A Career Is 90% Hard Work and 10% Luck

Job mobility has conditions: two years in the same position for junior employees and at least five years for senior employees.
No matter the method used, it is important to carefully consider the pros and cons of how you want to build your career.

For Essaid Bellal, CEO of Diorh Consulting, boosting your career is primarily about common sense and intrinsic values. Several paths are possible to achieve this.
Opportunism, chance, or a constructive approach – all roads lead to Rome, as they say, provided you carefully weigh the pros and cons of how you want to build your career. Here's an explanation.

1. La Vie éco: In your opinion, what are the important levers for boosting one's career?
Essaid Bellal: Several paths are possible to achieve this. Depending on the profile, experience, skills... the levers available to managers differ.
Some are considered universal: this is the case with internal or external mobility, considered an essential element for any career advancement.
I always say that to succeed in your career, you need common sense and intrinsic qualities: self-confidence, ease of communication, language skills... The rest follows.
In any case, executives who manage to boost their careers often have things in common: they are visible, remain attentive to opportunities, and they dare.

2. Do you necessarily have to be a "high-potential" to increase your chances?
Not necessarily! It's true that being a graduate of a prestigious engineering school gives you better chances for top positions. But you must know how to evolve according to your abilities. It's all a matter of common sense. It must also be said that a high-potential individual will see their salary increase more or less significantly, especially if they start at 15,000 DH, while a normal profile will see their salary increase considerably if they manage to prove themselves.
Ultimately, I would say that a career needs 90% hard work and 10% luck. It's not just chance. You have to know how to seize the right opportunities when they arise.

3. You emphasized the importance of mobility; how should one approach it?
It is advisable for beginners to stay in the same position for a minimum of two years if, of course, the right conditions are met. On the other hand, senior employees must be able to capitalize on their experience. A minimum of five years is essential.
It is also important to know that mobility is well-perceived when the candidate is able to justify it.
Otherwise, "job-hoppers" are not always appreciated.
Another pitfall of mobility is to see a professional career as simply a hierarchical ladder. However, promotions are not always vertical.
Horizontal mobility, with different responsibilities, also represents a very good springboard.

4. Another important lever is to follow training...
This is an integral part of an individual's development. It is an important element in a career. An executive who does not question themselves every five to seven years, even if they have had prestigious studies, is worth much less than one who constantly trains. Because it is an executive who stagnates. Today, you can no longer afford to evolve without training.

5. With globalization, more and more senior executives are expatriating. Do you consider this to be a career accelerator?
It should be emphasized that expatriation remains limited to a few senior executives of multinational companies. This requires significant managerial experience, strong technical skills, perfect mastery of foreign languages... In principle, it allows executives to enrich themselves both professionally and personally. Distance remains the main handicap. That said, not all expatriation opportunities are good to seize.
The risk is of not being able to adapt, landing in a country with problems, or accepting a bogus mission just to cover the costs of a poorly managed restructuring.

6. Other springboards are considered risky; how should one act consequently?
A risky situation for you is not necessarily risky for someone else. On the contrary, it's a challenge. Some individuals have a taste for risk and do not hesitate to move forward to shake up their future. In any case, whatever method is used, the important thing is to carefully consider the pros and cons of how you want to build your career.

7. Some executives preach opportunism; do you share this view?
Opportunism in itself is not bad. When we say a footballer is opportunistic, so much the better for their team. They make it move forward. This is also the case for managers. However, when the opportunist acts for themselves and at the expense of others, it is no longer a value.
Moreover, while being opportunistic in some environments, particularly in Anglo-Saxon countries, can be very positive, because mobility is encouraged and the job market is very large, this is not the case in Morocco.
The job market is so restricted that your reputation follows you everywhere. Opportunism must serve the company and the group, but not only for its own benefit. This is also the case for audacity, except that you must know how to see it through to the end.

Published on September 27, 2007

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