Office Politics and the Highly Educated Professional

Office Politics has proven itself to be a very difficult subject for most employees including presidents of major organizations.Those individuals who are not willing to play by the rules of powerful individuals running these companies run the risk of getting fired and ruining their hard earned reputation.

The best advice I can give to any candidate is to realistically ask themselves are they confortable dealing with office politics. If they are not then one has the serious decision of considering self employment as the viable professional route to success.

Most of us cannot realistically see ourselves as self employed either because of financial reasons or the risks of failure. There are high risks of getting fired during these troubling economic times that demand top performance but also a high degree of conformity and exploitation amongst corporate employees. High achievers who are highly skilled are the least likely to be conforming. Most companies have not adapted to the new economy of managing highly skilled individuals who are very skilled at what they do but resent being micromanaged.

Companies are not democratic and never have been democratic. So those individuals who seek employment in these companies should carefully screen these potential employers and determine what is the real hiring criteria. Other areas of concern should be if the company really work internally and employees compensated. RESEARCH IS SO CRITICAL AND YET OFTEN OVERLOOKED. What is the employee turnover?

So it is important in every interview that each individual clearly do their research to find out how socially political the company is. Office politics is really a strong indicator of how executive corporate teams function in any given corporation. If the company is large and bureaucratic then office politics will be crucial for survival and longterm employment with this company. It is important for each individual to interview each company they choose to work for. Taking a job for the sake of taking a job will only add unnecessary risks to your career.

People who work successfully together have common goals, common interests, and similar level of education. This will minimize conflict but in the end compromise corporate profit results. It is really critical for each individual to really understand the decision making process in any company to ensure that should problems occur that there is a means to communicate and resolve issues. Know who the decision makers are in the company. Take your time to understand the unwritten rules and policies. Find out how conflicts and issues are resolved in the company.

If you do not agree with these policies and decisions or like a particular person.....be a professional or better yet become a self employed individual and the master of your own destiny. You cannot eliminate office politics but you can certainly make the rules work in your favour by understanding what they are, how they work and more importantly, who is the man or woman with the authority to give you a raise, promotion or simply fire you.

Josie Erent
Silicon Executive Search

Josie is an accomplished North American independent recruiter that has filled difficult searches for companies located in Canada and the United States in various industries such as software, engineering and other highly technical industries. She specializes in the software industry doing searches for sales, executive teams, and engineering professionals working with other independent recruiters through referral networks throughout North America. She is a firm believer that the only way companies can effectively compete is hiring the best and the brightest individuals.

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