Career advice to make yourself invaluable and bulletproof in a weak economy

You can look good doing the dirty work
Madonna Circa 2010

Career Advice to make yourself bulletproof

Some of the best career advice I heard was years ago, early in my career, and I wrote about it here.

Although the above advice was specifically tailored to me, I recently heard some of the best career advice that I think everyone should hear, regardless of their experience level.

I recently had lunch with a colleague, a former coworker, a CEO, and an intern. We are an eclectic-sounding group, but we are all interconnected. Moving forward, I will refer to the colleague /ex-coworker as “Legit Professional,” or LP for short.

LP is a senior HR professional currently working for a fast-growing company with approximately 120 employees. Her company is also recognized as one of the Best Places to Work. LP has recruiting, employee relations, T&D, and international experience. She is always smiling. She has a reputation for immediately putting people at ease and engaging them.

Intern: Amazing, 15-year-old woman who can handle herself in any group of 20 and 30-somethings. She has already founded an internet dog-walking business with eight contractors. Yes, I will probably be reporting to her in a few years.

The Million Dollar question

The CEO asked LP, “What advice do you have for our intern?” LP turns her entire body to our intern, smiles, and, without missing a beat, says:

 “Do all the dirty work with a smile. Build a reputation for doing the jobs no one else wants to do, and you will find yourself irreplaceable”.

In perfect Behavioral Interviewing form, LP then gave some specific examples. All three of us could do was nod our heads Bobble Head style in agreement with the simple logic of this sage wisdom.  Obi-Wan had spoken, and the 3 Padawans were listening.

How often have we been asked the “What career advice do you have for me?” question? Even after thinking about it, I usually end up with something generic and forgettable. I thought this was brilliant. This was just fricken spot-on brilliant, and I wouldn’t expect anything less from LP. But it wasn’t just “What,” she said, but “How,” she said it.  She turned her entire body to face our young learner, smiled graciously, and made everyone feel like she was our big sister. She was looking out for all of us.

Great advice for all levels

Initially, I thought this was perfect career advice for our intern because she is young. She doesn’t even have her driver’s license yet. This internship is her first “real job,” and there isn’t much she can be trained for within a 2.5-month summer gig. She does have a single 2-month project. As the new gal on the block, there are some expectations that she will be doing grunt work. This advice made immediate sense to me for the following reasons:

• Most interns are assigned general tasks, which are typically the tasks that no one wants to do. However, we expect them to do these jobs well, with a smile, and yes, our intern will be invited back next summer.
• At 15 years old and entering her sophomore year at high school, she has time to gain experience. This advice will serve her well for the following seven internships or summer jobs.
• Ten years into my career, I joined a startup. The money started to dry up, and after a few months of providing janitorial services, our contract was terminated. Yes, a co-worker and I emptied the garbage cans and cleaned the bathrooms. We made fun of it at the time. We weren’t exactly happy about it, but we found a way to make it “fun.”

The more I listened to this master/student exchange, the more I appreciated the advice. Anyone can utilize this material at any stage of their career. Regardless of experience level, there are jobs at every pay grade that no one wants to do.

Great advice in a tough economy

Many great employees have lost their jobs. Companies are accomplishing more with fewer employees and limited resources.  This leaves a lot of dirty work that no one looks forward to doing. These jobs may be junior, tedious, or take away from other P0 (Zero)  tasks.  It may be cleaning up the bathrooms or cleaning out the fridge.  It may also be more emotionally difficult, like running tough meetings, coaching someone who needs help, or publicly supporting a company decision.

Ultimately, your job is to make your manager’s job easier.  Proactively taking care of shitty jobs will do just that.  Making your manager’s life easier will be a path to you becoming invaluable.

It isn’t great career advice just for those starting out; this is career advice that we can all rely on. It was worthy of the moniker Nasty.

As always, thanks, LP. You are a special one. 

See you at the after party,

HRNasty

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