6 Career Lessons for Early Career Professionals — Ifueko Oduekun
My greatest lessons in my career so far can be captured in this 6 key points:
1."Put in the work and Promotion will Align" — You need to put in the work in your personal development as well as in the workplace. What you don’t want ever is “title with no content”. Not every promotion will be about moving from one level to the next. According to Sheryl Sandberg, ‘careers are not ladders but jungle gyms’. Promotions may come in the form of appointments, new opportunities for growth and exposure, a different career path altogether with better benefits, etc. When you’ve put in the work, you’ll make your next move in confidence.
2. At every point in your career, always make sure you earn more than your pay. If you’re giving just the minimum to get by at work, you’re actually cheating not just the organisation but yourself. The reason why the reward for hard work is more work, is because more work means more opportunities for learning, exposure and growth and who you become through this growth process is better than any reward that would have been offered in exchange for the growth opportunities.
3. What people believe about you matters. There’ll be times when your name will be mentioned in rooms without your presence,l. Put in the work to ensure that you just don’t know the work but you are perceived as someone who knows the work and is fit to do the work. Impression management is key.
4. Don’t be discouraged about networking if you’re an introvert. Networking is mostly about the value you create and the value you give. The more value you can consistently provide, the more growth you’ll experience in your network.
5. Your feelings have nothing to do with your capacity. Just because you don’t like to do something doesn’t mean you cannot be good at doing it.
6. The grace of God - time and chance happeneth to them all. The grace of God will lead you, it will give you the patience to do the right thing even if it doesn’t seem to yield results and the grace of God will elevate you in the right time.
Finally, Be ‘loud with elegance’. Projection is important. Determine, where you’re going, act now like where you’re headed and position yourself appropriately... take the chance on the complex assignments everyone’s avoiding, volunteer to teach, speak at your church or wherever you get an opportunity, challenge yourself to be a thought leader in your field, make intelligent posts on LinkedIn, etc. The sky is only the beginning.
God bless you.
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When Ifueko is not thinking of strategies to move her team at work forward, she is reading and catching up on financial news around the world. A perfect blend of beauty and brains, she shares 6 powerful tips she has learnt in her almost 10 year career journey.
Ifueko Oduekun is an astute banker and investment professional with over 8 years work experience in the financial services industry. An Economics graduate of Covenant University and a Level 3 candidate of the Chartered Financial Analyst Program, her core competencies cut across ALM analytics, currency trading, derivatives structuring, liquidity management and Treasury sales. A member of the Financial Markets Dealers’ Association (FMDA), she currently works as the Team Lead, Treasury Coverage for Large Corporates, Financial Institutions and Internationals at Access Bank Plc. She has made intelligent contributions on local & international channels such as CNBC Africa, Channels Television amongst others on a range of economic and finance related topics. She is married with 2 children and based in Lagos, Nigeria.
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