Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Adele Scheele: How to Run a Dead-End Job

How do you say if you`re in a dead-end job? If you can see out now what makes for dead-endedness, you won`t take the same mistake next time.

Here are 3 classic examples and what to do about them:

1) A dead-end job by its nature is a staff job whose main stress is isolated from the organization`s focus. For instance, working in the art department of an accountancy firm might be a dead-end job.

One way to go out is to see on the job as an opportunity and a challenge - not as a dead-end. Do more than is expected, get yourself noticed and let management know that you want to be a share of the organization`s main goals. Recognize that you want to establish a combining of personality, judgment, and the power to carve another niche at the same time. Or else build that as another career by adding to your own art portfolio or your power to advise art collectors.

2) A dead-end boss whose own poor disposition and dim vision makes it hard for the section to expand or for anyone, namely you, to be promoted. Many organizations keep these bosses in their positions for various reasons: 1) they are too fearful to discharge them, 2) the old boys` network frowns on getting rid of a brother, and 3) they don`t need to sway the boat, particularly if one of the rowers has the goods on them.

Getting out, once you`re locked in, requires cleverness because dim-visioned bosses aren`t necessarily dim-witted. Your boss isn`t going to wish your trying to go up in the party to leave and discover him. Therefore, you must take the near of casual chances in hallways, elevators, during walks to the parking lot and by participating in international associations in which top managers engage.

But never complain about your boss; instead, enthusiastically refer what you are doing and how it can relate to other departments. Following up any conversation with a bill or clipping helps. So does finding a sympathetic, powerful manager who might be your shop or mentor. And if the two roles coincide in one person, you`re in luck.

However, if none of this works, then be audacious enough to search for another job outside the company. Don`t wait long or you`ll be coupled with your boss who may be safe within the company but could not get a comparable job outside.

3) It`s you who is low and putting on blinders. It happens when you do one job ended and over in the saame way. Most of us desperately need change to grow. The cure, obviously, lies in taking on a new challenge within the job before going outside.

Salesmen who tire of the route but not of the production or organization often make fine sales managers, even at a cut in pay. Teachers, bookkeepers, therapists, mechanics all want to add their own interests to the job. Teachers might start seminars for parents and students on choosing colleges or in setting up summer jobs along with corporate representatives; in so doing they not only find the tide of new blood but also can see a second, complementary career. Bookkeepers might devise a file organization for their clients that good might be catchy enough for their company to release or even sell direct to a publisher.

The sky`s the limit even in bad times, but you do give to cry up enthusiasm to begin considering what`s not merely possible, but desirable. To start, talk to people. Read success stories, dream, and then start. The biggest step is from 0 to one, the first step.

Make your luck happen!

Dr. Adele Author of Skills for Success and Launch Your Career in College

Categories: Business

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