A readers career epiphany on climbing the career ladder

A readers career epiphany on climbing the career ladder Career epiphany Playing well with others is critical to landing new opportunity Career epiphany If you have a career epiphany, you want to share it and that is exactly what happened. A reader of this blog just let me know about her career epiphany (while reading this blog) and I had to share it with the group. Career:  an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a persons life and with opportunities for progress. Epiphany: a manifestation of a divine or supernatural being What it takes to succeed Climbing the career ladder is more than just doing great work. Subscribers to the blog are familiar with my sermons and stump speeches where I preach that we always need to up our game on a consistent basis. The higher we climb, the more we step up. Most of us feel we are working hard, most of us feel we are doing a great job. Unfortunately, it takes more than this to land more money, more opportunity and bigger challenges. To name a few things we need to do in addition to getting the job done, we need to: Get along with EVERYONE, regardless of how big an ass they are (leaders get along) Build teams and be the leader without the title of manager or director Show company pride Add to the culture of the company Ah-ha moment Below is the readers career epiphany  and again, it is such a great ah ha moment as it relates to climbing the career ladder, I needed to share with the group. I immediately reached out to the reader and asked if I could share her email and she quickly responded with the go ahead. Thank you, Viola! (and yes, she qualifies as a hard worker) Dear HRNasty: My name is Viola and I just stumbled onto your blog today. I am an aspiring career ladder climber but I have been losing hope as my efforts have not been paying off. Let me start by saying that I am a very hard worker. I know you say everyone says that but I really am. Last year I was doing a masters degree full-time, running a business, teaching a class at the local university, and working as a teaching assistant. Thats 4 jobs! And I had two children under 4! So I know Im a hard worker. I have been teaching a class at my local university since 2013 and landed this gig by sheer luck. Fortunately, I live in a very desirable community and there are constantly people moving here because everyone wants to live here. Working at the local university is like owning a golden goose. As time has gone on I have increasingly felt the desire to land a full-time, regular position at this university. I am willing to take anything that isnt at the secretarial level to get in (which would be inappropriate given my level of professional experience). I have networked and even had a meeting with the Director of HR and the Campus Administrator. But nothing has come of any of these efforts. There was recently a full-time coordinator job that I applied for and I was sure that I would get an interview. I have a professional degree, and other degrees, and specialized knowledge in an area that was required for the position. I didnt even get an interview. It has been depressing, more so as time goes on. But today as I was reading your Job Interview mistake article I had a career epiphany. It IS partly my fault that I am not seeing doors opened to me. Although I have done well at networking, I have not put any effort into engaging in the university community. I only show up, teach a class, and leave. Although I work very hard to deliver a great course, I dont do anything beyond that. And, now that I think of it, the Director of HR told me to start doing some of these extra things! Why didnt I listen to her? I havent gone to a single BBQ, I havent even attended a single department meeting. Thank you, thank you SO much for somehow pointing this out to me. Just performing in my one limited role is not enough to consider myself a true keener. I have to do more. I really appreciate your blog, even though it is a little nasty at times. Sincerely Viola HRNastys response Viola, Thank you again for sharing your story and your career epiphany. You are absolutely right, great work isnt the only thing that is needed. The people who are granting the promotions like the company they work for and the people they work with. They want to work with and promote like-minded individuals. We can talk about how we like our peers all day long, but if we are not showing up at the company functions or networking, we will leave a different impression. It is ALWAYS great to hear from folks who have gotten a little something from the blog and it is even better when we can share the learning with the group. Id love to send you an HRNasty swag pack, please just tell me your t-shirt size and a place to send it.   See you at the after party HRNasty nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone who is good at something. “He has a nasty forkball. If you felt this post was valuable, subscribe to weekly updates here, (I promise, no spam) “like” us on Facebook, and leave your comments below. Thank you! Share this:EmailTwitterRedditFacebookLinkedInPrintMorePinterestLike this:Like Loading... Related share HRNasty Seattle HR exec with SPRH opens the kimono to reveal and tell all in regards to what HR and your manager is really thinking and why. With this insight, you can conquer the job interview and climb the corporate ladder. 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