At every Stage, the principles for building your career focus in sharply different ways on the same fundamental things:
You start by looking for a job, applying, and getting a job. Once in the job, you have to do the job and keep the job.
You are competing in the job market and then with your co-workers, so you start at
mode.The principles and dangers are described in detail here. But this provides the story in a nutshell:
Anyone who is content with just «having a job», opens themselves up to exploitation and the raw end of office politics. Sticking with job-focused principles alone will almost certainly generate unpleasant effects:
All in all, the downside of job-focused Read more.
principles alone is considerable.Building a career means standing up for yourself, being strong and dealing effectively with situations of all sorts by handling people and situations firmly and positively. The necessary transition is obvious. You must now recognize power as a factor in the quality of your work-life and rewards.
For the power-centred principles that you absolutely need, go now to Stage-2: working the system.
Before you do, check out alternative responses to office politics.
Originally posted: July 2009