The Golden Handcuff Problem

1) Prestige is the biggest early career trap

If you have ever sat in the campus placement process at an Indian Business school - you know how crazy things become. That's also because students largely want to work at prestigious companies. A product manager at a mid-stage enterprise company with massive potential for growth told me that he constantly has to justify how this opportunity is valuable. Contrast that with being a cog in the wheel at a large technology company with freebies like Google (and watch where students want to go). Prestige, while warranted can be extremely toxic. For one, societal prestige with your peer group or your family can be drastically different (your friend may think working for a unicorn is prestige and your parents - a government job). Buying into anyone's belief only make you unhappy.

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2) Perks signal money, not status

Being put in 'golden handcuffs' is not bad, and I reiterate. Free gym, pilates, salad bars, birthday cakes all sound fabulous and they are. Yet, they signal how deep a corporation's pocket is, not your own status. A free car or corporate credit card can make us feel as if we have arrived in life. Yet basing our own self-worth and status on these things can be a recipe for personal unhappiness.

3) The dangers of a comfort zone

Often fresh graduates want to work at top consulting or banking companies out of a need for prestige. They think these jobs are dependable and combined with loan EMIs and lifestyle pressures, they can be lucrative too. Yet, in the modern workplace - nothing is very stable. Think of the class that got placed at Lehman Brothers in 2008 or someone who worked at Bytedance recently. The socio-political nunaces that affect businesses and regulations are so complex today. Traditional parameters of safety in employment are something that looks good only in the 1980's.

Even if you can escape the external environment, companies today have far more aggressive hiring, firing, and performance standards than they did earlier. Watch out for being lulled into a cocoon of safety.

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4) Golden Handcuffs affect your long term vision

I have friends who work at some of the best companies in the world. They often say, "Why would we leave this job?"

Everyone, of course, has different career priorities. Maybe you want to live in a posh neighbourhood with great schools and having a prestigious CV helps you ease admissions in. Maybe you think being entrepreneurial isn't something for you so what's the harm in overstaying your welcome. Maybe you don't even realize that while you have been promoted twice - your value externally as a potential employee could be dipping. Most people who get sidetracked or showed up were early career professionals too.

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How should I evaluate what works for me?

Be honest about how much of a decision you make is based on your own calling versus what your friends think versus what your family or mentors think.
Write down the nominal value of perks you receive and how it affects your lifestyle. Eg: While gym at work is great, it also makes you stay longer at work and pop back after your workout to check on emails or a project.
Reach out to new colleagues, acquaintances, and try to measure how current your skill-sets are.
Balance between fear of missing out (optional offsite with select peer group) and joy of missing out (Friday night shenanigans with work buddies)
If you ever feel a sense of self-importance from anything other than the actual work you do - check in with yourself.
Understand there are different types of handcuffs, being impressed when someone shares a designation or a company's name - is a sure signal that you are looking at the curtains and not the house.
Lastly, introspect about your own journey, skillsets, learning. See how far if you have come, see how far you would like to go. See if comfort or certainty are delaying this for you! If the answer is yes, the solution is only in your hands.

Hope this post helped you out. Watch out for the 11th article in the Headstart series soon. Share these posts and leave feedback, requests, and suggestions in the comments below!