be committed to what you do

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Be Committed To What You Do

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I Am About To Provide You… With the strangest job search advice you will ever receive from someone who is in the recruiting industry. One thing you should know about me is that I’m a straight-shooter. If I see a pattern repeat itself enough times, I know that it’s something that has got to be true. The pattern I am about to explain to you is so powerful it could change your career forever. I know it has changed mine.

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The Secret Is… Commitment!

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When I Was In My 20’s… I had a girlfriend who watched soap operas. She was committed to those shows. She would watch them every single day, and if she could not watch them, she would record them. I’m ashamed to admit that I would sometimes watch the soaps with her when she caught up on the recorded shows.

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The One Thing I Quickly Realized About Soap Operas Was… They were all about commitment and the fact that no one on any of the shows could commit. Each character on each of the shows would get into a series of relationships, be tempted by others, get out of relationships, get married, cheat, and so forth. This was all the soap operas were ever about. The characters would inevitably suffer hospitalizations for nervous breakdowns or horrible accidents (caused by their distractions) and have horrible, drunken, public confessionals. All sorts of malfeasance would occur.

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Moreover… The people on these shows would always be led to believe that, no matter how good their situation was, the grass was greener elsewhere. While I’ll avoid the specifics, my relationship with this woman was predictably influenced by the soap operas she so loved. In fact, the relationship itself could have been an excellent soap opera.

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Several Years Later… When I got into the employment market and started recruiting, I began noticing this same soap opera pattern with clients and coworkers. People would leave a job for any lapse, no matter how small. If they were criticized by an employer, I would see them start looking for another job. If someone heard another employer was paying more, they would send a resume. If their current company or firm was getting bad press, they would start looking for another job.

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The Reasons Were Innumerable… Some might seem proactive, while others were reactionary. One thing seemed clear to me: There was simply a lack of commitment in the marketplace. People could not or would not commit themselves to a single employer, or to anything for that matter. Not being committed to your career can have enormous ramifications.

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Commitment Is Key In Order To Have Any Form Of Success… You should not do any sort of job that your heart is not in and that you cannot be committed to. If you are a public relations intern, you need to be committed to that. If you are the president of a corporation, you need to be committed to that as well. There is no room in your career for a lack of commitment. Without a strong commitment you will not have the success you desire.

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Several Months Ago… I was speaking with a proofreader in my company who resigned because she had found a better job across the street, one that paid more. The amount of the increase was minimal. I was actually prepared to give her a raise that would make her salary more than the pay her new job offered.

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In Our Meeting… She explained that she liked working in our company, but that she needed to make more money because her husband had been unemployed for some time and she needed to make ends meet. The job she was doing at our company was very demanding and required her to take work home at night. She had to work very hard for the most part. She told me that she had been freelancing for the other company for some time and found the job with them that way.

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Once She told Me This… I was no longer interested in trying to keep her at our company. I knew right then and there that she was not committed to our company to the degree I wanted her to be. She was not someone I wanted on my team. Your boss (and we all have bosses) wants employees who are committed to what they do.

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Whenever I Hear Someone Tell Me… That they are just doing something until they can get something better, I know that person will never really succeed. When I see someone leave a job for trivial reasons, I also know that person will probably not reach the success they are striving for. When I see people watch the clock and leave at 5 p.m. every day because they are not really interested in what they are doing, I know those people will probably have mediocre careers. Commitment shines through, and it is easy to see when it’s not there.

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Each Morning… I read the Wall Street Journal. I spend at least 45 minutes reading it cover to cover. Most of the stories in this publication are about Fortune 500 companies and other such organizations. At least once a week, I see something along these lines written there: John Smith started out as a repairman in a local office of X company in 1977. Today, he is CEO of the same company, with 18,000 employees in 26 countries and revenues of $4.2 billion last year…

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It’s Not Accidental That I Keep Seeing Stories Like This… I know the reason this pattern exists is because the people that are rising in these situations are committed. They stay committed, and when they join a company they join in a committed fashion. They are there to work. These are the kinds of people who rise within corporations. They keep their jobs, but if they ever lose a job they will find another job quickly. Their commitment attracts success.

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Being Committed Also Has Financial Rewards… I have several people working for me on salary whose incomes have consistently risen (more than tripled) in the past 3-4 years alone, because I know they are committed. I know that their hearts and souls are in the job. I have recruiters working for our company who make 2-3 times more money than the average recruiter, due to nothing less than their commitment to what they are doing.

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A lack of commitment can hinder you… It is very common for people who have had too many jobs in a short span of time to never find a job in their industry again. It happens to lawyers all the time. It is well known in the recruiting community that if you have had more than two jobs in five years (or even 5-6 over a 20+ year career) it shows a lack of commitment. Even if you can account for the problems you might have had with those employers, it would seem clear that the problem is not your employer-the problem is almost certainly you.

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Prospective Employers Will Want To Avoid You… Because they know you will leave them, too. You will find fault with them, just as you have found fault with all of your other employers. You will tell the people you work with why you do not like the company. You will tell other potential employers you are interviewing with why you do not like their company. Who needs that? Most employers avoid these sorts of people like the plague.

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It Pays To Be Committed… Not only to your employer, but to your career. Your commitment will come out in everything you do, and you will shine. There are countless stories: The secretary who becomes president of the company The guy in the mailroom who ends up buying the corporation and becomes a billionaire The worker who sweeps up at the auto dealership, who becomes a salesman, then the top salesman, and eventually buys the auto dealership and another, and another, and so on.

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All Of That Comes Through The Power Of Commitment I am in the employment industry. I love what I do. I want you to succeed. I want to coach you. I am committed to what I am doing. Are you?