“You won’t have one career your whole life,” says Sydney based career coach Pauline Müller. “So manage your career at all times!” Pauline Müller, an Australian with Indian heritage who is married to a German journalist, has done exactly that her own life long. She has been in the work force for 30 years now and has had careers that span across four completely different areas: from being a lawyer with the public prosecutions office to managing the administration of a court and other government agencies to being a consultant to heading the compliance department for two of Australia’s major banks. She has seen it all and at the peak of her career decided to live her life again and leave her all consuming work. After a year of readjusting her life, she started from scratch, following what she enjoyed doing and became a career management consultant. Today, she helps executives find their right career paths – something she has done so many times herself.
MBA Channel spoke to her about the secrets of being successful in different careers.
Pauline Müller
What type of people use your services? Are they already successful or do they want to be successful?
I work with many different people. Mainly it is people who are going through change. For example people who have just finished business school or are about to start it, people who are coming back from overseas and have to adjust to a local market. People who are at the peak of their career and don’t know what to do next. Often it’s also people who want to change industries or move from middle to upper management or from lower to middle management. In that bracket I have many women as clients. I also help women who need strategies on how to return back to the work force after having had a family.
In which areas do men and women differ in their approaches?
Women tend to be more self aware and critical. Men use more the 80-20 rule*, women always want to give 110 per cent. I have learnt that something can be a good job with the 80-20 rule. I am not talking about a sloppy product or service but the extra effort does not necessary yield a better result. Men are therefore more willing to give things a go. On the other hand, men find more self-awareness useful. So men and women can learn from each other.
How would you describe your role? More like a teacher that teaches them to work in a different job or industry?
No, I am only peoples’ facilitator. I am not making a decision for them. I get them to develop their own decisions. I help them to understand what they want and as soon as we know that we develop a plan how to achieve it. Sometimes people have never been able to draw it out but it was always in their subconscious. One of the keys is to understand what someone’s transferable skills and strengths are. This assessment process is essential. What were your passions when you were young? What gave you enjoyment? What was a success in your life? How did you measure it? What is the outcome that you achieved? Once you do this self search people will see a pattern as to why something has attracted them. My advice is always to follow your passions and you will do well. You extract your transferable skills and find your unique value proposition and everyone has that! Then you know your own value and that can link up to where you can fit in.
You may know what you like by then but that still doesn’t give you a job or a promotion...
That’s right. So after you understand your value proposition it’s time to start your networking process. You need to learn how you articulate your value proposition so that others understand what you have to sell, what your brand is. So we draw up a career path with options - it is a bit like Sudoko – you go through a process of elimination. My clients would use networking techniques to bring them closer and closer to their goal. The building of relationships with people is a key to the recruitment process itself. I had one client who said “I can’t market myself -I don’t know anything about it.” Then he went to swimming lessons with his little one and sat next to another father. They talked and he told him he was a design engineer and the other father said” My CEO is looking for someone like you.” He got an introduction and he got the job. This shows that you should use your networking everywhere. Always say to people you want advice and people will be happy to help you and at the same time market yourself.
What’s your advice on how to market yourself?
I go with advice from legendary investor Warren Buffett who said he invested in management that he liked, trusted and admired. His concept is not new. The Greek philosopher Aristotle in Rhetoric, a treatise on the art of persuasion, spoke of pathos - emotions, ethos - credibility and logos - logic for example. The secret is quite simple if people like you and they think you are a person of integrity, it is easier to sell yourself and what you have to offer, whereas if people don’t like you all doors are closed.
If all networking and marketing does not yield success, would you recommend further education like an MBA degree as the key to success?
An MBA is an important degree at the right time - if you do it too early it may not be relevant enough. Early in your career you don’t know your gaps, you don’t yet understand what you are capable of. As you gain work experience an MBA can be the icing on the cake or even the secret ingredient that makes the difference but utilize it for your needs and then it will be really worthwhile.
*The 80-20 rule, also known as the Pareto principle, states that, for many events, roughly 80 per cent of the effects come from 20 cent of the time and effort invested.
