Do I Need to Work for Free to Get Ahead?

LeadershipCareer

Apr 25

Episode 399 | Author: Emilie Aries

What do you do when everything that advances your career requires free labor?

Today’s post was inspired by a recent question shared in the Bossed Up Courage Community on Facebook. Ana asked:

“What do you do when everything that is “good” for your career requires your free labor? Presenting at conferences, stepping up for more responsibilities - how do we balance providing free labor with a longer term payoff?

An Exhausting Reality

First off, I just want to acknowledge that this is totally frustrating, unfair, and exhausting. The reality that going above and beyond tends to get you noticed in the workplace and can lead to career advancement also undoubtedly perpetuates gaps in leadership based on who has the privilege of time and money to do free labor to get ahead.

That said, I think it's important to differentiate between the right to job protection versus career advancement when considering the bigger picture here.

As workers, I strongly believe in job protection measures that prevent us from losing our jobs for things like having to take time off for a medical issue, the arrival of a child, a chronic illness, or a family emergency. You absolutely have the right to not lose your job and your livelihood when unexpected things in life happen.

Beyond job protection, though, none of us have an innate entitlement to career advancement, do we? Just because you’re the most tenured person in the office doesn’t make you the most eligible to lead, by default. I think we can agree that seniority alone doesn’t equate to entitlement to promotion.

Show Your Skills

Instead, getting ahead in your career often requires showing what you're capable of in order to show you’re ready for more. I mean let's be real here for a second: you're reading this blog post right now for free. I spent a good amount of time, energy, and effort writing this out. I recorded a podcast version of this post, paid our professional audio editor, Mary, to edit this podcast, and I pay monthly fees to distribute this podcast. And none of my blog readers or podcast listeners pay to access any of it. So here I am working for free, in a way.

But as you point out in your question Ana, there is an ROI on that expenditure of time and money, which is why I along with millions of other content creators are happy to make this stuff available for free. The return on my investment is my personal brand. You think of me as a resource when it comes to advancing your career. You might buy my book someday or pay for one of our premier programs to help advance your career, like HIRED, Level Up, or Speak Up. Or maybe you'll connect with your company’s HR, learning & developmnt, or DEI departments to explore booking me as a speaker.

The reality is, you are paying for this blog post with your time and attention. You sit through my shameless plugs - like the ones I just made 2 sentences ago - because those are the offerings that actually do help me make payroll and pay my bills at the end of the day.

Now, in the context of getting ahead in your career, you might rightfully say, “but Emilie, that's not a fair comparison! You're a business owner, I'm an employee just looking to get a new job or promotion.”

I'd argue that in today's day and age, we're not that different. Back when employees used to stick with their employers for 30+ - now that would have been different. But we're all in the same skills economy now: we're in the business of selling ourselves and our skills.

So look, you don't have to be a content creator or business owner to be riddled with this kind of a career conundrum, right? The question boils down to this: what am I willing and able to give away for free in exchange for the prospect of advancing my career?

That, my friend, is really an internal negotiation. It's a negotiation with yourself, your time, your calendar, your many obligations, both personally and professionally. So it's hard for someone like me to tell you what to do, other than to share how I make this calculation myself:

Weigh the potential upsides

When I’m considering the prospect of working for free to advance my career, here are the questions I ask myself to weigh the potential upsides:

Is it putting me in front of the people who I want to be known by?
Is this opportunity providing me a chance to showcase my most valuable and marketable skills?
Will this give me an opportunity to try out something or build new skills I wouldn’t otherwise have the chance to use?

WEIGH the potential downsides

Then, I consider the potential costs involved:

Is this the right time? Will this conflict with other important obligations I have?
Will this be easy? Can I do this with integrity, without it taking more than X hours of time?
Do I feel respected by the people who are asking me to do this?
Is it likely to actually to advance my career? Or am I just feeling social pressure to oblige and be helpful?

Set boundaries AND advocate

Finally, I ask myself to consider what boundaries I need to set or things I need to advocate for:

What is my line in the sand?
What do I need to ask for to feel like my time and efforts are being respects?

For example, if I’m asked to speak at a conference across the country but no honorarium is available, I might draw the line at requiring travel costs to be covered, and advocate both for the conference organizers and/or my own employer to cover those costs.

If I’m being asked to step up and lead my company’s employee resource group, I might advocate for additional compensation for doing so, as is being done in a growing number of organizations.

YOU ArE THE BOSS OF YOUR CAREER

Remember, you and only you can decide how to spend your limited time, energy and effort - particularly on these kinds of initiatives that may or may not provide some ROI down the road when it comes to advancing your career.

And keep in mind: if you’re weighing an opportunity and the mere thought that it might not produce career-accelerating effects makes you feel resentful, that might be a sign that it’s something you should pass on.