Twelve Characteristics of Latino Career Success

By: Murray A. Mann and Rose Mary Bombela-Tobias

You are the Architect of Your Own Destiny

  • Life and career success can only be defined by you for you.
  • Taking the time to develop your definition of success is essential to achieving career satisfaction.

The following are twelve characteristics you should master if you want to achieve career success:

Know Yourself

  • Evaluate your interests, values, knowledge, skills, abilities, contributions, accomplishments, uniqueness and worthiness.
  • Understand your cultural programming, if any, and how to transform those gifts into career assets.
  • Embrace your attributes, family history and culture.
  • Craft your combined attributes into a foundation to launch or grow your career.

Develop a Goal that Inspires You

  • Develop a vision of what you want to accomplish in life and your career.
  • Arouse your passion and desire to be successful at whatever you do.
  • Allow your goals to be courageous to drive your career forward. Your objectives should not be self-limiting.
  • Make sure your goals, no matter how large or small, contribute value to others.

Believe in Your Personal Power

  • Trust that you are the most important person in your career.
  • Embrace your personal power to fuel your career power.
  • Activate your career power so you can be proactive in your job search, manage the process and to respond well, rather than react, to the events you cannot control.
  • Learn to adapt and transform any self-limiting cultural programming into power centers.

Learn to Dance in Both Worlds

  • Recognize that adapting to an employer’s workplace culture is neither selling out nor changing your cultural identity.
  • Build a cultural bridge that crosses from one environment to the other that we can walk on and help others to cross.
  • Know your culture and share it gently.

Create Opportunities and be prepared to Take Advantage of Them

  • Initiative and networking create opportunities.
  • Preparation and practice are often the difference to career success.
  • Keep your attitude positive and picture yourself as lucky.
  • Use tested strategies to overcome any job search FEARs (False Expectations Appear Real) you may have.

Persistence and Success Go Together

  • Remember that it is not the fastest or brightest job seeker but the prepared and judiciously persistent candidate who generates an interview and secures employment.
  • Recognize that job search roadblocks are only minor detours that you can find an alternative route, outwit, or avoid altogether.
  • Work smarter and use the increasing number of Latino specific, diversity friendly, networking generated and skills focused access doors at employers.

Build Your Personal Career Brand

  • If you do not develop a Personal Career Brand, others will label you.
  • Paint a compelling picture of who you truly are and the unique promise of value you offer to an employer.
  • Building your reputation or Personal Career Brand increases your confidence and job search power.

Make Learning a Life Long Process

  • Life-long learning maintains and enhances your employability and upward mobility.
  • Continuous professional and personal development improves your career staying power, agility and marketability.
  • Your commitment to self-improvement validates an employer’s Return on Investment (ROI) in you.

Be Flexible

  • Keep your job search and career options open.
  • Be open, adaptable and accommodating to different approaches and opportunities
  • Be willing to weigh job offers and career opportunities on how they fit into your career goals and plan. Don’t just look at the money.

Create a Strong Support System

  • Grow your “career familia”, a network of a people who will be there for you in the various capacities that aid your job search.
  • Nurture your network through maintaining contact, being thankful and giving back where you can.

Know When to Let Go

  • Being willing to let go should not be seen as a negative. It is often liberating, empowering, and leads to career success.
  • You may have accepted a job that turned out to be the wrong fit or your work situation may sour to the breaking point. Choose to move on.
  • Your duties may have changed or you have or a team approach may be more productive requiring that you give up some control. Recognize that it is time to let go.
  • Learn to accept your mistakes and use them as learning experiences. Leave them behind.

Remember to Give Back to Our Community

  • Appreciate the Latinos who were among the first in their career fields who blazed a trail for you to follow.
  • Helping Latinos who are your colleagues or coming up behind you opens up even more opportunities for other Latinos.
  • Giving back adds to your own value and helps build your Personal Career Brand.
  • Leadership and volunteer positions offer professional development opportunities that may not be available in the workplace.
By Yan Lee
Yan Lee