Identifying the right community: the key to a successful career

When defining what is a successful career, there are different metrics. But those always revolve around the perception of oneself and the community to which one belongs. Let’s explore these in detail.

In any career, there is a recurring moment. It is when you wonder if you did the best career move. Or if you could have done better at some point. Or if you are not about to make a big mistake. Which is good, we should always try to aim for the best. But depending on the environment, the definition of a successful career won’t be the same. For some, a well-paid job, a high social status or some professional awards will define a career as successful. Others will settle for a good work-life balance in a stable and quiet environment. For some others, it will be the feeling of being useful and learn continuously. For many, it will be a combination of all three. There is no unique definition of a successful career. But one notion is common to all examples I mentioned earlier: the community.

A better understanding of the notion of community

A community, from the French word communauté, is a social group having some commonality between its members. There are different types of community;

• Location based communities, such as communities based on a neighborhood, a city, a region or a country
• Identity based communities, such as communities based on religion, language, ethnic group, age, or political beliefs
• Interest based communities, such as sports, entertainment
• Organizational based communities, such as schools, universities, companies, political parties, but also families

One community can be of two or more different types. Some sociology professors proposed another taxonomy to map different communities, like Paul James. Therefore, this one is just an example.

In all mentioned definitions of successful career, success relates to how you are perceived in the community in which you want to thrive. This community is the society in which you live in the first definition. In the second one, it is the family. In the third one, it is the work environment. All these social groups are different in terms of size, and modus operandi. A family is usually very small, compared to the other groups listed. It is the basic unit in sociology. Children learn to socialize there before living outside in the society. Whereas the society is vast. To be successful in it, you usually need to have already some prestige in smaller communities. Like a famous company or university, a prestigious job title, or more simply a powerful family.

These elements are not within everyone’s reach. That’s the very definition of prestige. However, although the road to success is harder when you are not in the right community, it does not mean there is no way at all.

How does a community relate to a successful career?

Most successful people have great self-confidence. Which is why they dare doing things beyond the reach of ordinary people. Either they trust their capabilities to succeed. Or they are confident a failure would still be a good lesson for them to become better. Or they can just be patient and resistant enough to withstand difficult times, until fortune smiles upon them. Whereas people who lack confidence generally turn down many opportunities, by fear of failing. Just like a team entering the pitch with the fear of not conceding too many goals. By thinking they are going to fail, they eventually fail.

That is unfortunately a very widespread state of mind. For many people, they are not from the right family, culture, or country. Therefore, there is no point in having big ambitions. The reason is that it is commonly accepted a successful career means a high social status. Something that a significant amount of money can provide. And this money depends on the type of job, which itself depends on the education background. In other words, a bad choice of school hinders the success of a career. Since education is generally the first community we encounter after family, no wonder few people even try.

Use communities to advance in a career

Fortunately, work can improve confidence. There are numerous tutorials available to improve self-confidence, such as here, or here. In general, to build up confidence, it is recommended to start with a small community. This community will support you when you need it, until you reach your objective. It can be just your family or friends first. Of course, the objective shall be commensurate with the size of the community: neither too high, nor too small. Once you are confident enough to go further, you can proceed to a bigger community – the neighborhood, or classmates – and repeat the same steps to be recognized there too. Slowly, by joining bigger communities, you become more self-confident, while getting a prime position in the community. Eventually, you can even be higher than what you expected. Do not forget to accept failure, it is a necessary step to learn more and improve.

There are many reasons why a community feature makes sense for a professional social platform. Which is why we implemented it in Jinn. Communities can organize themselves into groups, private, public or hidden. Ideas can be easily shared via forums. Achievements such as job changes, lesson completed, or certificate earned are instantly spread to community members. Just like any contribution to the career database we are building. This might look small, but by these small steps done continuously make you move forward. And as you move forward, you gain self-confidence, meaning you reach your objectives and can set more ambitious ones. Just because you chose the right community, where you got the required support to grow and integrate bigger communities. Communities can also be very helpful in tapping the famous hidden job market. But this is a topic we will discuss in another post.

