The One Question You Need to Ask Yourself When Applying For A Job!

There is no right or wrong, but the answer can make a huge difference in your life

I had the privilege last week of running mock interviews with students from Stanford. It was great! An opportunity to meet skilled, motivated talents, ready to bite the enterprise world with their knowledge and passion. That experience made me also look back through my career, to my early days in consulting. Wow, I have spent the last 20+ years in different sectors, with clients and organizations of any size, understanding and solving issues impacting the shop-floor or CxOs level.

What have I learned?

How to choose the right organization?

Not all organizations are made alike. “Mammoth” firms, from manufacturing to service sectors, are obsessed with quality: lean ones, from consulting to digital, will be more tolerant toward standardization and be focused on contribution.

Before applying for a job, ask yourself: is it a submission or a subscription?

There is no right or wrong, but based on your answer, the outcome will be very different.

Submission of an application

Cambridge dictionary proposed two definitions for submission:

The act of offering something for a decision to be made by others, or the thing that is offered

The act of accepting the power or authority of someone else

From a business perspective, the two definitions blend together in

The act of formally sending a document, plan, etc. to a person or group in authority so that they can make a decision about it

Submission comes from Latin submittere, from sub- ‘under’ + mittere ‘send, put’., it means that you are putting yourself below, you are passive in joining the organization. This attitude will match better organizations focused on compliance. In these organizations, most of the culture will wrap around time availability. Your peers, your team, your boss will not be valued around what they do, but about the time they offer to the organization. Their job is to be there, and you will compete on that terrain.

We all have bills to pay. A young graduate might have tuition to honor. If you are changing your job after 10 years, you have a family, and you have some duties. Now, there is nothing wrong with choosing a submission job.

Takeaways

If you look for a job that pays you back for the time you are available, not for the time you spend working, well probably organizations that make “compliance” a reason of life are the ones you are looking for.

Hey! There is nothing wrong with that if you do not fool yourself. There is always a period of your life when that fits the best.

Subscription to a job

Among other definition, the Cambridge dictionary proposed the following:

An amount of money paid regularly …to be a member of an organization.

Are you paying to work? Yes, regularly, and the currency is not the time but how you use it to give value, the direct contribution that pays you back.

Subscription comes from the Latin subscribere ‘write below’, which means you are underwriting, you are going to play an active role in joining the organization, as you pay you to give something to get something back. You buy a license, you do not pay tuition. You need to envision your way in; you will not find it written; you need to comfortable with the change. What kind of organization appreciate contribution above compliance? Usually small ones, in the dynamic sector and for sure with visionary leaders.

The quest for visionary leaders has created the false myth of the CEO rock star. Most CEOs have untied their tie, wore their jeans on, and used words like fabulous and tremendous to depict on the stage their workers and results.

History tells us something different: this caring behavior is not even a necessary skill for visionary leaders.

Visionary Leaders have mostly less care for the organization and more for what the organization can do.

Now, if you see yourself as a contributor, that doesn’t scare you.

Takeaways

Choose a subscription job if you are a pioneer, you are somebody that can sustain himself in a very new land, you do not pretend to be served, you make your own dishes. All you need is to put a stick in the ground so you can move on.

Conclusions

We are going towards a talent war. Jobs competition will become tough, not all the jobs will require the same dedication, and they will not be paid the same. Are you entering the job market for the first time? Are you starting your entrepreneurial venture? Are you looking for a change before applying?

You should clear up your expectation. With the application in your hands, ask yourself:

Is it a Submission or a Subscription?

Thanks for reading my article, if you still have few minutes you might want to take a look at:

Advice to someone who is looking for a dream job

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Disclaimer: Views or opinions represented in this article are personal and belong solely to the article writer and do not represent those of people, institutions or organizations that the writer may or may not be associated with in professional or personal capacity, unless explicitly stated.

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