Dear Participants,
I am happy to receive a number of requests from our participants to share their experiences of career through our dialectic forum. Besides, the four questions that I posted yesterday, we may go through the interesting story of Mr. Randy Komisar (sent through email) and compare it with that of Kartikey (in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest).
Komisar claims that a career is after all what you make it. Do you agree? If so, are you ready to take up the non-career career path? To make things simple, would you only do things you are passionate about and call it a career like Komisar calls himself as a “Virtual CEO”? On the contrary, Kartikey claims that his marketing job where he spent 14 hours a day as ridiculous pursuit and decides to call it a day! Do you think Kartikey has taken a right step in his career? If you were his friend, what would have advised him? How would you related Bagchi’s ideas on Job Satisfaction with Kartikey’s experience?
Komisar claims that by conventional standards, his resume is a disaster. Eleven companies in 25 years. On the other hand, I have heard people saying, “if you tend to stay with one company for more than two to three years, you are seen as incompetent”. Do you agree? Few years back, one of our PGDM participants was offered a job where he had prior experience. But our quintessential XIMB participant insisted on a job profile in unrelated domain. When asked by the recruiter as why he wanted a different profile, he told the recruiter, “Sir, I want to work in as many verticals as possible”. The immediate reply from the recruiter was, which I liked the most, “too many verticals make your life horizontal”.
Changing jobs, that too very often in unrelated domains, is it good for one’s career? How do you see them? What do you think as the role of today’s organizations in providing career choices to individuals?
Subrato Bagchi, the Gardener (???) and COO of MindTree Consulting, once wrote “People don’t leave organizations, they leave only Managers”. Do you think managers / bosses influence the careers of their buddies? What is your experience / opinion? Further, do you think career choices for an individual in a relational society like ours is largely influenced by parents, friends and colleagues more than the forces acting within organizations?
With Regards,
Ganesh
P.S: This dialectic forum will be open till 31st August 2010.
A creer is 'done' rather than 'made'
ReplyDeleteQ: Do you think managers/ bosses influence the career of buddies?
A:Yes.In my opinion, Managers/Bosses do largely influence the career of their buddies.I would like to share my own case here-I am basically a person who has more than 10 years experience in Ad agency, particularly in MARCOM and Event Management.I was selected by one of the leading Business house for the post of Manager(MARCOM & Brand Management)and the offer letter was issued with mutually accepted terms & conditions .After 15 days, the HR manager called me up and advised to report for an interaction with the Line Manager & after the discussion, another meeting was fixed for final formalities of joining the firm where I found that the designation has been changed to Manager Corporate Sales(That is Advertising Sales in the sister concern of the group).By that time,my notice period was about to be over and there was no time to reject the offer.This is how my career got through a transition from MARCOM to Corporate Sales.Now, when I try to opt for a job in MARCOM, everybody is offering me a SALES job because seles drives in revenue and no body wants more people in MARCOM which is basically a single person's job and mostly out sourced through agencies.Besides, your last job becomes a baseline for future career.Hence,one MANAGER's decision has dramatically changed my career.Finally I quit the organization because of the Line Manager only, while I have no objection against the organization as a whole.However, no regrets on my part because this 'accidental' Media experience opened up new avenues in my career and I could gain the media planning expertise because of my exposure to TAM and other vital aspects of media research.
Q: Do you think career choices for an individual in a relational society like ours is largely influenced by parents, friends and colleagues more than the forces acting within organizations?
A: Yes, it is.In case of women, it is most of the time the family that largely influences the job decision.If you are already into a promising job before marriage, then probably the husband accepts it the way it is. But, if the person has not joined anywhere and gets married,then sometimes others influence.Again,staying apart is not advised by many families.Therefore, it becomes imperative to choose a career option which is compatible essentially with the husband's job & nearer to his location.Initially I have come across similar problem-even being UGC NET qualified for lectureship in Economics, I was not allowed to join an University away from home.Finally, depending on the available options I landed up chosing 'marketing' as my career.
I am sure many women might have come across such problem and will agree with me.
