Career Mantras: Top 10 Tips to Succeed in the Corporate World

“Challenges are what make life interesting, and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” - Joshua J. Marine.

The above quote by Joshua Marine reflects reality as challenges are part and parcel of life. But the joyous moment comes when one overcomes a hurdle. The same is true for the corporate world, and in this article, I will share some pointers for young IT professionals to keep in mind. 

1. Show, Don’t Tell: Let’s assume you want to get into IT and want to work on a specific area like mobile development. Luckily, you have done some college projects around app development and have updated the details in your resume. The question is, will these details in the resume help you get a Job? In reality, “What is seen is sold!” meaning that showing a mobile app you have developed will be more impactful than what’s on paper.
2. Be Self-Driven: There is a vast difference between college life and the corporate world. Your teachers/mentors will push you to work hard and achieve good grades in college. But in a corporate environment, no one will spoon-feed you any information. Yes, a corporate organization will provide training, etc. Still, when you work on a client project, the expectations will be that you are independent and self-driven after a short period.
3. Communication to Win: My manager had a quote on his desk that read, “If you never ask, the answer will always be no.” As young professionals, we are always in two minds: to ask a question or not? I am not saying you randomly ask questions left, right, and center. The questions must be well thought out, and the only thing to remember is to be vocal and not hesitate to share your point of view in a discussion/meeting/call.
4. Upskill to Stay Relevant: In the cartoon “Finding Nemo,” Dory, the blue fish, sings a song that goes as follows: “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.” In the same way, to stay afloat in the corporate world, one needs to keep upgrading oneself, or else you will be left behind. One needs to learn new skills and technologies, as that will help diversify your portfolio and expand your experience.
5. Make Data your Friend: Sometimes, you can encounter highly challenging and demanding clients/projects. Your project might be in Red, and you might be under tremendous pressure to meet the deadlines/goals. In such cases, as a junior person, you need to be on your toes, but above that, you need to be proactive and be prepared with data. Document everything, be it emails, MoMs of verbal communications, or reasons for delays. 
6. Know the Audience: When we speak in front of a crowd, we try to understand the audience’s demographics as it helps us connect with them. In the same context, one should try to understand their client, be it the client’s organization, as it will help you build a rapport with them. 
7. Learn so you can Grow: Learning new things and working in different areas/domains/technologies are vital elements to help you grow in an organization. But sometimes, you will face a dilemma: “Why should I train someone on what I have been working on for a year or two?” The answer is simple: if you keep doing the same for years to come, you will never grow, so be smart enough to work in such a way that you can take up new responsibilities.
8. Navigate in the Hybrid Workplace: Except for a few organizations, the current work scenario is mainly inclined towards a hybrid workplace model. The challenge in such a case is that juniors don’t get direct guidance from seniors, and everything happens via online calls, which might be less effective. Hence, young professionals need to meet seniors not only to get guidance but also to gain confidence. 
9. Be Innovative: Thinking out of the box is vital to survival and growth in a corporate firm. To support this argument, we can take examples of organizations like various mobile companies; because they did not innovate at the right time, they got left behind and now don’t exist. As a corporate professional, the same holds, and unless you keep revamping/reinventing your thought process, you won’t survive. Always focus on finding a solution to the problem rather than just highlighting a problem. 
10. Be Forewarned to be Forearmed: I would like to share one final pointer: “Don’t wait for the last minute to highlight a risk.” You might feel you can work overtime and meet the deadline. In the interim, you share the status as “Green: meaning All is Well.” Unfortunately, if you don’t meet the deadline on the last day, it will make you look bad. Hence, if you feel the slightest risk, don’t hesitate to highlight it. 
    
    

    About the Author  Harish C. Rijhwani is an IT professional with 21+ years of experience delivering value to clients through technology and business services. He is frequently invited as a speaker on several forums like NASSCOMs Centre of Excellence – IoT: Life Sciences & Healthcare Innovation Forum (LHIFE), National Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Health Informatics at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) among others. He is also a visiting faculty at management institutes like Welingkar Institute of Management and KJ Somaiya Institute of Management. Harish has also authored four self-published books on topics ranging from Healthcare, Business, Data Science and the latest novel series titled '9 to 5 Cubicle Tales," which are available worldwide via Amazon.