when opportunity knocks, be pro-active

Serena, 24, grew up watching her parents and their friends being hired and fired at whim and, as a result, her memory bank was etched with the simple fact that when a manager or boss wants to get rid of you then he or she will do so, no matter how good your work and behavior – so, when an opportunity to move up in her company arose she went for it, knowing that survival depends upon being pro-active.

“Despite being told at the interview stage that promotions are normal after you’ve been with the company for twelve months,” explains Serena, “I just went for it and got the new position.”

"The mistake many girls make when they've found their perfect job," says Serena, "is to relax and enjoy it - even to the extent of committing to financial obligations on the strength that the job is going to be lasting.”

"Becoming comfortable in a job leads to becoming emotionally attached to what you're doing and becoming vulnerable to change," says Serena. "I aim on being versatile, learning new skills, keeping up to date, embracing change and growing as fast as I can!"

"I know that I’d probably have a lot more job security if I stayed at the bottom of the food chain," says Serena, "but not necessarily so. No job is secure. I didn’t want to stay too long anywhere. I didn’t want to be a sitting duck. I wanted to move so fast that nobody could shoot me down.”

“I wanted to move so fast that nobody would become tired of my face,” says Serena, “I don't just want to survive at work, I want to thrive!”

Read more by Serena:

Find a ladder to climb!

don't be a sitting duck

deal with workplace change

job loyalty should be reciprocal

Vesna is an executive employment consultant - actually a headhunter - and at 46 she earns forty-four times the salary she once earned - well above the six-figure bracket. She attributes her success to being loyal to herself, totally in charge of her life.

Vesna admits that her success has probably a lot to do with the fact that she’s divorced and her kids are now grown up and living independently. Without a husband and kids wanting attention, her loyalties are focused.

"The biggest problem in workplaces these days," confides Vesna, "is the breakdown in the time-honored tradition of reciprocal loyalty between employer and employee."

"Nowadays," says Vesna, "most employers put profit way ahead of the duty of care they once felt towards employees, and in this sort of climate employees who remain loyal to companies are selling themselves short and setting themselves up for a bitter lay-off down the line."

"Loyalty, like most of the higher human traits, is losing relevance in today's workplace," says Vesna. "When profits are down, staff members get shown the door."

Very rarely will companies shoulder a drop in profits in order to retain staff. Even rarer is the managing director who will take a pay cut in order to retain the services of a loyal employee.

"When one does," laughs Vesna, "it usually makes front-page news!"

"Basically," confides Vesna, "if you are not taking charge of your career and keeping a close watch on the economy you will not prosper in the workplace. Your first loyalty is to yourself and those who depend upon your income."

Vesna believes that too many people, young and old, fall into the trap of thinking that because they have been with a company for a considerable length of time that their loyalty will be rewarded when the going gets tough.

"It may be," says Vesna. "You may be one of the lucky employees who are retained, but your loyalty may have had nothing to do with that decision. Your good fortune may be simply due to the fact that you are not highly paid, and it would be cheaper to keep you than hire and re-train someone else further down the line when profits go up."

With more people in the global workforce than there are jobs to fill, Vesna believes that those in jobs tend to confuse loyalty with what is essentially a fear of losing their jobs.

In an employer's market there is very little reciprocal loyalty shown towards employees.

"When good workers are essentially a dime a dozen," says Vesna, "why would any employer fear losing staff?"

Vesna believes that for reciprocal loyalty to exist, there has to be equality and balance. A sense that I have what you need, and you have what I need. Very few people in jobs, or between jobs, can boast that they have as much clout as their employer or potential employer.

"However," enthuses Vesna, "when you start taking charge of your working life, you acquire a unique sense of loyalty to yourself that employers recognize and appreciate. They see an independent woman, a clever woman. They like that. It is how they run their business. They can relate to you. They know that you are likely to have another job in the wings long before they announce a downsizing. They know that you have your finger on the pulse of their business."

"Ironically," says Vesna, "it is the people who leave a job before the rot sets in that are more highly prized than the ones who stay to face the axe."

"In taking responsibility for your own career," explains Vesna, "you are not only assuring your own survival, but also exhibiting traits that employers appreciate."

This may seem contradictory when one of the stock interview questions is: "Why have you not stayed longer than a year [or whatever] at any job in the past 5 years?"

The generally acceptable view is that someone who job-hops is a bad risk, but Vesna believes that if you can give an honest and intelligent explanation for each of your job changes - and you not only left previous employers on good terms but secured good references as well - then you will be seen as someone with a flexible nature, capable of being loyal and reliable in a mutually beneficial workplace situation.

