Key Ingredients for Career Success
Getting through interviews and navigating your career is not easy but we have identified characteristics that successful people display.
Applying for a job is a job itself and then when we are interviewed we are judged by our body language, speech, educational background, our appearance, and our work history all in the space of a few seconds.
There are many people who have reached the top of their career and who don’t have a simple answer as to how they did it but there are a few key characteristics that explain how they did it.
If we look at Michelle Obama, she comes from a humble background, the first person in her family to attend university, practice as a lawyer, and was the first lady. Now she is an advocate and role model for women in education, nutrition, exercise, and raising awareness of a whole range of issues affecting women. What we know about Michelle Obama comes from her interviews with journalists and her book. Determination, strength, and courage are definitely key characteristics that she displays and her success could also be attributed to having confidence and self-belief.
Key ingredients for career success:
- Know your subject — understanding your work, the organisation your work for, and applying that knowledge to your work means not only do you have knowledge but also confidence. Confidence is one of the biggest factors in why people are successful, it takes time to build this up and let go of your insecurities.
- Body language — when you are in an interview picking up on the interviewer's body language and mirroring them makes them feel that you are on the same team. At the same time, you have to show them your personality, the real you, but it’s just like when you are making friends with someone for the first time — you have to find that common ground.
- Talking your way through an interview — not talking too fast and leaving small pauses when talking is another sign of confidence. Listeners also need time to be able to process what you are saying, talking too fast or too slow isn't very engaging.
- Determination — succeeding on the first interview is unlikely, and rejection hits hard but if you keep going you will perfect your skills.
- Getting recognised — once your in the door you want to make a good impression and reach your full potential. You have to be seen as an asset to your organisation through your knowledge and ideas. If your ideas also generate revenue then that’s even better because ultimately you are adding value to that organisation. That doesn’t mean you should work long hours and end up burning out, that only creates a toxic workplace but it’s all about using your time wisely to prove how much value you bring to your organisation.