When defining what a successful career is, there are different metrics. But those always revolve around the perception of oneself and the community to which one belongs. So let’s explore these in detail.

In any career, there is a recurring moment. It is when you wonder if you made the best career move. Or if you could have done better at some point. Or if you are not about to make a big mistake. Which is good; we should always try to aim for the best. But depending on the environment, the definition of a successful career won’t be the same. For some, a well-paid job, a high social status, or professional awards will define a career as successful. Others will settle for an excellent work-life balance in a stable and quiet environment. For others, it will be the feeling of being helpful and learning continuously. For many, it will be a combination of all three. So there is no unique definition of a successful career. But one notion is common to all examples I mentioned earlier: the community.

A better understanding of the notion of community

A community, from the French word communauté, is a social group having some commonality between its members. There are different types of communities;

• Location-based communities, such as communities based on a neighborhood, a city, a region, or a country
• Identity-based communities, such as communities based on religion, language, ethnic group, age, or political beliefs
• Interest-based communities, such as sports, entertainment
• Organizational-based communities, such as schools, universities, companies, political parties, but also families

One community can be of two or more different types. Some sociology professors, like Paul James, proposed another taxonomy to map different communities. Therefore, this one is just an example.

In all mentioned definitions of a successful career, success relates to how you are perceived in the community where you want to thrive. This community can be first your family, then your neighborhood, your university, your sports club, and so forth.

All these social groups are different in size and modus operandi. For instance, a family is usually tiny compared to the other groups listed. Yet, it is the basic unit in sociology: children learn to socialize there before meeting other people. To be successful in other groups, you usually need to master the codes of at least one community. For example, by being in a famous company or university, having a prestigious job title, or coming from an influential family.

These elements are not within everyone’s reach. That’s the very definition of prestige. However, although the road to success is more complicated when you are not in the right community, it does not mean there is no way.

How does a community relate to a successful career?

Most successful people have great self-confidence, which is why they dare do things beyond ordinary people’s reach. Either they trust their capabilities to succeed. Or they are confident that a failure would still be a good lesson for them to improve. Or they can be patient and resistant enough to withstand difficult times until fortune smiles upon them. People who lack confidence generally take down many opportunities for fear of failing, just like a team entering the pitch with the fear of not conceding too many goals. By thinking they are going to fail, they eventually fail.

That is, unfortunately, a prevalent state of mind. Most people are not from the right family, culture, or country. Therefore, there is no point in having big ambitions. The reason is that it is commonly accepted that a successful career means a high social status. Something that a significant amount of money can provide. And this money depends on the job type, which depends on the educational background. In other words, a terrible school choice hinders a career’s success. Since education is generally the first community we encounter after family, no wonder few people even try.

Use communities to advance in a career

Fortunately, work can improve confidence. Numerous tutorials are available to improve self-confidence, such as here or here.

In general, to build up confidence, it is recommended to start with a small community. This community will support you when you need it until you reach your objective. It can be just your family or friends first. Of course, the aim shall be commensurate with the size of the community: neither too high nor too small.

Once you are confident enough, you can proceed to a more extensive community – the neighborhood or classmates – and repeat the same steps to be recognized there too. Slowly, by joining more prominent communities, you become more self-confident while getting a prime position in the community. Eventually, you can even be higher than what you expected. Do not forget to accept failure; it is a necessary step to learning more and improving.

There are many reasons why a community feature makes sense for a professional social platform, which is why we implemented it in Jinn. Communities can organize themselves into groups, private, public, or hidden. Ideas can be easily shared via forums. Achievements such as job changes, lessons completed, or certificates earned are instantly spread to community members, just like any contribution to the career database we are building. This might look small, but these small steps continuously make you move forward. And as you move forward, you gain self-confidence. That means you reach your objectives and can set more ambitious ones just because you chose the right community, where you got the necessary support to grow and integrate more significant communities. Communities can also be beneficial in tapping the famous hidden job market. But this is a topic we will discuss in another post.