教你如何當上高管

Do you dream of landing the top job one day? Start working toward that now.
Mid-level managers can take several steps over the next five or ten years to increase their chances of heading a business unit or becoming a chief executive officer. These steps involve achieving certain goals and imbibing some qualities that recruiters look for in top-level managers. Here are seven guidelines to get you started:

1. Get varied experience

Don't get stuck in your job, role, or even field of work--try at least two or three job functions over a period of time. Human resource chiefs and recruiters typically look for people with varied experience when hiring for the top job. Even having worked in different cities or countries counts, because it shows how adaptable you are.

'Rolling stones today gather more moss,' says Satish Kalra, a professor of human resources at International Management Institute in New Delhi. 'If you have tried your hand at few thingsâ ¦you get first-hand experience of those things,' he adds.

Ideally you should try to get some experience in sales or another client-facing job, to learn about what clients think of your company's product or service.

Unfortunately, recruiters say, individuals often don't want to change roles or locations, and try to maintain the status quo. It's harder to switch roles if you come from certain fields like information technology or human resources, but that only means you have to try harder. Further education or lateral movement within the company can help.

2. Specialize

This may sound contrary to the point above, but experts say that ideally you should be a specialist in at least one role. That goes a long way in earning respect from your peers and juniors.

'Diverse exposure is very important, and at the same time, expertise in one area is critical,' says Aparna Sharma, president of Noam Management Consulting, based in Gurgaon.

So, if you are a finance professional, stay in that field until you become a specialist or authority on it. Then you can consider doing some shorter stints in one or two other job functions to get a general understanding of how they work.

3. Get more education

Getting a mid-career education can help leapfrog your career.

What you study depends on your goals.

One obvious option would be to sign up for an executive or full-time management program, where you can learn about strategy, business development and so on. Or, you could do a specialized course on leadership-development, or people-management, skills essential for a top-level manager.

You could also potentially learn about a totally different job function than what you are in currently. 'Education can also act as a bridge between moving your career from one industry to another,' says Nirmit Parekh, managing director of 3P Consultants Pvt. Ltd., an international executive search firm based in Mumbai.

He suggests getting such an education from a well-regarded institute after at least five to seven years of work experience.

4. Take risks

One easy way to get noticed by the bigwigs is to sign up for tough projects. Maybe the organization is looking for someone to start a new initiative in a remote town, or you have an out-of-the-box idea that could help increase the productivity of your team.

Go for it. Take calculated risks. Of course, that means life might be uncomfortable or very tough for a while, but the payoff can be huge. When hiring for the top jobs, HR chiefs and recruiters often look for people who have a willingness to learn and do things differently.

5. Join a start-up

If your current organization doesn't give you the chance to be bold or try new things, your best bet might be to join a start-up. This is an extreme case of risk-taking, because it could mean lower pay (if at all) and the chance of failure is large. But it's a great way to learn a lot about running a business, managing people and several other things in a short period of time.

Young companies are always short-staffed, so 'you need to multi-task (and) you need to manage crisis on a daily basis,' says Mr. Parekh. 'Two years working in a start-up could be equivalent to five years in a large organization,' he adds.

A less risky option would be to spend time with small businessmen, says Ms. Sharma, the consultant, because they understand everything from cash-flow management to marketing.

6. Keep up with the world

To reach the top, you need to know a lot about what's happening in your industry, and even related industries.

'Today, many of the functions have become knowledge-driven,' says Prof. Kalra of the International Management Institute. He notes that manufacturing today relies heavily on technology, which is changing fast. A manager who doesn't keep up with this pace would have little chance of reaching the top spot.

You also need to be clued in to what's happening broadly in the world, ranging from the global economy to currency moves, particularly if your company has a foreign presence.

7. Networking

Everywhere in the world, networking is key to career success. This is especially true for high-profile jobs, which are often not advertised openly. If you know the right people, and enough of them, it will be easier for you to learn of vacancies when they come about.你會夢想自己有朝一日坐上高管的位置嗎？現在就開始朝着那個方向努力吧。中層管理人員可以在未來的五年或者十年裏拿出一些行動來增加自己成爲部門主管或者首席執行長的機會。這些辦法包括實現某些目標和掌握某些招聘人員認爲是高管需具備的素質。以下是幫助你起步的七條建議：

1. 積累多方面經驗

不要僅僅侷限於你的工作、角色，甚至你所從事的領域——在一段時間內嘗試至少做二種或三種不同的工作。人力資源部門的負責人和招聘人員在招聘高管時，特別看重那些具有多方面工作經驗的人。甚至在不同的城市或國家工作過也會被考慮在內，因爲它可以表明你的適應能力。

