Your Career Growth With One Simple Change
So you’ve been working for a global corporation for a few years now.
Of course, joining a posh multinational company with a sweet salary and benefits was the clear choice upon graduation (…according to your baby boomer parents, that is). You learned about all the complexities associated with running an international operation and made interesting connections along the way. While all of that is swell, you may be starting to feel complacent as you idly wait for someone to retire to get promoted.
Is staying in this position a bad thing? I mean, you do have access to a fridge full of endless snacks and the subsidized cafeteria food isn’t all that bad after all.
BUT, think about this:
In The Defining Decade, author Meg Jay explains that every skill or connection you develop becomes part of your identity capital, which, like fiscal capital, compounds interest over time. Thus, the best time to acquire a diverse set of experience is right now, at the beginning of your career.
The problem with large corporations is that their daily operations consist of motivating employees to perform a repeated set of tasks in the most efficient way possible. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being fulfilled and happy performing the same tasks again and again. In fact, it provides a sense of comfort and stability that many people seek. In the same breath, if you want to experience continuous career growth, this approach can prove to be extremely dangerous as it prevents you from unleashing your full potential.
Statistics back up the fact that your 20s are the single most important decade of your career:
· 80% of life’s most defining moments take place by about age 35.
· 2/3 of lifetime wage growth happens during the first ten years of a career.
· Personality can change more during our 20s than at any other decade in life.
· The brain caps off its last major growth spurt before 30.
You should not be complacent and let them pass you by!
One interesting way to exponentially expand your identity capital is by joining a startup. Here’s why:
1. Responsibilities and personal growth
Your day-to-day work will not be limited to your job description. In fact, it is likely that you will have more than one position. Startups also tend to be more flexible, which means that you can get involved on many projects since endless tasks are left to be completed by a limited number of people. This is an invaluable opportunity to have in your twenties as you are able to experience a broad range of responsibilities in a short period of time, allowing you to be in touch with what you do and don’t like so that you can specialize in a domain that you are genuinely passionate in the future.
Corporate: Promotions take a while and processes/ workflows are designed such that each expert works within their silo only. You may not like what you are doing, but unless you switch companies, it will take a while to transition to a new role or take on tasks that are outside of your job description without stepping on other peoples’ toes.
2. Flat structure that fosters a keen sense of ownership
You will be part of building something from the ground up. Everything that you do will directly impact the company’s success. Of course, you must know who to report to, but hierarchy is relatively unimportant in startups. Having a keen sense of ownership for the work that you do is central to being motivated and having a life flush with purpose. Being in charge of your own project and having the authority to make decisions is instrumental to personal growth.
Corporate: You will be one of thousands of employees. You can spend months on a mandate only to be told that while you did a fab job, your division no longer has the budget to implement your findings. 6 months of your life will be encapsulated in a binder that will sit on a desk for all of eternity. This makes it very hard to be motivated about your next mandate.
3. Opportunity and growth in a fast paced environment
New companies aren’t bound to the patriarchal bureaucracy and inertia of longstanding corporations. Startups are able to write their own rules and create their own culture. You can jump start your career by joining a rocket ship (Yes, that was definitely a Sheryl Sandberg reference). This is especially useful for women who are constantly disadvantaged by systemic discrimination in the workplace.
Corporate: The job ladder is quite long and it takes decades, and tons of political game playing, to get to the top. Additionally, raises are usually not linearly correlated with performance — annual raises hover around 3%. You could be producing 50% more than your co-worker, but it is extremely unlikely you will be compensated 50% more.
4. You work closely with some of the brightest brains
Those crazy enough to start their own businesses are a certain kind of breed. They are the kind of person who does not see the world as it is, but rather, how they want it to be. Learning from someone like that is invaluable and inspiring. It will instill you with a sense of childlike wonder and the courage to pursue your own dreams.
Corporate: It is hard to innovate in a corporate setting. Employees often choose to perpetuate the status quo because it is easier. Trying something new often requires many levels of approval and then hours of trying to buy into the idea. You may learn to take the path of least resistance and suppress your innovative ideas.
5. Fun atmosphere
You can be who you are outside of the office, in the office. Being able to be our full selves in the office has given us the opportunity to genuinely befriend our coworkers. They know the true us, not the politically correct version. This kind of relationship makes it so that we don’t even flinch if we have to work on the weekend. Our coworkers are family. Plus you get to wear jeans, sneakers and drink beer at work!
Corporate: You need to play the political game, which can make you feel icky. Oh and you’d probably be fired if you had a beer at your desk.
What is also important to acknowledge is that startups aren’t for everyone and there is nothing wrong if the aforementioned illustrations don’t sound like something you would want to be part of. There is something beautiful about having a clear dichotomy between work and life, we just happen to like when they are one of the same.
About the authors: Samantha Rudolph and Olivier Thibault are tech startup enthusiasts who work in the energy and health sector, respectively. Their articles have been published on a variety of websites and they use their expertise to provide guidance to emerging entrepreneurs across various industries, at both a local and international level.
[This article was originally posted on LinkedIn.]
