Socializing with the Boss Seen as Good for Career
Dinner Tops List of Advancement-Motivated Social Activities According to Executive Survey
NEW YORK (December 20, 2004)- Having dinner with the boss this holiday season? It could give your career a boost, according to a survey conducted by executive job search service TheLadders.com. According to the company's survey of 640 executives in the $100k+ job market, 55% believe that participating in social activities is good for their careers.
| Good for my career | 55% |
| A necessity I'd rather live without | 27% |
| Unimportant | 10% |
| Not worth the risk | 8% |
Though it is common to hear about holiday party faux pas and alcohol-laced improprieties, very few of the executives surveyed felt it was better to avoid social contact with superiors. Only 8% of the survey's respondents said that participating in social activities with the boss is 'not worth the risk' and 10% said it is altogether 'unimportant.' Twenty seven percent of respondents called fraternizing with superiors 'a necessity [they] would rather live without' (see table above ).
The survey of registered $100k+ executives was conducted by TheLadders.com from November 8, 2004 through December 14, 2004. The margin of error is +/- 3.87%.
In a related survey of 584 executives, TheLadders.com asked about the types of social activities executives commonly participated in with their superiors. The most common response was dinner, which claimed 48% of the vote. Golf and sporting activities were second on the list with 25%. Eight percent have attended sporting events with their superiors and 3% have attended the theater. Seventeen percent said they have not engaged in any social activities with the boss (see table below). This survey was also conducted from November 8, 2004 through December 14, 2004, with a margin of error of +/- 4.05%.
| Dinner | 48% |
| Golf/other sports | 25% |
| None | 17% |
| Attend sporting events | 8% |
| Theater | 3% |
"Face time with your superiors is critical to career success," explained TheLadders.com founder and president, Marc Cenedella. "While it's more common to hear the 'dinner with the boss horror story,' the vast majority of out-of-office experiences produce good results. Executives should really look at the office holiday party or dinner with the boss as an opportunity to cast themselves in a multi-dimensional light."
Now reaching over 207,000 readers and featuring over 3,000 new $100k+ job listings each week, TheLadders.com is the largest online job search engine catering exclusively to the $100k+ market. Marc Cenedella founded TheLadders.com in July 2003 after a tenure as Senior Vice President, Finance & Operations, at HotJobs.com, ultimately shepherding that company's sale to Yahoo, Inc. (NASD: YHOO) in 2002. In May 2004 he was named Entrepreneur of the Year by award-winning marketing newsletter, MarketingSherpa, which cited TheLadders.com's unique business model as a key to its sustained growth.