NMMR Moving up at Work

noffgurl · January 2015

I absolutely love my job, it is a great company. I'm in a really great position of starting there while it is small and being able to contribute to its growth and have a lot of responsibility in creating the policies and procedures as well as general decision making. We just signed a contract and have a few others in the works that will have us growing exponentially in the next 3-5 years, making room to move up in the company. What are some ways I can ensure that I grow with the company and am not let go for someone who has more education and experience? Right now I only have a GED and have seriously considered going back to school but I'm scared to go for the wrong thing. I love logistics but my goal, honestly, would be to run the company.

MommyLiberty5013 · January 2015

I think it depends on the "culture" of the workplace. Only you can know what this is like.

Do the managers and leaders have formal educations or not? If so, how much formal education? Do they send their kids to college or do their kids work in trade schools? What's their opinion on higher education? Do people they hire have formal educations?

My first job out of college was at a small ad agency on the east coast. The owner was self-made, and had no college education but was highly regarded in the industry and had major clients. She sort of sniffed at me if I ever discussed college. So, in this case she saw that college wasn't always a necessity.

On the other hand my mom works at a major hospital system in the Midwest, She only has an Associates degree but has 35+ years of on the job experience and is sought after to train other nurses. Although her managers want her to be a manager the system won't permit her due to their perceptions of her lacking education.

My point is that it depends on the culture of the place in which you work.

I think a question to ask the right person is, "Now that we're growing, and we'll need more people, what qualifications do you think would be best suited for the jobs?"

My question for you is: Why did they hire you? What about you made you stand out to them regardless of your education?

vlagrl29 · January 2015

I don't necessarily think you need to get more education to work your way up the ladder. Showing you enjoy your job, wanting to learn more, and giving 100% of yourself show a lot about a person. Also, some companies pay for the education of their employees - would yours be one of those?

hoffse · January 2015

PP's both make great points. It will largely depend on the perception of education in your workplace and whether this is something your company values. You may be able to get some financial help from your employer to continue your education part-time while working full-time. I'm currently doing this and just started my first class this past week. It's one of those things that never would have happened if I didn't put myself out there. It was enormously uncomfortable to ask, but you are your own best advocate in terms of the value you add to the company and the value that a degree would add to your abilities.

In my case, I pointed out that my office needed a tax associate. I do most of the associate-level tax work anyway, but I don't have an LLM so my billable rates for that work is lower than somebody who does have an LLM. I pointed out that it's much cheaper for them to pay for a degree for me (under $35,000) vs. hiring somebody entirely new with an LLM to do a job I can already do (over $100,000 + benefits + office space + support staff). And once I have an LLM they can double my billable rate for tax work, so the firm will be "paid back" on their investment in me within the first year. Besides, they know me and the partners know my work. It takes time to break in somebody new. I've already gone through that, and so there won't be any time wasted on getting me up to speed on the firm and the people I work for. Time is literally money in my profession.

You just have to be willing to put yourself out there. Whether it's pursuing additional education or not, you will only advance if you refuse to sit on the sidelines. I think a lot of people assume that they are entitled to advancement or that it's just the natural way of things and so they don't really push for it, but the truth is it takes work and the ability to identify an opportunity and run with it. I've read some interesting studies that indicate men tend to be better at advocating for themselves in the workplace than women are. They are more likely than women to ask for raises, ask for a promotion, stand up and take credit for a job well-done, etc. I really had to coach myself on this when I decided to pursue the LLM. I kept telling myself, "If my male colleagues can do it, so can I." Not going to lie - it was incredibly uncomfortable, but it's important if you want to progress.

One other tip is to find a mentor. If you can get somebody else invested in your work and your career, that's enormously valuable because they will go to bat for you. It's much easier to go to bat for somebody else than yourself. They will also teach you the ropes and you'll learn valuable strategies for doing your job. There are a couple folks I rely on as mentors at my job, and I'm incredibly lucky that they have an interest in me. They have opened doors for me, and when my old firm was going under last year, they secured a job for me at my new firm before I had any idea my old firm was in trouble. They were joining this new firm and insisted that I had to be hired as well if the new firm wanted them. We were a package deal. I didn't even have to interview - I was just presented with an offer letter at my current firm about 6 hours after the old firm announced it was closing. I can never ever repay them for doing that, and someday I hope to be able to pay it forward with another young associate.

brij2006 · January 2015

I'm a big advocate for voicing this with your boss. Let him/her know that you want to continue to grow and advance with the company, and ask if there is anything he/she expects you to have or do in order to do this.

Making them aware that you are in this for the long haul will give them more trust in you when it comes to taking on extra responsibilities. But as far as continuing education, I would just ask if there is any need for you to do so in order to continuing growing with the company.

NMMR Moving up at Work

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