"In other words," says Vesna, "you will be seen as someone who is fully in charge of her career."

This is the type of employee 21st century employers want, and this is also the type of woman who ends up with a six-figure salary like Vesna.

This story first appeared as the ethics of job loyalty

boat rockers v job survivors

Yvonne is 52, married with adult children living independently, and she recently quit a job in the telecoms industry requiring staff to take pay cuts. She could afford to do so because she's been a boat rocker since birth and that, perhaps, is the difference between those who do well at work and those who merely survive in their jobs.

"I didn’t see the CEO at my last job taking a pay cut," laughs Yvonne, "and be damned if I was going to be treated as less valuable than he was."

"I found a new job very quickly," says Yvonne, "and while the conveniences at my new workplace are not as good as they were at the old place, the money I’m earning is very good."

"Let’s face it," laughs Yvonne, "My old workplace’s gymnasium was a great convenience for staff, but with the money I’m earning now I can afford to buy my own home gym!"

Yvonne is a careerist as opposed to a job survivor. The difference between her and her co-workers who stayed and took a pay cut is basically that she values herself more than they do.

"Having a second income coming in and kids living independently does help," admits Yvonne, "but I’ve always valued myself highly and demanded high pay and respect. Even when the kids were young and Jack and I were on struggle street, I’d hold out for what I thought I was worth. And I got it!"

"Maybe it has something to do with being the eldest kid in my family," confides Yvonne. "I always took charge and got the first pick of everything. My younger sisters got my hand-me-downs. I just grew up accepting that I deserved the best and maybe that accounts for why I’d never accept less than what I think I’m worth."

Careerists, according to Yvonne, actually make a point to rock the boat at work - it gets them noticed. They are not people pleasers - they please themselves. And because they do rock the boat, and they do please themselves, these women share the typical success traits of men. These traits propel them up the ladder of success, into six-figure incomes, very quickly.

"And I got there not by working harder than anyone else," laughs Yvonne. "I got there by believing I’m worth a six-figure income and by being prepared to risk all if any company I worked for didn’t share my beliefs."

"Basically," says Yvonne, "female careerists take charge of their careers and that means taking risks. Their security needs are not as high as the personal values they place on themselves."

Some of Yvonne’s old co-workers were reasonably wealthy women, or had husbands earning good incomes, but they were more interested in job security than their own personal worth.

"I’ve always been a risk-taker," laughs Yvonne, "and if you don’t put tickets on yourself then nobody is going to put them there for you. You’re only worth as much as you think you are."

"I don’t think anyone can be a careerist without taking risks," explains Yvonne. "If it was job security I wanted, then I’d need to develop job survival skills. I have no job survival skills whatsoever. You would never catch me bowing and kowtowing to anyone."

"I think that even if I were a single mother with half a dozen kids to feed I’d still take risks," says Yvonne, "because that’s how I am. That’s my make-up, my personality."

"I started off at the bottom of the employment ladder as a young girl," admits Yvonne, "but I knew instinctively that successful career women don't stay there any longer than they have to."

"It's nice and safe down there," says Yvonne, "and that's where many women stay and survive in their jobs for years. But it’s not something I can do."

Yvonne concedes that it’s not particularly safe at the top of the employment ladder either, but by using intuition to their advantage, having high self-esteem and by developing superb negotiating skills and being prepared to risk all, she believes that female careerists can go from strength to strength.

"Job security is not high on my list of priorities," confides Yvonne. "Being paid what I’m worth is what it’s all about."

Like men, female careerists judge themselves by the amount of money they earn, and if they don't get regular raises they kick up a fuss. They don’t take pay cuts and they don’t compromise themselves in any way in order to hold on to a job.

The social fabric of the workplace is important to the career women as a tool rather than the crutch it is for the many women who tend to congregate at the lower levels, where camaraderie is high.

"The higher up you travel," says Yvonne, "the less likely you are to enjoy the company of co-workers - but that’s not a problem for me."

Yvonne believes that another fundamental difference between female careerists and job survivors is that careerists don’t go to work to make friends. They work to make money. They are highly competitive women and they use their superlative intuition and negotiating skills to get what they want and to get people to do what they want them to do.

"I’m a believer in karma," admits Yvonne, "so I’ve never resorted to back-stabbing or ratting on people in order to get what I’m worth. But believe me, this sort of evil stuff does go on and those who practice it don’t sleep well at nights, knowing that they have enemies."

"I’m smart enough to know that the place to make friends is outside work," says Yvonne. "I’m not ruthless, greedy or mean to anyone. I work for money and I want to be paid what I’m worth. It’s as simple as that."

Yvonne's story first appeared as value yourself highly and is reprinted with permission.