Why average students end up getting all the lucrative jobs

You know of lucky people who seem to rise towards the peak in chosen fields. You worked together but they left to join another organisation at a more senior level.

Four years later, you are still working towards a promotion and a Sh15,000 pay increase after completing your 4th certificate course in delegation, strategy execution or those so-called time management programmes that end up wasting your time.

You keep updating your LinkedIn profile and are now wondering whether such attempts are in vain. Former colleagues are on the last stretch to reaching regional management status. Wow, you are impressed.

These were not the ‘A’ students in college as you recall and looking at how much you put in on a daily basis, any serious organisation should elevate you.

How is it that they seem to be so attractive to the branded companies you so desire to work for? What makes them this marketable?

The answer is to become attractive, too. To have something most other people do not. To be deemed worthy of pursuit by the top organisations known to pay well.

Ahead of our KCPE examinations, the goal was to earn high enough marks to join a national school. At KCSE level, the goal was to excel and join top universities that were few then. Now I see the word university plastered all over nondescript buildings.

The desirable national schools and universities had pass marks. You didn’t just walk in. They picked you based on your academic excellence.

The career marketplace works a little differently. It assumes that you already have the smarts and concentrates more on the value of those smarts.

This is where naive bookworms get outsmarted. Employers are keen on their esteem, their positioning, their market share and their results.

How much you know, how well you can write it out in a test and how many hours you slave away behind a computer screen has very little to do with the value decision makers are looking for.

It is about your ability to help them achieve their objectives. Repeat after me; their objectives. I’ll break this down; and, excuse me if it hurts.

You were a straight ‘A’ student, you graduated top of your class and your resume is a yardstick for excellence. Wonderful! They are only interested in you only if you can show them what you can do.

Look, I know your parents told you to work hard and you would get a great job. You probably have a great job and you could go much higher but it is just not happening.

Great companies are attracted to someone who is somebody, who is doing great things and definitely going places.

It doesn’t help to go to other places if you are carrying your success obstacles along with you. You want to pay more attention to doing great things that create real value and being a professional who stands for truly meaningful values.

You are going to achieve that by reverse orchestration. Start with the people, things and places you desire to attract and work backwards to yourself.

Needless to mention, you are not going to do this well if you do not appreciate values the employers or partners you’d like to attract espouse.

It is in those values and ethos that all your magical answers lie. That is your first assignment. Find out what kind of people they hire.

It will likely be creative thinkers, confident presenters, entrepreneurial minds, self-starter managers who demonstrate ownership and responsibility and exhibit leadership without titles.

Have these down and build your profile based on these principles. Not your LinkedIn profile but rather your personality profile.

Use your current employment to showcase this profile by living it every single minute. Work that profile until you personify it. Build the professional capital you gain from being a model of human talent as you focus on attracting best career opportunity.

Most people want the momentum but few understand you have to work at it. Keep your eyes on the prize ahead. Exciting, demanding, and even scary? Good. If it isn’t scary, you’re on the wrong track.

You receive trust, respect, credibility and a unique positioning in the marketplace.... These quickly transform into great opportunities, money, recognition, whatever you want. Yes, literally.

Seraphine is an expert on attitude and human potential. Email: [email protected]