没背景没资源没机会的职场人，就没有出路了吗？

The Poor Man’s Career Development Approach

你的老板很好；你的公司会给你提供很多培训；你会得到很多让你学习和成长的机会。总的来说，你的职业发展前景很不错。

You’ve got a great boss. You work for a company that provides lots of training. Opportunities for you to learn and grow are provided to you. Overall, you’re in a good career development situation.

但是，如果你没有以上这些条件呢？如果你的老板不关心你的职业发展呢？如果你的公司并没有提供任何培训呢？如果你的公司文化保守，业务发展又很慢，在这些情况下你要如何培养自己的能力呢？

But what if you’re not? What if your boss doesn’t care about or pay much attention to your development? What if your company doesn’t offer much training? Or your company’s culture and business are slow and conservative. How do you develop yourself in these situations?

当我们一无所有的时候可以这么做

What people who have less do

情况是这样的，当你没有以上这些很好的条件的时候，你就要适应一个"Poor Man"的职业发展方式，或者，从本质上说，采取一个自我培养的方式来发展你的职业。

Well, here’s how. When facing such situations, you need to adopt a poor man’s career development approach, or essentially, a self-development approach to your career development. 

当然，也不是说你非得处在一个没有任何帮助或者环境很糟糕的平台，才可以用这个方法。我把它叫做"Poor Man"的职业发展方式，因为这个方法对于一个不能给你带来任何帮助的工作环境很适用。在这里，你没有良师益友，没有资源，也没有好机会。

Okay, you don’t necessarily have to be in a poor or bad job situation to apply this  approach. But I call it a poor man’s career development approach because it especially applies to job situations where not much is being provided to you to support your learning and development. You have no mentors guiding you. No resources being directed at you. No good opportunities coming your way.

所以，你应该怎么做呢？你要自我培养，做到以下几点：

So what you need to do instead is to apply a self-development approach. This approach involves . . .

• 对自己的职业发展负责

• 了解自己的发展需求

• 为自己创造发展机会

• 接触让你受益的人和资源

• 充分利用现有的优势

  
  

·        Being accountable for your own career development

·        Figuring out your own development needs

·        Creating your own development opportunities

·        Approaching people and resources that can benefit you

·        Taking advantage of what’s already available to you

在逆境中寻找前进的方法

Your ability to get more out of less

我几年前认识了一个人，她就用了自我培养的方式来加速自己的职业发展。我认识她的时候，她已经是一个全球顶尖公关公司的高管。她本来是在一家本土的酒店当管培生，为了进入公关行业，她进了一家公关公司，从办公室助理做起。所以，刚开始的时候，公司管理层并不认为她是一颗明日之星。

One person I met a few years ago was a great example of someone who used a self-development approach to develop herself faster. At the time, she was a senior executive in a top, global PR agency. However, she began her career as a management trainee in a local hotel. To get into the PR industry, she joined a PR firm as an office assistant. So she didn’t exactly begin her career as a high potential or rising star in the eyes of her company’s management. 

我曾经问过她，你是如何做到高管的，又是怎么超过那些背景比你强很多的人的？她告诉我：“如果你不是一流学校毕业的，或者从一流公司出来的，那你就要看清楚自己的现实。首先，最大的现实就是，你想成功，你要成功。那你就要想尽一切让你成功的办法。 ”

I asked her how she managed to reach her senior management level and surpass many others with much better backgrounds. She told me, “If you don’t come from a top school or start out in a top-tier company, you have to be realistic about your situation. And the biggest reality to face is that if you want to be successful, you have to figure out ways to make things happen for yourself.

"对我来说, 我很早就意识到一件事，没有人会觉得我是可造之材。没有人对我的未来感兴趣, 也没有人会给我想要的机会。所以, 我从来不等。相反, 我必须自己对自己的未来和发展负责，我必须自己创造机会从而获得更多资源。

“For me, I recognized very early that nobody was viewing me as a top talent. Nobody was going to really take an interest in my future, or give me the opportunities I wanted. So I never waited around for things to happen to me. Instead, I needed to make them happen for myself, by looking after my own self-improvement and development.

