Joy Omoregie is an international business and financial expert who has provided guidelines for the complete corporate experience. She hopes to help anyone advance in their career with her book, Woke at Work. Omoregie gives key insight for the novice and the expert.
Tell us a little about yourself and your experience in the workplace at entry-level?
I was a force at university – events lead for ACAS (African, Caribbean, and Asian Society), Residential Advisor, worked three jobs, and still graduated from an Economics and development studies degree with a 2:1. I graduated during a recession, so my first role was on a construction site before getting a break into fintech sales and then moving into diversity and inclusion within a Global Media and Finance company. I was then headhunted into a major banking giant, where I started in change management and moved into Strategy and then Sales. At entry-level, I had so much energy and believed promotion was an automatic process similar to school environments if you worked hard. I expected the environment to be more collaborative, but it was competitive and self-promoting, and I was just not used to that.
What inspired you to write the book, and how can it help those in the working world today?
I am very optimistic and also very aware of environments and study how people operate. As my ideals about work and progress were met with a tougher and less collaborative environment, as well as an increasingly disjointed route to progression, I began to open my eyes to many actions and behaviours that I had not been taught but were critical to progress. I had no experience in how to navigate the workplace with wisdom and work savvy. As I became an accredited coach, my passion for people and their progress led me to create the ultimate early careers guidance and empowerment manual I wish I had had at the start of my career. So given the negative impact of the covid 19 pandemic on young people, challenges like extensive remote working and not having as much access to “welcome to work” inductions, the book really fills information gaps from navigating the “in-office” team and situations to operating effectively the virtual workplace. My aim was to ensure early year professionals received that comprehensive support and coaching critically needed at the start of their career.
Why do you feel people are at a disadvantage in the corporate environment? How can they better educate themselves?
I wouldn’t simply say that people are disadvantaged in the corporate environment. I would say that if you do not have the information you need to understand the corporate environment, and if you are not guided on how to navigate and build a network that supports your development, THEN you will be disadvantaged. That is why my book is filled with insight into the workplace environment and the practical strategies to navigate in order to proactively take steps to progress your career with pace.
What can your readers look forward to from you?
What’s next will be a calendar of speaking events, where I’ll be bringing to life the contents of Woke at Work and leaving people with nuggets of wisdom to make their own progress! I’m keen to ensure more people know that this book providing career coaching is available, and I’ll be developing conversation spaces and putting together an event in September/October to help as many people as sign up – to be woke at work and end the year powerfully.
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