德勤CEO的职场金玉良言

    毋庸置疑，对于刚刚走出大学校门的人来说，当前的就业市场不容乐观。美国大学和雇主协会（National Association of Colleges and Employers）表示，公司今年计划招聘的毕业生仅比去年多出2%，与去年秋季雇主们13%的增幅预测相差很大。而且，今年刚刚毕业的大学生们还得与40%就业不足或失业的2012届师兄师姐们展开竞争。

    即便如此，乔•埃切瓦里亚认为，只要有足够强烈的成功欲望，任何人都能做到。这都是他的经验之谈：埃切瓦里亚是波多黎各人，在纽约市南布朗克斯区一个贫穷的单亲家庭里长大，他的经历比大多数人都要艰难。到了2011年，他已经成为全球咨询与审计巨头德勤会计师事务所（Deloitte）的CEO。这家公司在《财富》杂志（Fortune）最适宜工作的100家公司（Best Companies to Work For）排行中位列第47位。今年，它将聘用约9,000名应届毕业生。埃切瓦里亚在最近的一次和我们的对话中回忆了自己职业发展的早期经历，同时还为求职者们支招，如何在胜算很小的情况下取得成功。

    《财富》：您毕业之后的第一份工作是什么？您是怎样得到这份工作的？

    埃切瓦里亚：我先是利用暑假在布朗克斯区做汽车修理工。从迈阿密大学（University of Miami）毕业后，我被哈斯金斯•塞尔斯会计师事务所（Haskins & Sells，后被德勤兼并）聘用，成为一名审计师。大学期间，我获得了奖学金。当时，如果想参加八大会计事务所——如今已经变成四大——的面试，在学校的平均分不能低于3.5分。但由于我上的大学算不上一流（学校曾被冠以“晒太阳大学”的绰号），所以我的平均分必须达到3.8分，我做到了。因此，我有幸参加了面试。虽然我也存在许多不足之处，但我的会计成绩在全班名列前茅，他们没有任何理由不让我参加面试。

    不足之处？

    我长着浓密的胡子，发型也非常糟糕。而且，我只有两套衣服，一套是褐色的，另外一套是涤纶料子的绿色西服。我也不懂什么社交礼仪，比如我不知道在餐桌上该怎么摆放面包盘，也从没用带茶托的杯子喝过咖啡。我花了很长时间才意识到，在职场上，这些事情同样都是非常重要的。但没有人会跟我讲这些。

    最后，我注意到其他人都有不止两套西装，没有人会穿棕色的西服或者涤纶料子的衣服。然而正是由于这些因素，我得到的评价总是说我“潜力有限”，虽然这些事情看起来或许非常肤浅。没有人认为我应该得到升职。而且，我的收入也比（审计师培训课程的）其他人低。但我最终还是赶了上来。

    您是如何做到的呢？

    首先，我会研究公司里成功的人在做什么。我观察他们，分析他们是怎么做到的，然后尽最大努力去模仿。再者，我工作非常非常努力。比其他任何人都要努力。第三，我的上司，一位西班牙女性，给了我很好的建议。我去休假之前，她对我说：“你休假回来的时候，不要再留胡子了。如果你总是像福里特•班第托（长着长胡子的卡通人物——译注）一样，那你永远也别想进入管理层。”我从没想过胡子会成为我发展的障碍。现在，她仍是我的导师。我在公司已有35年，而她在公司的时间已经有40年。在公司里，我总是称呼她“妈妈”。

    No doubt about it, the current job market is no walk on the beach for anyone just graduating from college. Companies plan to hire just 2% more grads than last year, says the National Association of Colleges and Employers, a startling drop from the 13% increase those same employers projected last fall. And this year's fresh crop of degree holders will have to compete with the roughly 40% of the class of 2012 who are still underemployed or out of work.

    Even so, Joe Echevarria believes success is within reach of anyone who wants it badly enough. He speaks from experience: After growing up poor in a single-parent home in New York City's South Bronx, Echevarria, who is Puerto Rican, faced a tougher struggle than most. Since 2011, he has been CEO of global consulting and audit giant Deloitte, No. 47 on Fortune's list of the Best Companies to Work For. This year the company will hire about 9,000 new grads. In a recent conversation, Echevarria recalled the early years of his career and offered advice on getting ahead against long odds.

    Fortune: What was your first job out of college, and how did you get it?

    Echevarria: I went from being an auto mechanic during the summers in the Bronx to getting hired as an auditor at Haskins & Sells [which later merged with Deloitte] when I graduated from the University of Miami, where I had gone on a scholarship. Back then, to get an interview with a Big 8 firm — it's now the Big 4 — you were supposed to have a 3.5 GPA. But, because I went to a not-so-great school — it was nicknamed Suntan U. — I had to have a 3.8. So I did that. I was at the top of my class in accounting, so they couldn't find a reason not to interview me, in spite of my rough edges.

    What rough edges?

    I had a big mustache and bad hair. Also, I had two suits, one brown and the other green polyester. I had no social graces, either — I didn't know where the bread plate goes on a table, had never drunk coffee out of a cup with a saucer. It took me a long time to realize that these things matter in the corporate world. No one was willing to tell me.

    Eventually I noticed that everybody else had more than two suits, and nobody wore brown or polyester. But because of these things, however superficial they might seem, I kept getting evaluations that said I had "low potential." Nobody thought I would ever get promoted. Also, I was paid less than anybody else in the [auditor training program]. But I caught up.

    How did you do that?

    Well, first, I figured out what successful people in the firm were doing. I looked at them and analyzed how they got there, and I tried my best to do the same. Then, I worked very, very hard. I worked harder than everybody else. And third, I had a boss, a Hispanic woman, who gave me good advice. Right before I left on vacation, she said to me, "You're coming back without that mustache. You will never make it into management if you look like the Frito Bandito." I had never realized that was holding me back. She is still my mentor to this day. I've been at the firm 35 years, she's been here 40. I call her my "mom" in the company.