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Dear Zelda, I’m a recent college grad and am working for a large hi-tech company in the Bay Area. My problem is that I would rather lead than follow, but right now I’m at the bottom of the totem pole fetching coffee for my bosses and doing grunt work. (I’m a female and often wonder if they’d ask a male in my same position to bring them coffee.) My immediate boss is good, but not great and I feel I’d be better in his position than he is. Sometimes I think of leaving and starting my own company, but I don’t have the concept or the financial foundation to do that yet. I held several leadership positions both in high school and college and want a job where I can use that skill. I need some suggestions from The Top Dog. Unhappy Underdog Dear Unhappy Underdog, Hey, it’s your first job following graduation and you’ve landed a position with a “large hi-tech company.” Not bad. My first job was to pose topless for a photo-shoot wearing bunny ears. It wasn’t even for Hugh Hefner, and I was paid only with heavy petting and Pup-eroni. So my advice is to smile—your first job could definitely be worse. I do, however, understand your unhappiness. You’re young, ambitious, and don’t want to get stuck on the bottom rung of a long, slow success ladder. People in today’s business world, particularly young people, often expect quick success, independence, and creativity in their jobs. These ambitions are important—incredibly so—and they have driven many of us, including yours truly, to take the leap and start a business all our own. But as you yourself recognize, such ventures require good ideas, strong business models, and lots of experience. Without these elements, the best laid plans of mutts and men quickly turn into doggie day dreams. In my opinion, the quickest way for you to move ahead is by being the best you can be…all the time. Silly as it may sound, that means delivering the best coffee in the least amount of time. (Incidentally I don’t think of carrying coffee as a gender issue anymore.) It means help your boss in every way possible. It means suggesting time-saving ideas that will help your company grow and succeed. Work late, work hard, and be the person everyone comes to rely on and wants to work with. A professional reputation for excellence is worth its weight in gold, but it takes hard work to build and maintain; if you knew some of the things I had to do when I was starting out as an underdog (fly coach, sleep with my boss, eat kibble not caviar…), you’d consider yourself lucky. This isn’t just a matter of “paying your dues,” it’s also about learning how to work through tough situations, professional and interpersonal, that are sometimes unique to the working world and often very different from school. These skills, learned well, will benefit you throughout your career, wherever it takes you. Of course even entry-level jobs should have some measure of enjoyment, learning, and a means to improve. If your job truly lacks these important things, be patient, continue to do your job well, but also consider looking for new opportunities inside or outside your company. Set a timeline for yourself: if your responsibilities and opportunities haven’t improved within, say, a year, then consider looking elsewhere, perhaps a smaller company more tailored toward your interests. Keep checking Craigslist and Monster.com for other job possibilities. Network with your friends, family and your college’s placement office. Try thinking ‘beyond the box’ about what’s important to you, and you may come up with ideas that haven’t occurred to others. Basically it’s up to you to be the guide and advocate for your own career, and you CAN do it. I want to whole-heartedly encourage you to keep trying and thinking and planning for the future, and looking for outlets for your creativity and skill, because ultimately there is nothing that beats being the lead dog. The view is definitely better and the satisfaction of coming out on top is a dream come true. But getting there requires you to build the foundation and the skills that will propel you to those great heights. This is a marathon, not a sprint, but you’ve got my support the whole way! Zelda Dear Zelda, I, too, am an English Bulldog who is very photogenic and quite a ham. How did you go about marketing yourself? Our breed seems to be everywhere I look these days, in part because of your success. Now I’d like some advice from the Top Dog! How do I follow in your paw prints? Understudy Dear Understudy, My credo was three-fold: “Waddle and Wrinkles Work,” “Savvy and Slobber Sell,” but “Perseverance and Patience Prevail.” My owner’s was two-fold: “Why Bee Normal?” and “Think big, but watch every penny.” While I consulted with supermodel Cheryl Tiegs, my owner scoured the town for my fashions and accessories, found a photographer, and then approached local ad agencies to see if they needed a seductive bulldog with bow-WOW. We decided to produce some sample greeting cards and once the cards were produced a friend and partner helped us land some PR slots on local TV stations and facilitated some newspaper and magazine exposure. Soon the cards were getting rave reviews and selling like hotcakes. With the success of this test market, we decided to rent a booth at the annual New York Stationery Show. Using her experience in marketing and design, my owner ‘bet the farm’ and took out a full-page ad in the show’s catalog. That did the trick, and got everyone’s tail over to our booth. Licensing contracts followed as did the national media. Meanwhile, I was home honing my Häagen Dazs-fueled modeling ethic. From there, we appeared on such TV shows as Good Morning America, The Today Show and Oprah. While my owner chatted with Charlie Gibson and Oprah, I just listened and looked sexy. Book publications, signings and speaking engagements kept coming. As we look back, we feel we had some important pieces that fit the puzzle: me, a unique idea, a “they-don’t-come-any-better” photographer, a partner with experience and expertise in PR, a marketing and design background, supportive friends, a risk-taking gene and plenty of self-confidence and credibility. We firmly believe that if you do your homework and the results are positive then you can leap, and a net will appear. That was the path we took. Hope this helps get your tail on the trail to success. Zelda Share this column with a friend! |
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