Once upon a time, I had the opportunity to attend two job interviews on the same day – 20th December 2016; one with the company I was interning with (let’s call it company M) and the other with another company (let’s call it company B). After 3 months into my unpaid internship, I was about to make a grand entry into my dream career. You can imagine how excited I was.
A week later, I had a response from company B with an “impressive” salary offer. I hadn’t heard from company M yet because it is a multinational company and we all know how recruitments could take longer than usual with such companies. I was in an “entanglement”; a deep one. Societal expectations kept resounding it to me that I am a licensed pharmacist and deserved a good job already. I had a fair share of family pressure as well but with the help of my mentor who was the Country Manager of company M at that time, I was empowered to make my own decision; I LET GO THE OFFER. I felt I had more to learn hence considered capacity building and exposure when I was making the decision; the reason being that I had the slightest idea about commercial pharmacy. Salary did not feature prominently in my considerations because I understood the concept of learning before earning. Company M had not given me any response, yet I decided to enjoy the risk and trade off the ready job because of factors beyond salary. Company M had so many prospects partly because it was a multinational company. On 3rd April 2017, after a second round of interview within another 3 months of internship, I was offered a job at Company M which I accepted based on the aforementioned reasons. Few weeks later, I experienced my first international flight to attend an onboarding program. That was a good sign! You may not have as a priority, building your capacity and getting exposure. There are still other things besides salary that you would want to prioritize/consider.
Throughout my journey as a career coach, I have experienced a lot of young people focus solely on salary when making a decision to accept a job offer. Don’t get me wrong. The financials are always important. It is only fair to be rewarded for your efforts in the workplace in exchange for your time, skills and expertise. Looking at the bigger picture, there are other considerations to make before accepting that job offer beyond salary. I have expatiated these considerations below:
Benefits (Remuneration): There are times that you may not receive much in terms of salary but will be cushioned with benefits. Benefits include healthcare and/or life insurance, allowances to cover feeding, transportation, education for your children, flexible working hours and conditions, capacity building and exposure which I will expand on later in this article, among many others. You may want to attach monetary value to all these benefits to have a good overview of the total benefits you will be getting from your employer in addition to your salary. These benefits, if available, will be crucial to your life within and outside of your organization. Think of a situation where your employer takes care of your recurrent expenditure. Your salary could be saved/invested.
Work Culture: Most individuals have their own values that govern how they live and so working in an environment that does not align with these values may hamper motivation and productivity. There is nothing much more enjoyable than working in an environment where you feel comfortable in being your true self. At any point in time, while deciding to accept an offer, it is prudent to assess the working culture of the company, which mostly may be the reflection of their values. A lot of companies will have values hanging on walls but may not be living it. You should therefore find more about the company’s culture by going beyond what you find on websites and company walls. Talk to people who work in organizations you hope to join. Trust me, there is nothing better than blooming in an organization where your contributions are valued, there is mutual respect and you enjoy that mental peace for your own well-being and career growth.
Capacity Building and Exposure: If you find yourself in a situation where you have very little practical experience, then this is for you. In my case, I was a licensed pharmacist yet had very little knowledge and zilch expertise in commercial pharmacy; it was never taught in school. By enrolling for the indefinite unpaid internship which turned out to last for 6 months, I was able to build the necessary skills to springboard me into my first role as a commercial pharmacist. I know people champion the “pay interns” agenda and while this is the ideal case, you must understand the constraints in your individual environments. It is rather unfortunate that in Ghana, a lot of organizations do not have a budget for interns. In the light of this, what I will advise every young graduate is that do everything in your means to add value to yourself even if it will mean taking an unpaid internship. Invest in your future and value. Beyond internships, some full time paid jobs allow you to access certifications worth thousands of dollars for free although the salary may be relatively small. Others may grant you free unlimited access to learning platforms like LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, Udemy among others. Don’t hesitate to accept such offers; look at the bigger picture.
Social Currency (Network): Social currency is as important as financial currency if you are to climb up the career ladder. Humans are generally attracted to what they see and you can use this to your advantage to effectively accumulate your social currency. The opportunity here is that you can ride on the reputable image of your company to build an excellent brand for yourself. This can sometimes open doors for you and put you in touch with people that you wouldn’t have gotten access to on a normal day. Although the job might not give you much in terms of salary, it could be an avenue to grow your social currency to access greater career opportunities in the future. Before you reject a job next time, think about the social currency that you are likely to lose. People with entrepreneurial mindsets could also leverage the networks they build, by virtue of their jobs, to kick start side businesses.
Career Start-off: It is often easier to switch jobs than to land a new job from an unemployed state. Although unfair, some recruiters may have biases in choosing people in active jobs over the unemployed because of perceived skills retention and quick adaptation. In a case where the salary is not the best, aim at breaking even; that is, do not incur losses after making expenses on transportation, food, rent etc unless you can afford it. Instead of rejecting the job, accept it. This could keep you occupied and possibly serve as a stepping-stone into your ideal job.
The factors enumerated above are of more concern in the first few years after school. After establishing yourself in a particular career, you may want to consider the following factors before you take that next job. Not all the factors will apply to you as an individual.
Career Change: Switching careers requires a lot of courage I must say. While you may possess some transferable skills which will help you in the process, it becomes important to understand that you may face some setbacks when it comes to salary, especially if you do not have an in-depth industry knowledge of the new career you want to venture into. This means that the job will offer you the opportunity to build the necessary skills and expertise as well as usher you into an environment that will expose you to a lot of opportunities within this new field you have chosen. For this reason, be very sure that this new company has an environment that encourages learning. Your actual reward will come from the next company you will join after building your competence. However, depending on how successful your transition goes, you could get your reward right there in that company.
Strategic Progression: Every progressive person’s goal is to get better at what they do, accept more challenges and grow. There are situations where your current company does not have good prospects for growth and to remedy this, you may consider taking a lower ranked job in another company that has an evident track record of employee growth and development. An alternative is to move into a different organization, not necessarily preferred, for a higher ranked job title and return to your previous company or advance to an ideal company to take on higher responsibilities. I know of someone who was a manager in a local company, took a lower ranked position in a multinational company for about 3 years and transitioned into another multinational company as a manager. Interesting right? Strategic progression should be seen as a transition which comes with risks; and as the name says, it should be strategic.
Social Reasons: If you find yourself raising a family, it will get to a point where you consciously would have to consider jobs that mainly allow for the best work-life-income balance. You will have to drift towards jobs that give you a peace of mind and allow you to spend enough time with your family. This could also happen for people who aren’t raising a family yet are family-oriented.
At all times endeavor not to go after just the money, look at the bigger picture. I am now certain that the next time you are torn between taking a job or not, you will give a thought to these considerations over salary. If there were some factors you feel I missed out or you disagree with, you can share your feedback with me in the comments and we can have a healthy discussion.
“I never took a straight path nowhere
Life’s full of twist and turns
Bumps and bruises, I live, I learn …”
50 cent – Power theme music.
Live, learn, earn and leave a legacy; always let your value lead.
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My name is Joel Kojo Abaka Anaman. A Pharmacist by Profession, a Salesman by Occupation, a Career Coach by Passion and a Techpreneur by Vision. It is also my vision to reach 1 million students, new graduates and young people in active jobs with this initiative. Join me on this journey as we debunk some myths and activate some life hacks to propel us towards our career goals. Guess what?! This is not reserved for 9-5 workers; Entrepreneurs will also benefit massively from this.
