Corporate Survivor with Mei Phing : Career Growth In The Corporate World - Ep184: Reality of a corporate job (WHY smart people FAIL)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to the Corporate Survivor Podcast, where we talk about how to grow your career confidence, build your skills and value, increase your salary, and the many lessons we learn in the corporate world. For more career support, click on over to www.mayping.com. This is Mayping, your corporate leader turned career coach. I hope you enjoy, like and subscribe. How important is having that paper qualification? And does it automatically mean that you will enjoy a very successful career in the corporate world? I grew up in Asia.

Starting point is 00:00:38 I lived in Asia. I worked in Asia. And there's one thing that we cannot deny deny which is the fact that paper qualification is so important in the Asian society. Your family cares about it, your friends and family ask about it all the time so it's something that we cannot really escape and one of the things that I noticed is that for a lot of younger professionals and I have been that same person as a fresh graduate having that sort of mindset that okay as long as I do well in university and in college, I have very good grades, that will automatically mean that I will have a smooth sailing career.

Starting point is 00:01:11 And I hear this mindset a lot from younger professionals, even up to today, for me as a career coach and even in my previous life as an ex-corporate leader. Now, this episode is actually inspired by a DM that I received from a young professional a couple of days ago, complaining to me and really feeling so frustrated that she couldn't understand why she was a top student in university. She had a double degree, a very good university, and she has been in this first job, new job, for the first six months, and she couldn't understand why she couldn't adapt. So she came to me and she told me that, Mei Ping, I got very good grades in school. I did really well, but I don't understand why in this new job, I'm not doing well at all.

Starting point is 00:01:53 And I see my other classmates and they didn't actually do as good as me in university, but they seem to be enjoying their role. They're doing a good job. They're getting good feedback, but I don't feel that way. And now I'm starting to doubt my own capabilities because what's the problem with me? So that's actually a really fair question. good feedback but I don't feel that way and now I'm starting to doubt my own capabilities because

Starting point is 00:02:05 what's the problem with me so that's actually a really fair question and like I said right a lot of it actually comes down to the kind of mindset of qualification equals immediate career success now that is a formula that maybe you have been taught in school or university but I'm here to tell that that formula is actually incorrect because the very unpleasant wake-up call that happens is that once you start a full-time job, you realize that, oh, okay, paper qualification is just one thing,

Starting point is 00:02:35 but the ability to gain clarity on your role, the ability to get along with people as well as to develop the core corporate skills actually is what make you really successful. So this young professional came to me super frustrated and really not understanding, right? And let me give you some perspective as to what she's actually missing and what you can also do to set yourself up for success, whether it's your first full-time job or it's your next job. The reality is that the working world is not the same as your university.

Starting point is 00:03:06 And if you continue to have that sort of mindset, it will actually cause you to continue to perform very poorly at your job. Now, here are some of the qualities that I noticed that are present in people who are smart in university. They are perfectionists. They want things to be done really well. And they are also very risk averse so these qualities while may be really helpful when studying may be a bit of a problem at the workplace for example if you are someone that you expect perfection in every single thing that you do yeah maybe in school you can study for more hours you can talk to your professors all the time. But at the workplace, if you are expecting something to be perfect, imagine how much time that will take you.

Starting point is 00:03:52 And given that you are very new to the working world, you might or might not have the right information. So the perfection may eventually cause you to not meet deadlines, which is a bit of a problem. It may also cause you to not want to seek help because you may not want to be seen as someone who needs help. And this is also a problem that I see in a lot of smart people where they think that, you know what, I can do it myself. I don't want to come across as stupid. I don't want someone to judge me. I don't want to be seen as, you know, unable to solve my own problems. So let me try to just do everything myself. But if you are new to the working world and you don't know what you don't know, I think that can be a bit of a problem because the reality is that when you start a new job or it's a new role or a new company, we all

Starting point is 00:04:39 need guidance. No matter how senior you are up the career ladder, you need some sort of guidance because it does take time for you to learn about the corporate world and specifically about the role. You need to learn about the job, the role, the team, the culture. All these things are something that you need to learn. But if you're someone who sees it as something that is negative to get guidance and support and communication with people, then that will actually stop you from being seen as a team player and eventually that will cause you to feel even more frustrated and extremely lonely in your career, which is also very unhelpful as well. And the other thing I also notice in people who are smart, particularly younger professionals, is the fact that they have this overthinking habit. Now, I'm not saying that it's wrong to overthink. Obviously, having an

