Nicisms

Starting a new job is always a bit tricky. You need to balance the people you work with, the new projects, the people you outsource, the scope of things, the context of things, the history and the progress as well as the potential and your sanity.

That’s what I have been doing for the past 3 weeks. I have willingly chosen to drop off the radar. Sometimes it’s nice to be off of a radar. Sometimes it’s quite pleasant to not have people know what you did, when you did and who you did it for. Sometimes it’s nice not to be in touch and updating all the time.

Don’t ever say never.

When I was 18 I openly stated that I would never live in the area that I grew up in (lived there for over 20 years with my family). I also swore that I would never drive the same road to work that I had driven countless times to school.

I eat my words writing this post. As of today I live in the area that I grew up in (one street down from the exact house). And I work within walking distance of my school.

Life is a strange and worthy adversary.

I’ve been at Mail & Guardian Online now for just over two weeks. I’d love to say that the first two week have been quiet, tame and took the form of an introduction to the business, it hasn’t. Not conventionally at least.

On my first day working with Matt and Vince I was thrown in to the deep end and tasked with setting up Sports Leader. At that point I didn’t know my arse from my elbow let alone how to call up top sports personalities, intellectuals and commentators and ask them to join a platform that hadn’t even launched yet. It was tough. I got bat. The success rate is very low on cold calling the sporting elite let me tell you.

I made many phone calls and sent out many emails. Eventually it started to pay off. I managed to get hold of some fantastic sports people and through the help of Mr Trapido we have some fantastic rugby names on the site. There are more to come, many of whom you will know, recognise and want to hear from but more on that in another post. We have tried to be as diverse as possible when it comes to the sports that are represented on Sports Leader, the big ones obviously being Soccer (Football), Rugby and Cricket. However we are proud to say that we have many alternative and extreme sports appearing on Sports Leader.

Within two weeks (or just under) we managed to sign up close on 30 sporting personalities and fans.

Speaking of fans I feel I need to mention that there are some fans contributing to Sports Leader. This was a very calculated move on our behalf. No one owns sports, not even the sports people and no one can ever claim to. The people who have the strongest opinions and often suffer and celebrate more than their teams are the fans. How can you have a sporting platform without having the fans on board? You can’t and we don’t. What we have done is create an interesting juxtaposition of fanatical opinion from armchair commentators and practical insight from industry players and professionals, an important balance when it comes to sport.

So with this blog post I mark the completion of my first project at Mail & Guardian Online.

Today is my last day working at Financial Mail and I can now announce that I am starting a new job at M&G Online on the 19th of May.

My official job title is business manager: mobile and recruitment. But I am sure that more regarding my actual day to day activities will come out as soon as I move in and get involved in the team.

Working with Matt and Vince is definitely going to be one of the great things about my new position. The job is innovative and in a market that is about to burst and is still fairly unconquered in the media sphere.

Obviously moving in to a new market and media house is a big leap for me and one that I am cautiously approaching (with some level of excitement). There are some nerves which should be expected but overall I can’t wait to sink my teeth in to the challenge.

Financial Mail was a phenomenal place to work and to gain some extremely valuable knowledge and experience. The people were sterling and I learned more than I thought I could in a year. But for my career, my brand and the moves I’m trying to make in the industry this is definitely the right move for me at the perfect time.

Things are hotting up in SA, the market is about to explode and I am itching to bury myself in it.

Career limiting moves are, basically, moves that could put you in a very awkward position at work. These Career Limiting Moves (CLM) could mean the end of your job, a dead-end in your job, a stagnation of growth, embarrassment with colleagues or senior management among many other potential problems.

Online makes it all the more simple to incur a CLM. Before you’d need to go to a club, do something stupid and risky, have someone from work see you with their own eyes, have that person bring it up at work and then on top of all of that, have your boss actually take their word over yours.

Today it’s much simpler to look like a fool and limit your career.

Here are ten potential CLMs that you might be making right now.

1. Updating your status

Facebook should actually be given more than one point. Facebook videos, photos, friends, walls, tagging, status updates and much, much more can all affect your colleagues opinion of you. Going out, getting drunk, partying, bunking work and recording all of this on Facebook is silly.

Updating your status telling the world that you are having coffee away from work when you told work that you were sick is a mistake. Don’t make it.

2. Secret office romances

Some companies don’t necessarily condone office relationships. So don’t go and put that sort of information on your Facebook page, blog or pictures on any other online profile that you have. Think about it, choose love, job or privacy. Simply put be discreet.

3. Recording your life one shot at a time

Photos are amazing but keep in mind they can be proof. The next time you add photos to your Flickr account remember that you’re not the only one who can see them, everyone else can. That is, unless you set the photo’s status to private. I suggest you do that with photos that might appear to be questionable. You know your company. Are they liberal, conservative, party animals or free thinkers? If they are extreme-conservatives take down that photo of you dressed up like Marilyn Monroe.

4. Speak your mind but be smart

Everyone who reads this blog knows that I have a big mouth and firm opinions but I know that I can blog about them because my company is fairly liberal. Some might not be. So think through your blog posts. Don’t simply blog the first thing that comes to mind. Think about the effects of your posts, I definitely consider most of the ramifications of every post that I write these days. I’ve learned my lesson, lawsuits and getting fired are not fun no matter what you might think.

5. Bad mouthing people

Being opinionated and being arrogant and foolish are very different approaches that have different outcomes.

Opinionated people tend to not to be frowned upon. They tend to be taken notice of and you could benefit from this greatly. If you are nervous at the office and have strong opinions on your blog about people, politicians and situations it might pay dividends for you at work. However if you are arrogant and aimlessly, recklessly target individuals on your blog or another platform prepare for a firefight.

6. Bad Spelling

I kan like to make for sure that spalling is okai somtimes.

But let’s be honest this blog isn’t perfect when it comes to grammar and spelling. I am well aware of this and I’ve been lucky that my dearest readers often check up on me and point out the errs of my ways!

You need to be very careful because some people are very picky about language. It’s an integral part of many, many jobs. Remember, ‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’…or something like that.

photo credit: massdistraction