Yes – career is what you make, but there has to be a large element of prudence while someone takes challenging decisions, considering ones risk dimensions and support environment, geographical and cultural factors. But it’s also important in which point of the career one want to be independent and look at passions in life– In both these cases they are mostly after a safe degree of financial independent and wealth accumulation. Probably I can’t be so courageous to take this decision because of personal factors. Going by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, their needs lay in higher order needs and VALS segmentation frame work dimensions, of Psychographics, they are expected to behave like this as an overachievers has a tendency of being satisfied with an exceptional growth path and may be become independent.
ReplyDeleteBut there was a vast difference in Komisar and Kartikeys richness of experiences- Komisar, over period of time, through different organizations had an enriching cross functional experiences, either through, Job rotation, Job enlargement or Job enrichment, whereas Kartikey had only a vertical move in a single function. The lateral moves in careers were missing in kartikeys case which could be a disadvantage of being independent performer
People don’t leave organizations but a boss is a right statement – Bosses can influence careers positively as well as negatively. One also need not change the job for changing it in 3 years – instead one can have job enlargement with lateral shifts, which is also equally challenging.
To sum up Komisar used his length and breadth of enriching experience to pursue his passion and become a virtual CEO, with a positive thought and finding out the best fit for him ,but for him also there was an uncertain period, but Kartikey’s complaining nature of the job could be de -motivator for his folks – If I was his friend I would have advised him to take a break and look at his current job from 10,000 ft distance as well as helicopter view of the same height and then decide on –Must have, Should have, and nice to have in his job
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ReplyDeleteI’m also agree to Komisar that career is after all what you make It. But this need to be developed since the period of your education starts in one’s life. I’m not talking about the childhood education but soon after university degree and choosing a professional career. It should be selected as per one’s own capacity, confidence, qualification background and his/ her own interest on prospective filed of study. If, one is interested in doing management, then in next step, he / she have to select the domain of his/her own interest, which matches the self confidence and must have a specific Career objective. By doing this he / she can also guide his/ her own passionate / dedication in that particular domain to achieve certain goals and can explore new innovations, which will not only help to build better and constant growth of the career a but also can contribute to the Organisation’s goal and social benefit. I think this process helps us to reduce our own stress, even to work in any adverse situations as is when required by the organisation.
ReplyDeleteIn the mean, time I’m also agreed with Kartikayan’s decision. Once your not satisfy with the working environment or the style of working, you can not deliver the same effort, the organisation want from you. Rather, one should find his own way of working or living. But this need the courage and confidence to withstand the challenges hence forth, and if he/ she can over come these challenges to utilise his/ her own capacities / expertise and make the life simpler than ever with a positive carrier objective, then the future prospective will grow automatically. This also needs the peer support and personal condition of affording such challenges. I think confidence and consistent effort in doing the best will never harass in selecting the right career path with job satisfaction.
Changing jobs, that too very often in unrelated domains, is it good for one’s career? How do you see them? What do you think as the role of today’s organizations in providing career choices to individuals?
Changing jobs, now a day is very common because most of the Professionals think, it’ll lift then from the current position, compensation packages and to a new work environment, after get rid of a monotonous working atmosphere. The most important factor is compensation package, I think, which maters most. Within a very short period one can immediately switch over to a higher package and position. But It does not happen always, in some cases, due to work environment, work culture and poor HR policies and so on. Still, in my opinion it is not so strange, if one is in a contractual job carrier. After all of us are working for earning wealth and contributing towards the betterment of the society as a human being. But, it is not very realistic, to change the job very frequently with changes in your domain. It matters a lot in deviating from the specific career objective and career goal. As, we know, most of us grow in job carrier, not only because of our education back ground but also of experience and expertise in particular field. When we are frequently changing the domains, we gain the experience but not the expertise in a specific field.
So in opinion, even if we are changing the job, not very frequently, but we should be very careful to select the same domain, in which we have the experience and expertise as well.
From
Simanchal Pattnaik
U610054-PGCBM-6th Batch-Kolkotta
Its true that career is what we make ,We should always do what we want to do where our passion lies otherwise we will not be able to rise above mediocrity or will realize slowly with passing time that what we are doing is not worth it .In both our cases of Mr. komisar and kartikey we see that Komisar kept changing jobs acquiring knowledge in different field and trying to do things that he found interesting and ultimately he was a satisfied person and loved his job and succeeded but in case of kartikey he worked in the same field ,he was doing well also but at the end he was not happy as his passion lied somewhere else .Though its true that in most of our cases we have to do things that might not be our passion in true sense because we live in the society that values you as per your social status and the work you do and earning money is a necessity ,frequently changing your field does not go too well with employers too due to which one tries to stick to his job/field and lose in the long run .Someone has rightly said “It's best to fail quickly and learn, rather than keep banging on the wrong nails, or with the wrong hammer.” I feel kartikey was right though he realized after 14 years and was able to take the decision; he was finally doing what he really wanted to do.
