Joining a company - leaving a manager
Last Saturday, and via a friend, I met a pretty young girl. She just graduated college and started in her job but is not really happy. She is in sales and according to her, quite successfully developed several accounts.
It so happened that her boss gave the accounts that she developed to someone less successful with the argument that she is good enough to develop new sales, while this person would need some help. I believe it is a dump move from the boss.
She herself is very unhappy, especially since the market is small and there are not that many buyers, and already starts looking for a new job – is actually going for an interview next week. What will happen is that the guy will probably mess up the accounts, since it appears to be outside his strength – but okay, to give him credit, he might be good at client relationships just not sales.
The clients won’t be happy because they have to get a feel for the new guy, have to invest trust and involvement - something they might not want to do, understandably. The boss, he will be left behind with one less great employee, fewer accounts, probably, and one employee that is not capable of meeting job requirements. As the saying goes: People join companies, but leave managers.
The question always is why people join firms in the first place. There are different types, of course. When you start your career after college or Uni, it probably is an irrational decision. You have no idea what to look for in a company. You don't know what to ask and how to probe for the right questions.
And basically, you are happy to find a job, any job that somehow seems right. But one does not realise that every job puts you on a road, and as longer you stay on this road, the more difficult it is to get out of it and change career. Even in today's age of frequent job changes. But it is okay to change and to learn. Keep asking question about the sense of things that you are doing.
Remember, one spends a lot of time on a job, in a firm - if the job is bad, the boss cruel the colleagues @%$#, just change. Hang the hat on the wall and leave. Find a firm that is aligned to your values. That drives you, and provides you with some real stuff to do. Just leave but leave in good terms. You never know what will happen with those that you leave behind. You might meet them again, a year later, or 5 years. And they might remember, how you treated them when you left - or even before you left. Show integrity and pride in what you are doing!!
For me, as an expat (I don't want to be one, don't feel like one, but companies see me as one), it is a similar situation. Every time I find a job, after a contract expires, I am happy to find a new one. This was the case after my first job in Malaysia, when I than moved to Indonesia. I was happy to find a job when I lost my job in Indonesia, after the Suharto crisis. I found a job in Singapore that brought me over the Asian crisis. And when my contract in Singapore expired, I was happy to find a job in my current firm. And I am "damn" scared to lose it again, with kid in school and all that, and since I am getting older (yeah yeah yeah, even I get older, just not in my heart).
I could give 111 tips on how to stay current in the job for Malaysians of every colour and size and how to find or choose a job in the first place, and may be one day I will start doing it. Grrr - may be I start it with a short story in the next entry.
Last Saturday, and via a friend, I met a pretty young girl. She just graduated college and started in her job but is not really happy. She is in sales and according to her, quite successfully developed several accounts.
It so happened that her boss gave the accounts that she developed to someone less successful with the argument that she is good enough to develop new sales, while this person would need some help. I believe it is a dump move from the boss.
She herself is very unhappy, especially since the market is small and there are not that many buyers, and already starts looking for a new job – is actually going for an interview next week. What will happen is that the guy will probably mess up the accounts, since it appears to be outside his strength – but okay, to give him credit, he might be good at client relationships just not sales.
The clients won’t be happy because they have to get a feel for the new guy, have to invest trust and involvement - something they might not want to do, understandably. The boss, he will be left behind with one less great employee, fewer accounts, probably, and one employee that is not capable of meeting job requirements. As the saying goes: People join companies, but leave managers.
The question always is why people join firms in the first place. There are different types, of course. When you start your career after college or Uni, it probably is an irrational decision. You have no idea what to look for in a company. You don't know what to ask and how to probe for the right questions.
And basically, you are happy to find a job, any job that somehow seems right. But one does not realise that every job puts you on a road, and as longer you stay on this road, the more difficult it is to get out of it and change career. Even in today's age of frequent job changes. But it is okay to change and to learn. Keep asking question about the sense of things that you are doing.
Remember, one spends a lot of time on a job, in a firm - if the job is bad, the boss cruel the colleagues @%$#, just change. Hang the hat on the wall and leave. Find a firm that is aligned to your values. That drives you, and provides you with some real stuff to do. Just leave but leave in good terms. You never know what will happen with those that you leave behind. You might meet them again, a year later, or 5 years. And they might remember, how you treated them when you left - or even before you left. Show integrity and pride in what you are doing!!
For me, as an expat (I don't want to be one, don't feel like one, but companies see me as one), it is a similar situation. Every time I find a job, after a contract expires, I am happy to find a new one. This was the case after my first job in Malaysia, when I than moved to Indonesia. I was happy to find a job when I lost my job in Indonesia, after the Suharto crisis. I found a job in Singapore that brought me over the Asian crisis. And when my contract in Singapore expired, I was happy to find a job in my current firm. And I am "damn" scared to lose it again, with kid in school and all that, and since I am getting older (yeah yeah yeah, even I get older, just not in my heart).
I could give 111 tips on how to stay current in the job for Malaysians of every colour and size and how to find or choose a job in the first place, and may be one day I will start doing it. Grrr - may be I start it with a short story in the next entry.
posted by Andreas @ 3:37 pm
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