Engineers can climb quickly off the bottom rung of their career if they follow the advice of Hugh Karseras, who interviewed the business world’s movers and shakers to find out how they did it. HOW TO BE A HIGH FLYER First-sung engineers should ack themselves what they want out of their career. How do you define your aspications? How wil you measure your success? XS an important question in ‘any fel, but given that for many, engineeing i @ vocational career ~ and by that I mean that candidates are pursuing their carer for their intrinsic love ofthe subject - itis an even more important question For those new engineering recruits who have a vocation, the ‘measure of success may be irtelevant, Or they may simply "measure it on how good an engineer they can become. Surprisingly this is not the case in a lot of fields. As an investment banker, | can attest tothe fact that many people are motivated to be in their industry by far less noble factors than a love ofthe inherent activity in ther job ‘The reason | ask the question is because | am talking about how to be successful in your early career, from starting as anew recruit However, the definition of success that | use s about securing the fastest rise through an organisation, being seen asa high-fyer and siving yourself the best platform for further success. tis but one view, l admit, bt in mast careers, few people would choose not to "ise up the organisation, even if that means they spend less time (on the day-to-day activity they presumably enjoyed in more junior ‘oles. | place that caveat atthe start of this article just to be clear (on the relevance of what have to say to you. So what are the magic ingredients fora successful launch to your caret? Well let me make one thing dear ~ there fs no magic ingredient. The fist and foremost attibute of those who do bests work ethic. ‘Arnumber ofthe people | interviewed for my book (From ‘New Recru to High Fler, details below) used the word “relentless” when they talked about work ethic. The use of the ‘word relentless is particularly noteworthy, because it describes emphatically what work ethic is realy about ~ complete commitment to excellence in the job, Student & Graduate Magazine | May 2007 | ave worked with colleagues who pulled “alknighters" and came in on weekends, but there was sil something missing: it was that, despite the obvious long hours, they were mote focused on geting through what needed to be done rather than making sure that what was done wes delvered tothe highest quality. They did ‘not really have the option not to do the work, bu the commitment to delivering outstencing work was where they could pull back Besides work ethic, other attitudinal atibutes that executives highlighted as ctcal included enthusism, team spit humilty, ro-activeness and a can-do approach. Enthusiasm is worth further ornmeet, s the importance executives place ont reinforces the ference between working long hours anda relentless wx ethic, Those who work long houts and lack commitment tend to complain about their long hours thei work overload and the type of work they have to do. At the root of thie complaints isthe need to look fr a way to lighten or make easier their load, The relentless individual is more focused on delwering than on how much they have on their pate Complaining is a mistake, whether about workload of not. Bosses hate discontent and anything that smells of low morale Complaining, whining, moaning — call it what you wil, goes on all the time and, invariably, the individuals suffer for it. Four skills for success While there was a wide variance in the number of roles in which iy different intewviewees had worked, the commonafty of the slils they described as important was highly evident. did not seem to matter whether the individual had worked at Microsoft, Proctor & Gamble, Schlumberger, Bain Consulting or Morgan Stanley (to name but 2 few): their comments alluded to the ‘same four categories of skills, time and time again, The fst category is best described as a systematic approach to Your work, Itincludes tings as basic as keeping an organised desk and fling effectively and also encompasses efficent time ‘management There is 2 lot of rubbish written about time- ‘menegement. Yes, there are some cute tps that can make you ‘mote time-effcient - a number of executives mentioned them to me — but ulimately it requires a no-excuse epproach to procrastination, efficient monitoring of your workload and deadiines, the ablity to prioritise and a forward thinking mindset Forward thinking is one challenge that many do not get right. For example, take writing a simple presentation, Many firms have departments that convert handwritten sides into PowerPointpresentations. | have frequently encountered juniors who wait to fish all of their handwritten sides before contacting the graphics department, only to discover that they have to wait eight hours fora slot. Far better ta book inthe time before beginning ‘writing the sides and cripfeed the sides in as they are written, creating a parallel process. ‘The second category, unsurprisingly is research and analysis, Whenever there is research to do, or numbers to run, these fll typically tothe junior, To engineering students and graduates, analysis shouldbe far easier than to mos, but the rigour and focus on condusions that are easy to understand and to communicate are far greater in a professional environment than an academic one, The thied category is communication. Here, engineering graduates may be at a sight disadvantage compared to humanities graduates, as engineers have typically been less prectsed at articulating ther thoughts in written or verbal form. Regardless, professional environments require subtly nuanced approaches to communicating effectively and there is much to learn forall, Consider a simple meeting, The vation in quality of meeting discussions is enormous ~ many complain that ‘meetings are often a vieste of time. The truth is that those ‘meetings ate usualy pointless because the de facto chair ofthe ‘meetings either unable to unit effectively, or because the participants do not understand how to contribute effectively. Usually itis a combination of both, The last category concems management. Specifically, project and people management. The ability to manage projects invariably inks to managing people and while tear sprit and ‘g00d interpersonal sis ere importany, there are some specific principles to observe, Forward thinking i even more important in the contest of a project as there are lots of moving parts and contingencies that need to be considered. Managing people deserves particular focus because asa first-unger you will have limited ability to influence and this presents boundaries on how to go about managing others ‘Three steps for getting off the bottom rung ‘The last critical area that! want to discuss is generally poorly recognised by firstrungers and is about how to progress in the context of an organisation. Certainly, | wes oblivious to understanding what this meant when | began my carer, but you think about it, organisations are complex pleces with lots of ‘egos and personal agendas mining t up with each other al the time, whether visible or not. When it comes to navigating your way thtough an organisation, three things matter most www.theiet.org/circuit “Success is securing the fastest rise through an organisation, being seen as a high-flyer and giving yourself the best platform for further success" Firsts the abilty to build effective networks, but with one citcal difference to the conventional view of networking ~ within an Corgerisation itis better to trade off in favour of fewer, more ‘meaningful eletionships then e greater number of shallow relationships, The reason is that your abilty to perform in your role requires the cooperation of athers, and stronger relationships drive greater levels of cooperation, Second are mentors. Mentors are special, influential figures who take you under their wing, recognise your talents and are willing to support you through evaluation cycles, promotion rounds and pay reviews. | had no idea about the importance of finding ualty mentors when | began my career and was astonished at how every single respondent in my research spoke of one or ‘more mentors who had been highly influential in their career path Thirdly is what | can only describe as general political savy. Itis the abit to understand the interpersonal dynamics in an Cxganisation, the pols if you wil, and how you fit into them, AS. 2 firstsunger you rarely are key figure, but through association you willbe impacted, There are some specific principles to observe as afrst-unger, such as a no-enemy policy (which does not always apply in later stages ofa carees) but success starts with an awareness of your environment Engineers can master all the above skis: some wil take more work than others, but if you want to get off the bottom rung ~ and if ou measure success by more than the quality of your engineering — then your leaming curve has just begun. Hugh Karseras is the author of From New Recruit to High Flyer, published by Kogan Page, paperback, 208 pages, £9.99, www.kogan-page.co.uk Engineering and technology institutions he contacted included Xerox, US Robotics, Sun Microsystems, Panasonic, Orange, Microsoft, Intel, Ericsson, Dell, BA, Schlumberger, Shell and Texaco fea cet eee ter i en ae en Se ea Student & Graduate Magazine | May 2007