Personal Brand Stereotypes #10: Connections to Corporate
April 17, 2008 at 10:36 am | In Career Development, Personal Branding, Success Strategies |Tags: executives, referral, workplace
This will be the last “personal brand stereotypes” post I do for a while, to make room for all the other special content I have lined up for all of you. I was thinking about doing a Greek stereotype post (fraternities and sororities) or a racial stereotype post (Black or Asian people), but today I wanted to focus on the workplace. I want to start a discussion around how people are perceived when they enter the workforce because of an executive referral. From my research, I haven’t seen anyone touch on this issue and I think a lot of people get jobs because of it.
The Series:
- #1 - Tall people are basketball players
- #2 - Glasses make you look smart
- #3 - Men who wear pink are homosexual
- #4 - The hippie phenomenon
- #5 - Only punks wear mohawks
- #6 - Ageism puts Gen-Y in danger
- #7 - A nice car means you’re successful
- #8 - Choose your major wisely
- #9 - Jews have big noses and bald spots
Referrals are Amazing - But There are Consequences
Believe it or not, people who are less qualified than you get better jobs. The power of networking is so strong that you could be interviewing for a position that was taken by the son or daughter of the CEO. I’ve sat in interviews only to find out from friends that their friends received an offer because of their parents who work there. An executive referral can take you from a 2.7 GPA to a 4.0 and your resume from an empty wasteland to an amazon jungle. Family is by far the strongest connection you can have because the probability that they will go out of their way for you is the highest. Executive referrals let you cut in line at an amusement park and even receive perks such as travel your first year. They can be strong support matrix’s in the workplace, where politics reign supreme and when you have very little pull at first. They open opportunities like children open their gifts on Christmas.
Everything in life comes at a price. In this situation, if you have been given an executive referal, you will be viewed as someone who just got the position because of it. “She’s only here because of her father.” “What makes him qualified for this position, when he has no work experienced and barely made it through College”?
What To Do?
If I received a job because my mother was the Executive Vice President of Marketing, then I would accept it, stay at the job for no more than two years and then leverage that experience for another position elsewhere. I would take these actions because I wouldn’t want the reputation of only being there because of someone else. In order to carve your own road in the workplace and be respected, you have to earn it. Although you may reap many benefits early on, as you climb the ladder, the fact that your employed because of your family will make you self-destruct. Think about Ashley Simpson and many other celebrities that are forced to hide behind their famous siblings. Most of them do for a while and then freak out and create their own destiny. Again, that initial support is great and you should take it if you have the opportunity, but for long-term happiness and fulfillment, break away.
5 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
-
Subscribe
-
Personal Branding Magazine
-
2008 Personal Brand Awards
-
Dan Schawbel
-
My Social Networks
-
Standing
-
Recent Comments
-
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
Dan -
Good post. Wish I had read it when I was first starting out. My dad owned a small business and was well-respected around town. He could have helped me land almost any job I wanted in almost any business in our town, but I didn’t want to ride his coat tails. Of course, looking back, I now know that I should have accepted his offer to help me land a good job - then leverage it shortly after for an even better one. Would have saved me a lot of time finding my way.
Keep up the good work, Dan!
-Mike
Comment by Mike Thomas — April 17, 2008 #
I am currently helping a client replace himself with a strong CEO and part of the challenge is the fact it is a family owned business and his two sons work for the business. His boys are qualified otherwise my candidates and other employees would not trust the owners decisions.
In this case and many others I have seen, the person handed the opportunity to work for the company still needs to produce for all reputations sake. WITH success, the “he got the job because of…” goes away.
There is a great series on multi-generation family run business in the current Inc. mag.
Comment by David Sandusky — April 17, 2008 #
Dan,
Good one.
Real life story: I was recruited by a Fortune 50 firm years ago and took the job. Afterward, I asked why they contacted and hired me. The answer:
1. You have military experience (and, therefore, can lead).
2. You lived and worked as a civilian in a difficult part of the world. (Therefore, you can get along with people globally).
They were correct–but it was an educated guess. They had no hard data on my actual military performance or whether or not I had started a civil war in the country where I had worked
If they had been wrong, they would have known fairly quickly.
But it speaks directly to your point: There are personal brand stereotypes that will prompt all of us to act in certain ways. In this case, I also found out what it was about the stereotype that they valued and paid close attention to that as an employee.
Keep up the good work. . .
Comment by Steve Roesler — April 17, 2008 #
Dan, good subject…but hard to do justice to it in a single post! Referrals in general come as a result of a strong personal brand. I say in my profile, that I have never applied for a job..and this is true. In my experience, the problem with being referred is that you can be referred for jobs that simply do not light your fire. So, the mesage here is; if you are absolutely clear in your own mind, and to others who you are, what you can do for them, and where your passions lie, you may find your personal brand is off song, and you will get referred for roles that are simply not you…and ultimately will end badly!
Comment by Luke — April 17, 2008 #
Those “connection” jobs may make others jealous, but they can really be a god-send. It definitely makes sense to do what you mentioned, use them for experience and then move on to something else. Something I would add is that by doing the job well you can really fit in and make people totally forget that you originally got it because your Mom’s vice president. Just prove that you are the best person for the job no matter why you got it.
Comment by Michael Henreckson — April 18, 2008 #