What is your job strategy?

In ‘How to Evaluate Corporate Strategy’ published in the July-August 1963 edition of Harvard Business Review, Seymour Tilles wrote, “If you ask young men what they want to accomplish by the time they are 40, the answers you get fall into two distinct categories. There are those – the great majority – who will respond in terms of what they want to HAVE…There are some men, however, who will answer in terms of the kind of men they hope to be. These are the only ones who have a clear idea of where they are going.”

The above quote aptly describes the dilemma that many young people confront today. In virtually all my career-related discussions with undergraduates and job seekers, I usually counsel that three inter-related decisions of job function, employer and geography be taken in the right sequence.

First, a person needs to have some clear idea of what he wants to do. This, in turn, guides the choice of which organization the person would like to work for. And lastly, these two decisions interact to influence the person’s place of residence.

One of the first things I look out for on any CV is a person’s career objective or mission. I ask the question: what does this person want to contribute? Most applicants simply copy some statement from another person’s CV without any serious thought or consideration. I see something like this: “To work in a challenging environment where I can make maximum contribution to enhance organizational goals”. Expectedly, such statements do not communicate any real meaning to a prospective employer. When you ask what many young applicants want to do, the answers are usually as vague as the statements on the CVs.

About 12 years ago, I had the following objective on my CV: “To become a proficient, value-driven, hands-on analyst of business strategy and finance”. This provided a clear focus for my job considerations and choices. Sometime in mid-2005, I was interviewed by the Lagos office of a large, global consulting firm and my interviewer asked if I would like to do HR (i.e., human resources) consulting. Without having to think about it, I said no. The chat ended there. Though I was looking to make a move at the time (with almost two years of experience on another consulting job), changing the course of my career was not an option. A few months later, the same company called me for another interview and after some rounds of interviews, I was recruited into a business strategy-type role.

For most knowledge workers, it’s more important to develop valuable competences in two or three clearly identifiable areas than to simply be on a firm’s payroll. Provided a person is getting paid, simply having a job may meet today’s needs and create some provision for the near future. However, it’s never, in itself, a sustainable strategy for continued relevance or future success.

What then should you do? I advise professionals to work and earn their livelihood from a job or venture where they can simultaneously build a solid foundation for future endeavours. The first question should be: given my interest, aptitude, training, education, and potential, what can I contribute? And where is such contribution valued? Every commercial engagement eventually comes down to contribution or value creation. A person needs to decide where he/she can, or would like, to contribute. The answer to these provides the basis for near-term and future training and development effort.

Secondly, given the intended contribution, a person needs to ask: where can I start? Who are the players in this trade? Where are they located? What do they look out for? How do they recruit? How do I contact them? For example, if you want to practice law, which law firms should you consider? If it is investment business, which stock-broking, issuing houses or investment management firms should you approach? It is important to ask both the simple and the hard questions. How prepared am I? What can I do to boost my chances? How can I demonstrate my interest or showcase my abilities, even if they are currently limited?

It certainly pays to work with the best and the brightest. Yet the decision of which firm or business to join should follow from your choice of what you want to do. You may someday decide to change course but a good foundation is always essential. Young persons should aim to be versatile, meaningful specialists rather than wandering generalists.

Thirdly, location does matter in many fields of human endeavour. For certain sectors, experience in many of the developed markets in North America and Western Europe comes with lots of exposure and may confer some vital advantage. Yet finding yourself in a developed country without a clear idea of your intended contribution area may produce outcomes that are at best sub-optimal and in some cases frustrating.

In summary decide what you are going to do, prepare yourself for it and make concrete moves to secure a place in the right organization. Then you can work your way up – over the years – one step at a time.

David Adeoye