Becoming a Crony is Great – Nepotism Isn’t So Bad Either

More often than not, workers around the world find themselves navigating professional communities that require a password and secret handshake for entrance.  Frankly, if you aren’t (or haven’t been) a part of nepotism or savored the sweet rewards of cronyism - you’re doing something wrong.

That’s how Stars get promoted, people get demoted and job descriptions get “tweaked” for the better (along with a pay raise). We live in a world of preference and once you accept that – nepotism and cronyism won’t seem like too much of a bad thing.

Is it fair?

No. But, remember, at one time or another you may have had an (unfair) advantage over someone else to get what you wanted. If you are on the either end of the spectrum (being the object of nepotism/cronyism or watching someone else reap its benefits) you can learn quite a bit about how to handle both arenas.

Workplace cronyism and nepotism are the occasional buoys in the vast seas of the professional networking world. If you are to artfully cruise its choppy waters, you have to remember that smart career navigators don’t singularly rely on such devices to get them a job (or keep one, for that matter). Use the advantages of nepotism and cronyism sparingly and you’ll avoid the wrath of jealous co-workers, resentful bosses or backstabbers. Furthermore, if you carefully plot the course, you can catch the career lifesaver of a lifetime.

Keep your mouth shut.

Don’t be an idiot and brag about how your Aunt Louise got you the over-paid entry level job at her marketing firm. Even though networking is essential to a satisfying and happy career – callously boasting about familial job connections only serves to alienate you from other potential contacts. Keep that kind of information out of your immediate professional circles and work hard to show people that you deserve to have the job in question. The less people who know about how you got what job where  – the better.

The trick: Keeping your mouth shut

Uh-oh. The cat’s out of the bag. What do I do now?

Well, nothing. Act like it never happened. People will talk, but the less ammo they have – the quicker the gossip can die down. It will also keep the angry stares and jealous talk at bay. Speak about it as little as possible. You will have some nosey folks who will want to snoop into knowing about your “advantageous” connections, ignore their questions and gush about how it’s sooo great that the company finally implemented flex time.

The trick: Pretending to be aloof without alienating people

Don’t be greedy

If your boss likes you – that’s great. However, if your boss is giving you great assignments and (perhaps, undeserved) responsibility at the detriment of ignoring other employees – share the wealth. You can’t have your professional cake and eat it too when it comes to career development. The very people that your boss is alienating (via his/her biased treatment of you) will only serve to trip YOU up in the end. Make the best of it by befriending the co-workers who can help you the most (and who are willing to set aside any grudges or budding resentments).

The trick: Finding someone who doesn’t hate you

Other side of the game? Analyze and strategize.

Your boss hired his best friend’s niece to do the exact same thing you do and she gets paid more to do it?! Don’t bother getting hot under the collar – but use this as stepping stone to evaluate your own job market worth. If you really like where you are working, perhaps you can (justifiably so) ask for a raise. If that doesn’t work, have your boss rewrite your job description. Also, it doesn’t hurt to look for another job while you are at it. Who knows? You might actually be able to land yourself a better job without having to kill someone’s niece.

The trick: Working harder at career development

Steal friends

It probably would be better to say make friends, but this is not about enlarging a social circle. You want to get in on the networking action of a crony-ite or dig into the office nepotism scene. People who play “favorites” are not hard to gauge because they make their preferences so obviously known. What does that mean for you? You are going to have to do some social tweaking – start getting to know the Stars, Mavericks or whoever is the “golden child” of the moment. If you are any good at networking, you probably don’t even need to follow this step. At the very least, you should already be in these individual’s professional wake.

The Trick: Discovering if you have the right friends