她给了我几个她是怎么做的具体事例。比如说，为了能够接近自己感兴趣的事情，她会志愿去做一些事情。作为一名资历尚浅的员工，她的工作职责是什么并不重要。可能是做笔记，收集信息，做研究，或者打电话。对她来说, 这些都是她发展自己的机会，也是她可以和值得学习的人一起做项目的机会。

She gave a few examples of how she did this. For instance, she’d volunteer for things just to get closer to situations that were interesting to her. As a junior employee, it didn’t matter to her what she was asked to do. It could be to take notes, collect information, do research, or make calls. To her, these were all chances for her to develop herself and work on projects with people that she could learn and grow from.

她也会主动和公司的很多人接触和交流。“实际上, 如果你只是一个低级的办公室助理, 主动询问老板或管理有什么你能帮忙的地方，这绝对会引起他们的注意。”她说:“主动要求帮忙有一个什么好处呢？你可以向你管理层和你的老板展示，他们在你的职称中看不到的一面：你是一个自我激励, 雄心勃勃, 渴望学习的人。说明你是值得他们关注和扶持的。”

She would also approach and speak with many people in her company. “Actually, when you’re a lowly office assistant and you take the initiative to ask your boss or management what more you can do to help the department or company, it really catches their attention,” she said. “It shows them a side of you that they don’t see from your title. And that’s that you’re someone who is self-motivated, ambitious, and eager to learn. It shows them that you’re someone who is worth paying attention to and supporting.”

知道自己想要什么，世界都会为你铺路

Finding ways to get what you need

在我的职业初期，当我想从工程师转行到做市场时，我知道对于我当时求职的公司来说，我并不是最合适的人选。我早就意识到了这一点，所以我很清楚我必须自己想办法进入一个可以帮助我的职业发展的平台。

In my own early days transitioning from an engineering to a business career, I also wasn’t an obvious choice for the marketing opportunities I sought. I also realized this early on, and knew I had to find ways to get myself into the situations that could help my career.

我做了什么呢？首先, 我自己一个人完成了一项研究， 一个非营利组织的营销项目 (要做一些你没做过的事，非盈利组织会是一个还不错的开始)。接下来，我在一家女性保健品公司做了一份市场部的实习工作。然后在我的老东家美泰玩具公司的市场部做了另一份市场实习。这些机会没有一个是主动送上门来的，全都是我自己想办法找到并且努力拿到的。

For instance, first, I did an independent study, marketing project for a non-profit organization (NGOs are great starting points to do something you’ve never done before). Next, I did a marketing internship in a women’s healthcare products company. Then another one in the marketing department of the toy company I used to work for. None of these opportunities approached me or were recommended to me. I identified and pursued each one of them myself.

最终，除了你自己，没有人会关心你事业的成功和未来。你的事业是你的责任。特别是，当你无法获得很多资源、人力和机会来帮助你更快地发展的时候, 你就需要采取积极主动的、自我培养的方式来拓展你的事业。退一步说，即使你是处在一个还不错的平台， 一个自我培养， 或者说"Poor Man"的职业发展方式， 也能帮你更快地学习和发展自己。

At the end of the day, nobody is going to care about your career success and future more than you. It’s your career, your responsibility. Especially when you don’t have access to many resources, people, and opportunities that can help you develop faster, you need to take a proactive, self-development approach to your career development. But even if you’re someone who’s in a good job situation, a self-development, or poor man’s career development approach, will help you to learn and develop yourself much faster. 

在我的下一篇关于自我培养的文章中, 我会聊一聊有哪些习惯可以帮助你在任何环境中都收获更多。

In my next article on self-development, I’ll talk about some key self-development habits that will help you get more out of any situation you’re in. 

你有没有曾经处在某个工作状态中让你开始时觉得它并没有什么可以教给你的，但你最终找到了方法从而自我提高？我非常愿意听听你的经历，以及你是如何从那样的困境中成长的！