Starting point is 00:05:23 analytical mind is really, really important and can help you with a lot of problem solving at the workplace. But what I am saying is the habit of thinking and rethinking any single decision, every single step, every single action that you should be taking but you are not taking. So basically, you are standing still and just hoping that the thinking is going to resolve the thing. Now, it doesn't really work like that because at the workplace, you really want to be proactive. And if you have this sort of overthinking habit, what's going to happen is that eventually you will not communicate with anyone because you're trying to figure it out in your own head. You're also not building relationships because you think that you can do it yourself and you're also not getting the support you need. And

Starting point is 00:06:02 sometimes, right, support can purely be in the form of sharing progress updates and getting some feedback on your work. But I do feel that having talked to a lot of smart people, they think that, you know, getting feedback is something that is negative and they want to avoid as much as possible.

Starting point is 00:06:17 But a very important lesson to learn about the working world is that the person who is most proactive gets ahead. Not necessarily the smartest person that has the most A's or have the most degrees or coming from the top university. The moment that you start a new job, that your performance in that job, in that role, in the company, in the industry is being evaluated.

Starting point is 00:06:37 So therefore, I always say that job search is only the 5%. The other 95% that you should pay attention to is really your ability to understand the corporate world, get clarity on your job responsibilities, structure and culture of the company, and really continue to develop your core corporate skills. So that's why in my career program for 95 professionals, I've built it in the three-step framework. Get clear about the corporate world, get confident corporate skills, and then you learn how to get visible personal branding. The reason is because so many people, so many young professionals are spoken to

Starting point is 00:07:08 and you know, me being that person as well, when I first started in my career, I didn't know what I was doing and I also had the wrong mindset that, oh, I did well in university, I had a good degree, that means that everything will be smooth sailing in my career and then I got a big shock when it didn't go that well, right? The good thing is that I realized quite early on that, okay, the working world and university is a different thing, right? Now that I'm a working professional, I need to learn what it really takes to be successful in the corporate world and I cannot keep overthinking and having a bunch of fears, fear of judgment, fear of failure and all these other things that are happening in my mind but it's not real. So this is really some of the ways that I think smart people are self-sabotaging

Starting point is 00:07:52 and eventually feeling very disgruntled or feeling jealous that other people, maybe other classmates are doing better than them. The reality is that it doesn't have to be that way but I want to let you know and I hope that this is also a reminder for you that you have something that is very valuable. The fact that you've done well in university, that's something to be proud of but I want you to also back it up with the next phase and that's actually learning how to adapt in the corporate world so that you can have a long-lasting career because that kind of self-doubt is not helping you. And those fears that you have in your mind, they are also not helping you. So imagine what you can do if you combine the good

Starting point is 00:08:31 results, exam results and paper qualification that you have, the dedication that you have put in to get the qualification and able to translate it using the right strategy to succeed in the corporate world. So don't self-sabotage, don't overthink, don't have all these failures because the more that you feel this way, the more that is actually stopping you from moving ahead. So I hope that this is a very helpful reminder because this is really a reminder that I hope someone had told me at the beginning of my career. So I want you to feel proud of your paper qualification and more importantly, I want you to also feel proud that you are now ready to adapt to the working

Starting point is 00:09:06 world and you're going to try the right strategies and put in the same amount of dedication and commitment that made you such a great student in university and really start translating that by applying the right work skills, the right corporate skills, so you can build a career that you truly enjoy. And I think that is really the most important thing. So be that person who feels the fear and did it anyway. Be that person who have a beginner's mindset. Be that person who thinks long-term, who wants to build a strategic and sustainable career that you feel happy and you feel proud of. And that is totally possible. So never let the paper qualification achievement cloud your positive attitude and your willingness to learn from mentors, from experts on how to truly have an enjoyable career.

Starting point is 00:09:53 And if you want to learn my three-step framework that has helped hundreds of 95 professionals just like you to start, adapt and grow your career in the corporate world, make sure that you check it out at www.mapin.com. And I can't wait to see you in my career coaching and mentoring program, The Corporate Survivor. All the best.

Corporate Survivor with Mei Phing : Career Growth In The Corporate World - Ep184: Reality of a corporate job (WHY smart people FAIL)

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