"It is time to update my Resume"

Are you already 2 years in your company and starting to feel you need to update your resume? Or what you came for to do, is delivered in 3 years and hence you think its time to move on. Or are you 4 years in your company and beginning to feel if you don’t change your job now, you will get sucked by the Monster Comfy (our comfort zone), which will not let you move. Or none of the above, but the work space has evolved, changed, things are no more same. People are different and work patterns are different, you feel Monster Unfamiliar is sneaking towards you as you close 5 years in the company.

Well, I bring this debate for my young fellow professionals in the industry, because today I feel I am equipped to share with you my experiential learning of having spent 7 years and 1 month at Clairvolex. In my 17 years of work career, this is practically my third job after a long continued internship with Taj Hotels. Did long stints work for me? For hell sure. Here are few ways in which it did -

1. Tenure builds contextual visibility of past, hence brings confidence to the future – simply because I witnessed my organisation through the year 2012 until today, with its journey of growth and business transformation, with extremely demanding peak and valley situations once in a while, my brain synapses are able to translate the experiences and behavioral memory into learning of how companies work. The confidence and visibility that comes with tenure, helps me derive meaningful business context of actions and directions my organisation takes for future. It puts me in a confident state of mind. In that space, I am able to output better results. I doubt less and I fear less. It’s like growing with your childhood friend vs making a friend when you are 30. You see the difference in bond and trust of relationship and outcomes with contextual visibility of the past.
2. Time helps you earn emotional kitty with colleagues & peers – It is strange how this works. People take time to understand and accept others. Human mind is tuned to get comforted with set patterns and themes. Repeated actions and behaviors (whether favorable or unfavorable), makes you appreciate a colleague in a better light, along with his or her strengths and weaknesses. Emotions and acceptance come in play. You and they, both know how to effectively handle a situation, project, outcome in a manner that it works for the company. Your interpersonal relationship at work strengthens and outcomes are more meaningful, because we use the right tactic or tool with people we know. It’s like giving up on neighbor's dog barking in the morning hours, because over the years, you and the neighbor begin to take evening walk together, share a cup of tea on weekends and more. So what began as a complain turns into friendship and acceptance. You become okay with the dog barking!
3. Tenure gets you to earn management’s trust in an unique incomparable way - When the moment is demanding, task is critical, stakes are high, dollar number is riding – who does your mind chooses as ‘the’ person in your team. If you observe your decision, sub-consciously, more often than less, you would pick up someone who has shown stability, consistency, longevity with excellent outcomes (as the pre-qualifier). While we would bring around fresh minds and smarter new talent, you would put a heavier pot and ownership on the tenured one for a testing moment. It’s like knowing the person through experiences and outcomes. When it is a marriage in the family, you know exactly the 'uncle' of yours who would be in charge of guests. You don’t want to risk that!
4. Longevity helps you deal with growth and change like a pro – We live in a world where the only constant is change. This is an old but one of the most powerful Greek philosophy. I believe, being an observer of an organisation’s journey helps one appreciate and find deeper business meaning. We receive the organisation changes in its processes, policies, delivery models from a mature outlook. We don’t see it as silo episodes. We don’t attach unnecessary meaning to it, because a strong company’s history, tenacity, resilience, achievements, success and the role that we as its employees play in the overall journey, gets these attributes also transferred to us in that environment. Or vice versa, whichever way you see it. Longevity brings a sense of Zen, an intuitive strength that makes you a dependable colleague in the company. It’s like learning to swim in the ocean or scuba diving. The ocean isn’t the same, it changes moment by moment, but by each passing year and by each experience you become a pro.

These are not all, neither the most crucial. They are just my reflections of having spent seven years with the same organisation. In today’s corporate world, it is imperative to meet your KPIs, goals and deliver meaningful business outcomes for a vertical mobility. Alongside, how you let your career decisions groom you is a choice you make. In the space of start-ups and entrepreneurial expectations within a large company, every industry leader is also looking for your commitment not only on outcomes but longevity.

Opportunities need to be earned, and in my perspective tenure with the company gets you these opportunities in a very different shape, form and flavor. You got to wait and be there for that moment to experience it! It is worth it. So if you are thinking of updating you resume, think again.