One challenge that most employees face in the workplace is how to boost their chances of getting promotion. Most of them adduce dissimilar (wrong) reasons for their inability to get promotion. I think such population need to read this book entitled "Promoting Yourself", with the subtitle "52 Lessons for Getting to the Top... And Staying There". It is written by Hal Lancaster who spent more than 30 years at "The Wall road Journal" as a reporter, bureau chief, editor and columnist.
I am reviewing this book because I know how population feel when they are not promoted, although, I did not taste vocation stagnation throughout my duration as an employee. In short, my first promotion at "Financial Standard" newspaper, Lagos, Nigeria was quadruple. I was promoted to the post of a desk head/line editor and given "Study Right", one of the inserts of the paper to edit. The promotion came within one year and three months that I joined the newspaper. In spite of my "luck", I still know that vocation stagnation is not a palatable experience. That is why in the last ten years, I have been running a column on vocation supervision in the Nigerian mass media.
Now back to this book. From 1994 to 1999, Lancaster wrote the journal's weekly "Managing Your Career" column as well as "Career Corner", a bi-weekly column for CareerJournal.com, the journal's acclaimed website for executives, managers and professionals.
He reveals that today's workplace requires you to pit your contentious fire against a horde of ambitious bosses, peers and subordinates, all seeking the brass ring of success. Lancaster shows you how, with tough and savvy answers to the basic questions, such as How can I find the right job?, How can I heighten my job?, When should I leave?, How do I survive my boss's foibles?, etc. He assures that this text offers readers the road smarts and insight needed to tackle the highly political and often unjust reality of corporate life.
Structurally, the text is divided into seven parts of 52 chapters. Part one is generically christened "selling yourself", and contains the first eight chapters. Episode one is interrogatively entitled "whither goest resumes?" Here, Lancaster says when he first started writing on vocation supervision he vowed that he would not waste much time on the intricacies of curriculum vitae (called "resume" in American English).
"After all, there was already a surplus of gigantic tomes on the subject. These books professed to tell the secrets to penning resumes that would 'knock' 'em dead', 'knock your socks off', be 'trashproof', or just be 'damn good'. Besides, I grumped one morning at the breakfast table, what's the magic in writing a good resume? Be clear, truthful, and brief, and sprinkle liberally with evidence of your accomplishments," explains Lancaster.
The author says in truth, even the greatest curriculum vitae is not likely to get you a job, and the best it can do is to get you in the door and even in that task it is frequently supplanted by a good firm contact. He expatiates that in the extreme hiring decision, your interview and references carry far more weight. Lancaster adds that though a really- bad curriculum vitae can of course cost you a job, by eliminating you from contention before you get a opening to dazzle.
He educates that job-hunting may not even be the best fancy for maintaining an updated curriculum vitae, adding that at its best, a curriculum vitae is a flexible marketing tool that will not only aid your job search, but will help you to administrate your vocation between searches. Agreeing to Lancaster, writing one forces you to define your vocation goals.
Chapter two is based on the subject matter of highlighting underground skills. Here, this author says you can sift straight through the thousands of volumes written about vocation management. He adds that you can pay small fortune for psychological testing and vocation counselling. The author educates that you can schmooze and work your contacts until your tongue falls out. Lancaster says even then you may not be able to fathom that wondrous and miraculous slight thing that ultimately nudges a hiring boss into hiring you. He explains that this is because sometimes, what ultimately wins the day is something so well hidden, the power of which you are not even yet aware of. The truth of the matter is, when you're putting together a resume, you can't always tell what will seal the deal," illuminates Lancaster.
He says it is significant to keep an list of all your experiences and skills, adding that one of them may someday land you the vocation of your dreams. The author asserts that it is equally prominent to keep updating that list with new experiences such as projects taken on, conferences attended, training and education received. Lancaster says this is because over time, those memories will of course fade. "Quick, can you remember every project, seminar, or class you took even ten years ago?" submits this author rather rhetorically.
In chapters three to eight, Lancaster examines subject matters such as promoting yourself online; how to tell good schmoozing from bad; being wary in job-hunting; who is likely to get a job; acting the interview and getting what you are worth.
Part two is based on the eclectic plan of getting ahead, and has seven chapters, face chapters nine to 15. Here, the author discusses concepts such as taking the road less travelled; hunting the elusive mentor; prominent when you are not the leader; promotion; breaking out of your pigeonhole; chasing the Mba and dunning your boss for a raise.
