Brazen Careerist Lesson #2: Professional Development
“A baseball game is twice as much fun if you’re seeing it on the company’s time.” — William C. Feather
Recently, I wrote about my Lesson #1 of the Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success. It described how job satisfaction will focus more on fulfillment than earnings for Gen X & Y. This week, the topic is about how, as Penelope Trunk emphasizes, “The new workplace currency is training.”
Nadira A. Hira recently wrote You Raised Them Now Manage Them in Fortune magazine and describes the Gen Y worker as, “They’re ambitious, they’re demanding and they question everything, so if there isn’t a good reason for that long commute or late night, don’t expect them to do it. When it comes to loyalty, the companies they work for are last on their list – behind their families, their friends, their communities, their co-workers and, of course, themselves.”
Trunk writes on her blog, “With little to lose, most twentysomethings use their post-college time as an opportunity for finding oneself, seeing what’s available, and trying a lot on for size. Which translates to more than eight jobs before turning 32.”
So the younglings aren’t likely to be lifers or loyal and as Trunk expands in her book, “Title is not important if you’re not staying long term. And salary increases of 3 or 4 percent are ceremonial. So use the clout you earn to get training; it will make a difference in your life in a way that salary and title cannot because training can fundamentally change how you operate and what you have to offer.”
She outlines 3 types of training — click over to her post for the skinny on all three:
- Self-awareness coaching
- Communications coaching
- Training on how to navigate within a company
But people learn by experience and what better way than to have your employer foot the bill. Here are some other ideas to learn by doing:
- Want to see the world? Get into international sales… you’ll be jet setting to London, Dubai and Hong Kong in a New York minute.
- Want to learn a new language? Beg to manage that customer in Brazil and then tell the boss how much more effective you’ll be if you can learn Portuguese.
- Want to live abroad? Just raise your hand. Most companies work globally and might welcome your offer for a 2 year stint in Singapore.
- Want some writing experience? Ask to produce and manage the company blog.
- Want some leadership experience? Start a corporate program. Introduce a corporate social responsibility program or volunteer to start or head the LGBT employee resource group.
Opportunities to learn are available — just be creative and ask. And it’s these types of perks that will give you the currency to trade up to the better paying job.
Nina,
I love the list at the end where you suggest ways to grow from within the company. These are really smart ideas because they are so reasonable from the company’s perspective — relatively easy for your boss to say yes to.
Penelope
Lack of company loyalty is quite apparent with my friends and I, all in our first few years out of college. Few of our post-college jobs have been for longer than 8 months. Once I get my training done I’ll relocate with a friend instead of returning to a job where my coworkers were the reason I stayed on.
I’m on the younger side of Gen X, and although I have actually ended up being very loyal to my companies, I don’t feel that I have any obligation to do so. This is because I am of the age group that had parents who were laid off or had their jobs shipped overseas. We saw it happen to our parents, so we learned that you have to look out for yourself number one.