I share things I learnt from 3 career conversations I’ve had over the past year, about loyalty, hunting in packs, and who the future belongs to.
Introduction
The past year has been momentous for all of us. At the stage I am in my career, I get to interact with people across different generations. These include veteran professionals, mid-career associates and potential interns still in universitites.
In this post, I reflect upon 3 career conversations I have had with people of three different generations. The first was with an internship applicant in her 20s. The second was with a business associate in his 40s. The last was with a veteran in his 60s.
From these conversations, I learnt about the different challenges faced by people in different stages of their career.
Internship applicant in her 20s
For the first of 3 career conversations, let’s call this person Amy. Amy is a very busy young woman. My colleague had helped schedule for an interview pre-Christmas, but she missed it. She later sent and apology, explaining she had a conflict due to examinations. I agreed to her request for a separate interview in the new year.
This time, she zoomed in late. She explained that she was experiencing problems with her VPN. Curious, I asked why she needed to use VPN. It turned out that she had gone back to China, given the current state of online learning in her campus. The mainland internet infrastructure is such that she can only dial in to the link my colleague had sent via VPN.
One of the first things I found was that Amy just started on another internship. “Today is my first day at work at ABC Consulting,” said Amy. I was rather puzzled. We had scheduled for the call during normal office hours, not during lunchtime or after six. However, given my past experience with Chinese applicants, would-be supervisors do not question applicants’ use of time. You never know who her father or mother is. She might just end up being my boss upon her graduation.
“China is an important market …”
As Amy was just starting her pen-ultimate year, I asked about her plans for the rest of 2021. As if to confirm my questions about her background, she revealed that she already had a few internships lined up for different periods. “My professor advised that we should get as much experience as we can,” she explained. How would our internship fit in with your schedule, I asked. It should work well, she said. “This internship falls right in between my two other internships. The timing is perfect.”
“What prompted her to apply for our position,” I asked. “I read about the importance and growth of your China operations,” she replied. I explained that despite my fellow colleagues greatest efforts, my employer has yet to establish a Chinese operation. She commented that China is an important market for our industry, and she is passionate about helping us expand there.
I thanked Amy for her time, and secretly hope I would not hear of her from HR again.
Business associate in his 40s
Ben is the second person of the 3 career conversations I have had. I had known Ben for close to 10 years. He worked for one of the vendors that my employer used for asset management. My employer was likely his largest account. I was one of a few colleagues he would call to better understand what needs to be done.
Ben had actually been working with this same boss for more than a decade. He had worked with the same boss in three separate companies. Every time the boss makes a move, Ben hitches a ride. This is quite a standard way careers are built. Essentially you hunt as a pack, as wolfs do. Three years ago, Ben’s boss decided the job at this vendor company was not big enough. This time around, instead of moving to a competitor of the vendor, he decided to move to one of its potential clients. Naturally, Ben followed.
Fast forward to the present day. The move has not worked out particularly well for the entire team. The new company was much more complex than their previous companies. Its headquarters was in a different time zone and it has differing business lines spanning across different geographies. Inevitably different chieftains ruled over their respective fiefdoms. Organizational changes and politics come into play. Being new to the organization, Ben’s boss understandably got elbowed a fair bit. It must have gotten especially bad, for, as Ben revealed, the boss was thinking of heading back to his home country multiple time zones away in the west.
Being from the east, Ben’s chances of being able to follow this next move is seriously limited. The pandemic aside, governments everywhere have to contend with the “hire local” movements post the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.
With professional decorum, Ben explained his situation. I admire his amor fati. After listening to his account, I offered to keep him posted on any openings I might come across. I am not confident I would know of any.
Veteran in his 60s
Chronologically speaking, this conversation actually took place before the ones mentioned above. It took place pre-pandemic, when business travel was still commonplace.
I ran into Craig, a respected finance professional, at a buffet breakfast in a far-east country. We spoke about family, holiday plans and mutual acquaintances, as you do in such situations. Then, quite unexpectedly, he informed me he would be stepping down from his then-current role. “The Board would like someone with more run-way while the company prepare for a listing,” he explained. Isn’t this age discrimination? I asked innocently. He shrugged.
During previous encounters, Craig had kept me posted of his achievements with this employer. He was head-hunted to lead the start-up in its early days. His entire function had a total of a handful of headcounts and had to run all financial operations and reports. Over the years, he built it to an organization that spanned ten or so countries. He also strategized and executed a plan for an SPV that was already saving the company millions in taxes.
And now, on the eve of what might be the crowning end of his career, he had to step aside so someone else with a longer “run-way” can take over. I cannot imagine how used he must be feeling, if at all. It did not show a bit.
I caught a glimpse of Craig and his wife a couple of weeks ago while buying coffee. They were obviously in a rush and were out the door before I could say hi. I understand that he moved to another affiliate company belonging to the same shareholder. I wonder how long before the shareholder uses the same reason on him again.
Conclusion
I made a few observations from these 3 career conversations I’ve had over the past year:
- The coming age belongs to China. Specifically, it belongs to the young people of China who are sufficiently connected. You do not have to agree with their approach, just as they do not have to understand your business to be given a job. You just have to acknowledge that they might become your boss earlier than you can make your fexit;
- Teamwork works, up to a point. If, like Ben, you are still not a leader of your own wolf-pack, your chances of withstanding organizational shake-ups and political manoeuvres would be much diminished;
- Loyalty is not dissimilar to a game of chicken. Craig remained loyal to his employer for a long time. Then the employer moved against him. He is now playing game number two. I hope the outcome is more favourable for him in this round.
