Jovitha: To climb corporate ladder reliability is main currency

Her experience in the corporate world began in 2011 while she was still a student. This was the time when Jovitha Davis was part AIESEC, the youth group that provides young people with leadership development, cross-cultural internships, and global volunteer exchange experiences.

Now Jovitha, is a Senior Manager at Empower Limited, a disruptive human capital firm that provides talent, advisory, insight, youth and brand services across Africa.

In 2012, Jovitha began her career with Standard Chartered Bank as a senior graduate trainee. She spent two years there. Since then she has gained experience in client management, executive coaching, and talent management for more than ten years since then.

Jovita, who has been in the workforce for ten years now, says she has learned a lot about developing what is successful on both a personal and professional level.

She has been involved in leading teams in complex projects which stretched her capabilities and fuelled her aspirations.

She learned early on in her career that she couldn’t be Jack-of-all-trades, which prompted her to value the idea of ‘focus’ with very positive results in her career development.

“Growing professionally goes beyond going out of your comfort zone. Women have to be able to consciously choose what one is good at and then proceed to learn assiduously,” Jovitha explains.

She adds that being able to say no has been her go-to strategy and it has helped her “to achieve what I want and not to let anything affect my health and social support.”

She mentioned two things as the reasons that derails women’s climb on the corporate ladder. One is self-doubt. This is very destructive when it comes to women confidence and the ability to present, pursue opportunities and seek recognition.

Seeking wrong validation is another. It affects a lot of women, Jovitha says. There is nothing wrong with having a soundproofing board as it tends to forge one’s confidence and self-worth, she contends. However, women often tend to seek this from the wrong channel, or presenting their ideas for approval rather than soundproofing. Jovitha is satisfied with the company that she currently works with because it has the right strategy to uplift women. At Empower they provide equal opportunities to all. There is an in-house forum created to support female employees and the implementation of rewards, recognition and promotions is considered.

The lessons she leaned from working at multinational organizations in banking, manufacturing, logistics, telecommunications, service, and in NGOs has been helpful to enable her fulfil her current tasks well. If anything the past experience has taught her the value of being reliable.

“People go to someone they can trust and rely on when they want to build professional relationships. There are different universal tips towards building this attribute, such as following up on commitments, being consistency, admitting mistakes and being proactive,” she says.

In her current job she helps organizations find the best talents to land their dream job.

She sees people on their worst days, some searching for jobs, some frustrated with their current life, and some not able to switch jobs.

Nonetheless the market is very competitive and changes are happening so fast as new technologies disrupt how we work.

“Dealing with all of this can be difficult at times. It requires learning how to manage stress, maintain the greatest level of professionalism, stay up to date on industry developments, and take good care of one’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being,” she says.

She describes her leadership style as nurturing. Time investment and continuous coaching are her main tools in this approach. She believes in this approach as it allows her subordinates develop resilience and confidence and find their strength and areas of development. Accomplishments are always celebrated as a team’s effort.

In all this personal sacrifices is sometimes necessary. It contributes to career development. From not being able to spend quality time with the family to skipping meals and eat whatever is there and not being able to exercise.

“Sometimes the sacrifice could be the career itself. This could occur when a challenging project at work necessitates working longer hours, in addition to another family obligation,” she says.

To women who are just embarking on their career journey she proposes a controversial approach. Women should treat their profession as a dating adventure. This basically means going on multiple dates until you find something that makes sense.

She says career seekers should approach each interview as a chance to get to know the recruiting firm and themselves better.

According to her, every interview should be viewed as a chance to get to know the recruiting firm and yourself better.

Also, whenever a woman eventually secures a job, she should approach it with an open mind and heart and learn, relearn, and unlearn some things.

If it doesn’t work out start afresh.