ReplyDeleteWhat Mr. bagchi says is true that we have to satisfy job and job does not satisfy us ,but we need to know what we want to do ,and that is where kartikey went wrong as per my understanding.
I don’t believe with the statement that if you stay with the same company for more than three year ,u are considered incompetent. Indeed in todays highly competitive environment ,companies don’t let people stay if they feel they are of no use to the company and are incompetent .One needs to understand that changing company for the sake of it is not right ,if your company is giving you chance to grow,is recognizing your talent , giving you right opportunities , is adding value by giving you learning in different fields and right compensation then changing company just for the sake of it is not correct.
Its not always true that working in many verticals makes ones career horizontal ,It indeed makes you well versed if you have to manage the whole show .Their are many companies that prefer people with experiences in varied field because that widens your horizon and gives you an upper edge and a competitive edge to the company as well.
Its true to a certain extent that managers are for whom individuals work ,it’s the managers that inspires ,motivates and shows the path to the team .We can take example of Mr narayan Murthy or Mr K V kamath who have inspired many careers .At the same time you cannot let people take full command of your career and wait for the right mangers to lead your career path .If one thinks that managers are spoiling your career or hindering your growth then moving out of the organization is the best one can do because its ultimately your career and your time that you will be wasting for such people. Its easy said than done but it’s the right thing to do if your organization does not come to your rescue.
In our society lot of people and lot of factors effect the career decision parents want their children to take the same career path as theirs or something they were not able to achieve. Sometimes it’s the geographical factor i.e, proximity to the family etc.as mentioned by Arup too and in case of women as mentioned by Pranati lot of people have say or they get tied down due to family issues and are not able to do what they would really like to do or are capable of.
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ReplyDeleteI am completely agreed with Babita. We should admit that our career growth depend on us. We should do what we wish to do. Only our passion can able to grow our career graph.
ReplyDeleteIn the both cases of Mr. Komisar and Kartikey, we see that Komisar kept changing jobs getting knowledge in different fields and trying to do things that he found interesting. As a result he was a satisfied person and loved his job and succeeded. In career development, self-knowledge is everything. In a career, you can be two or three degrees off course and walk into a wall, instead of through a doorway. You don't have to be far off to have it fail. Career unhappiness often results from limited self-knowledge. Komisar acquired self-knowledge from different working fields, but in case of Kartikey he worked in the same field, he was doing well but ultimately he was not happy because his interest lied somewhere else.
In the recent time, you have to be always on the look out for a better opportunity. Money wise, job satisfaction wise, environment wise, prospective wise. If you get a job best by all means or you get a chance to work elsewhere where it promises greater prospects, nothing is wrong for shifting. But simply shifting from job to job is no good practice. Many companies will be hesitant to hire someone who's going to disappear on them frequently, especially if a job involves a significant amount of training. Only when you feel that your interest is gradually going to collapse on your job, nothing is left behind for your organization and vice-versa, and then you should change your job.
kartikey was right to take the decision, though he realized after 14years; he was finally doing what he really wanted to do.
Whatever Mr. Bagchi says it’s true that we have to satisfy job and job does not satisfy us, but we need to know what we want to do and we have to choose our career accordingly. That is where Kartikey went wrong as per my opinion. I observe that if you have worked same job in a company more than 3 years, you will reach the saturation point as per knowledge or career, unless you shift on another job.
It is true that about 80% of people are unhappy at work and only 20% are happy. Our culture has separated work from passion, and taught us to prefer a higher paycheck to higher happiness. That mistake costs us our souls. The goal of career development is to uncover one's gifts and passions, and to link them to the practical needs of the world. We describe it as "being in the right place," "finding a good fit," or "making the best use of one's talents."
On the conclusion, I feel that high compensation and high happiness are not incompatible. It's not that we shouldn't seek money. But we should first seek to love, or at least to like, what we're doing. That's the realization of our highest calling.
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