Alusine Barrie - Build your career through skills and expertise first - then optimize through networking

Bonus: the people who end up recommending you for opportunities will be proud they did so.

With our culture of 'sababu' (as we call it in Sierra Leone) - getting jobs, career opportunities or getting your way primarily because you have ties with someone wielding the decision making power can have the tendency of making young people optimize for the wrong thing. And of course, this also creates a dynamic that discourages young people from becoming skilled professionals, contributing to their communities and the organizations they're part of, especially those whose families are not necessarily 'connected'. We teach people from a young age get that if you are not 'connected', your chances of succeeding remain bleak at best. 

Getting recommendations for new opportunities from people who know your skill set and competencies is not a bad thing, you just don't want to be given an opportunity despite the fact that you're not the qualified person for the task. Although this may be nice in the short run, in the long run it leaves us vulnerable. Furthermore, poor accountability and toxic loyalties build up in organizations as people are obliged to be loyal to the people who gave them the 'opportunity' rather than serving the needs of the organization/its clients. 

What often happens is that when people rarely dedicate themselves to doing the job well, instead they get busy trying to please the person who gave them the opportunity. It's easy to see why this is the case, they didn't get the opportunity because of their skill and competence. But what happens if this person falls out of favour? Or you don't want to be loyal to them if it goes against your values? What happens to the organization/people we are serving? What happens to our own peace of mind? What happens to your continued career growth? Maybe these questions don't matter to you, then this post is not for you.

Don't get me wrong, people who love and want to empower you will push you for opportunities when they are convinced you are the best person for the task, but never (just) because you're their brother/sister or former school mate. People who do this are not doing you a favour, they're simply filling their egos through you.

Foundations for a successful career are built on professionalism and a strong skill set. What you want to do is develop a strong set of skills on which you want to build your career and once you do that then you can seek opportunities to apply them. Optimize your skills first and then and only then your relationships (or 'network' as we say).

If you do this, build strong skills first before using your network, we will all benefit  - the net effect is positive for you, your organization and your community (through the people you serve). In the short run you may have to put effort into developing those skills, but the benefit and peace of mind is so much better. In fact, the harder the skill the better. You will thank God someday that you chose to do this rather than the easy way.

Best Regards,

Alusine Barrie.