Part three is commonly summarised as "into the supervision maelstrom" and contains five chapters, face chapters 16 to 20. Episode 16 is entitled "Avoiding those first-time boss blues". Here, Lancaster says, "There you are, footloose and fancy-free, a thriving role player in your organisational hierarchy. You're development pretty good money, and you of course know what you're doing! After all, it's what you trained and studied for all those years. Then suddenly there's a phone call, and in the time it takes you to get to your boss's office, it's all over. You're now a manager, and may the good Lord protect you."
He adds that it no longer matters how good you are at your job or how much you know because your hereafter hinges on your potential to organise and put a charge into a "group of malcontents, slackers and Machivellian schemers". You have now got a bunch of higher-ups perched on your shoulder, just waiting for you to screw up, reveals Lancaster.
He says development the leap to a managerial position is not quite that traumatic, but it is close to that. Agreeing to him, "Most get thrown into the arena under-trained and under-armed, uncertain how much authority they of course have and just how to wield it without alienating this gaggle of needy humans they've been asked to lead."
In chapters 17 to 20, the author analytically X-rays concepts such as who said techies cannot manage?; managing techies when you are not one; managing a hostile crew; and the art and craft of being a good number two.
Part four has the eclectic subject of development midcourse corrections, and covers nine chapters, that is, chapters 21 to 29. Episode 21 is entitled "Turnarounds and careers: Even a lemon has juice". Here, Lancaster says if you want to make a name for yourself as a can-do manager, find something broken that needs to be fixed. He stresses that turnaround managers must always stay calm and think clearly in the midst of turmoil and be able to envision both short- and long-term goals.
Lancaster adds that they must be able to pull together, an accident firm plan and get it into carrying out at the flank speed. Turnaround managers also need to know more about finance than the average managers, since that is a significant part of any decision in a turnaround, educates the author. He stresses that turnaround managers must be highly persuasive and be able to inspire reliance in order to cope with the almost-constant conflict and tension.
In chapters 22 to 29, the author discusses concepts such as avoidance of crisis; studying from failure; adapting to continual turmoil; return of the living dead; and job-hopping. The remaining concepts are how to survive your middle crisis; going home again and using a job hiatus to build a new career.
Part five is based on the metaphorically generic subject matter of swimming in a sea of convert and contains seven chapters, that is, chapters 30 to 36. Here, Lancaster analytically X-rays concepts such as high-anxiety, low-esteem blues; reinventing your job; creating your own new job; taking a buyout and going bye-bye; wielding the broom; post-merger trauma; and chasing the start-up pot of gold.
Part six is summarily woven together as "Office politics: Playing well with others", and contains seven chapters, face chapters 37 to 43. Here, the author examines concepts such as mastering office politics without becoming a jerk; getting noticed without being pushy; studying to negotiate in your career; and living with bad bosses. Others are: surviving a new boss; going over the boss's head; and teaching an old boss new tricks.
Part seven, the last part has normal thematic focus of alternate paths to glory, and covers chapters 44 to 52. Here, he beams his analytical searchlight on concepts such as the perils and promise of turning your hobby into a career; alternative work arrangements; living life as a pilot fish; women that break the mold; and living La Vida free agency. Others are: getting branded for life; life as a corporate Samurai; building a parallel vocation for fun and profit; and importance of where you end your career.
Stylistically, this text is an embodiment of success. The language is appropriate and uncomplicated while the presentation is superb. By segmenting the text into 52 chapters, Lancaster is able to make it easy for readers to read. He lends credibility to the text by illustrating with stories of real-life professionals. straight through this strategy, he is able to inspire readers to take action. What's more, the outer front cover make is visually suggestive of the thorough subject matter of the text. This author also uses archaism, e.g., "Whither goest resumes?" (page three) to create linguistic attraction. Note that the book is written in American English, which is why "resume" is used instead of the British English version "curriculum vitae".
However, the layout of the inside pages needs to be improved upon to make them more eye-friendly, especially that graphics are not used. There is an error of punctuation on page four where the -ing compound noun "job hunting" is used without the normal hyphen so that it can be something like "job-hunting". Also Episode one that is based on curriculum vitae needs to be made clearer and more definite. I am a curriculum vitae consultant and know that Episode one needs to be beefed up.
Finally, this text is amazing and is thus highly recommended to those who want to bid vocation stagnation farewell.