新德里國際管理學院(International Management Institute)人力資源專業的教授薩蒂什•卡爾拉(Satish Kalra)說，如今，滾石不生苔的說法已經不適用了，它會生出更多的苔。如果已經嘗試做過一些事情……那麼你就擁有了做那些事情的第一手經驗。

理想的做法是你應該努力獲得一些銷售或者其他面向客戶的工作經驗，從而瞭解客戶是如何看待你們公司的產品或服務的。

不幸的是，招聘人員說，人們通常不願意變換自己的工作崗位或者工作地點，而是設法維持現狀。如果你所從事的是資訊技術或者人力資源等領域，變換崗位的確比較困難，但是那隻能說明你需要更加努力。繼續深造或者在公司內部橫向調動會有所幫助。

2. 有所專長

這一點聽起來可能和上面提到的內容有些矛盾，但是專家表示，在理想情況下你至少應該成爲某一個崗位上的專家。那對你贏得同事和下級的尊重大有幫助。

位於古爾岡(Gurgaon)的諾姆管理諮詢公司(Noam Management Consulting)的董事長阿帕娜•莎瑪(Aparna Sharma)說，廣泛地接觸不同的工作非常重要，但與此同時，在某一個領域具有專業技能纔是關鍵。

所以，如果你是一位金融領域的專業人士，那麼就要一直從事那個領域的工作，直到你成爲該領域的專家或者權威。然後，你就可以考慮短期地做一兩項其他的工作，從而對它們的運作方式有一個大致的瞭解。

3. 繼續深造

接受在職教育能夠幫助你的事業取得進步。

學習的內容取決於你希望實現的目標。

一個顯而易見的選擇就是報名參加行政或全職管理項目的學習，從而瞭解經營策略、企業發展等知識。要不然，你可以參加領導力發展或者人員管理的專業課程，這都是一名高管必須具備的技能。

位於孟買的3P Consultants Pvt. Ltd.國際獵頭公司的執行董事尼爾密特•帕瑞克(Nirmit Parekh)表示，你還可以選擇一個與你現在所從事的工作完全不同的領域。教育也能發揮橋樑作用，讓你的職業生涯發生轉變。

他建議，在至少有了五年到七年的工作經驗後去一家口碑不錯的院校接受這樣的教育。

4. 勇於冒險

被大人物注意到的一個簡單辦法就是勇於承擔有難度的項目。也許公司正在物色人選在一座偏遠的小城啓動一項新的計劃，或者你打破常規想到了一個可以提高團隊生產力的好主意。

那就去努力爭取吧。你需要承擔可能的風險。當然，那意味着在一段時間內你的生活可能會不盡如人意或者過得非常辛苦，但是回報也可能是非常豐厚的。在招聘高管的時候，人力資源部門的負責人和招聘人員通常會尋找有學習意願而且做事情不拘一格的人。

5. 加入新興企業

如果你現在的公司無法讓你大膽嘗試新的東西，那麼你最好的選擇可能是加入一家新興企業。這是一種冒險的極端情況，因爲它可能意味着你的工資會有所降低（如果你還能領到工資的話），而且失敗的可能性很大。但是，它卻是在短時期內瞭解企業運行、人員管理和其他一些事情的一條很好的途徑。

帕瑞克說，初創不久的公司總是缺少人手，所以你需要成爲一個多面手，而且能夠處理一些日常的危機。他補充說，在一家新興企業工作兩年相當於在一家大公司裏工作五年。

瑪莎說，一個不太冒險的辦法就是與小企業主多多溝通，因爲他們瞭解從現金管理到市場銷售的每一個環節。

6. 與時俱進

要想當上高管，你需要了解很多關於你所從事的行業乃至相關行業正在發生的事情。

國際管理學院的卡爾拉教授表示，如今，很多工作都變成了知識驅動型。他注意到現在的製造業高度依賴正在日新月異發展的技術。一個跟不上時代的管理人員幾乎沒有可能坐上高管的位置。

你還需要了解世界上從全球經濟到貨幣政策等更廣範圍內發生的事情，特別是當你所在的公司擁有國際業務的話。

7. 建立社交網路

不論在世界上的任何地方，建立社交網路都是事業獲得成功的關鍵。對於通常不公開對外打出廣告的高層職務，情況更是如此。如果你認識合適的人，而且認識足夠多這樣合適的人，那麼當有空缺職位出現的時候，你就會更加輕鬆地獲悉了。