As professionals, our careers tend to be a high priority in our lives. Various factors shape our careers, but which one is the most important? When we asked this question in our CFA Institute Financial NewsBrief survey this week, we received 1,136 responses, indicating that there is no single dominant factor.
Which of these plays the most important role in one's career?
On-the-job performance (34%) ranked the highest. This result could be interpreted to mean that merit prevails, but at the same time, its percentage rank does not seem high enough to suggest that the workplace is a meritocracy. Interpersonal and communication skills (26%) and networking (23%) ranked a close second and third, respectively. These factors probably fuel each other, and the role they play likely ebbs and flows depending on the stage of one's career. Perhaps the hardest result to explain is that luck (11%) ranked fourth, which might encourage us to complain less about randomness in life and focus more on performance. The message seems to be to keep an eye on all five of these factors as you progress in your career!
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17 Comments
Roy,
Thanks for the detailed comment. I share your view that "Knowledge isn’t just acquired through books and exams. And Wisdom can be gained through one’s own experiences and one’s networks."
Education plays key role in all the other items, networking, on the job performance, interpersonal and communication skills and luck (luck always favors the prepared one.)
Joshua Adu
Thanks for sharing your view. I can see the case for education (incl. CPD) helping performance, networking, and skills. Not so sure about education playing a role in luck.
This survey is very interesting. Thanks !
Arnaud
Arnaud,
Thank you for your kind comment.
We tend to post results of a survey question every Thursday.
It is interesting to see the small share education has. I thing the percentages would change considerably when you move from the developed world to the developing. In developing countries luck and networking matters more and possibly these values would differ depending on whether you work in public sector or private sector.
umar,
Thank you for sharing your observation. I am also inclined to think that results are likely to vary depending on context, though the list of factors is unlikely to change as much. Education and CPD probably do help in the other factors, as stated by a number of other respondents.