When “Speaking Out” is a differentiating factor between Career and the Academic world

The career world is quite a different ball game from the academics which produced its players (the professionals); the criteria which determine the success in both worlds are also different. Being successful as a student does not automatically translate to being successful as a professional; in this write-up, we examine one of the factors that plays a huge role in professional success, which unfortunately is often neglected.

At Moat Academy (www.moatacademy.com), we teach our participants to take their career like a business - If they are taking up paid- employment; their employer is their customer (in which case, they have one major customer to serve, just like some companies) but if they plan to be self-employed, their clients will be their customers. The success of any business is hinged on its customer(s) (as the popular saying: “[the] customer is King”); what is a business without a customer? Customers/ Clients are the key to a successful career!

Customers only deal with us to the degree of trust they place on us therefore, trust is a key thing we just have to take seriously when going into our career. For example, when you are going for an interview; building up the interviewer’s trust in your capability of delivering on the job is the main task for you to get the job offer.

Trust is a product of perception and not necessarily based on one’s true ability, that is why you can have two people on a job interview or promotional assessments and, in some cases the better candidate (based on ability) may not get the offer because the selection would be subjectively based on the interviewer's/ assessor’s perception of both.

Perception is formed from verbal and non-verbal communication we put forward to our customers or audience and "speaking out" is an important aspect here. In the career world we cannot afford to be silent; those who speak out are mostly assumed to know more than others.

In the academic world, examinations have always come to the rescue of the introverted brilliant students. I could remember, in my schooldays whenever we got to a new class or school, we all (both students and teachers) used to assume that the students who spoke more and asked all possible questions in the class knew more... but the funny thing is, after our examinations or first test: there were always a lot of surprises as students who never uttered a word in the class would often take the lead when results were announced.

Unfortunately for the introverted brilliant students, there are no more examinations in the career world – perception rules in this new world and the outspoken students in school have become the ‘speaking out’ professionals; they are always willing to let anyone who cares, know about what they know, they are all over the places and always on the faces of their customers and audience. They are building trust, in business term: they are building their personal brand!

Unless you start speaking out and open your wealth of knowledge to the world; you are subconsciously reducing your chances of success in the career world!

If you are thinking of an accelerated career in the software development industry, think Moat Academy!

Source: https://moatacademy.com/blog/2018/11/01/when-speaking-out-is-a-differentiating-factor-between-career-and-the-academic-world/