6 Lessons I learned from the MBA internship recruiting process

After many months of research, networking and interviewing I finally have decided upon a summer internship. This summer, I will be working in Chicago, IL in the marketing and product innovation group for a leading Consumer Products company. The journey to Chicago was full of twists and turns, ups and downs, and many different projected paths. Having said this, I’m excited for the opportunity and am looking forward to having a great learning experience this summer, not to mention, I have heard nothing but great things about Chicago in the summertime!

 

The internship process was a fantastic learning experience. Through this process, I was able to meet with countless alums and industry leaders, learn about many different companies, and gain greater insight to my interests, skills and career opportunities. As a result of the process I gained a greater understanding of various business models, industries, career paths and job functions. Most importantly, the lessons I learned, the people I met, and the knowledge I gained will be valuable to my further development. In addition to serving my own learning, I’m hopeful that I can pass along the knowledge I’ve gained with others who will eventually go through the MBA internship search, which is why I’d like to share with you the 6 lessons I learned from the MBA Internship search. While the list is not exhaustive, I feel these are the most important lessons and can be useful to many people as they begin or conduct their internship search

 

Things do not always seem to be as they appear – We all have ideas and plans with what we want to do, and while sometimes they work out, they also don’t. I thought I wanted to work for a tech company on the west coast and ended up working for a consumer products company in the Midwest. Part of this was just circumstance, but the other part of it was through what I learned in the networking and researching parts of my recruiting search. As I went through the search, I began to realize that there is a difference in working in technology (ex for a tech company) versus working with technology (much broader) I’m really passionate about applying technology to the things we already do, and my skillset is much more geared towards teaching and showing others how to use technology to transform what they already do. As such, building, marketing, and selling products, software and tools was not necessarily as much of a fit or interest based off of my skills and interests. This is a pretty subtle but incredibly important realization and something I was completely unaware of about 6 months ago. While I ended up in a place I didn’t expect, finding this was very helpful in narrowing my search and making my decision. Similarly, I had a handful of classmates who came in dead set on pursuing one field but then totally changing course because they realized it wasn’t for them. It’s okay to do this, the important thing is taking the time to gather this information and then understanding what it means and how it impacts your search and decision making process.

 

Networking takes effort, but makes a difference– Everyone tells you to network. Everyone says it’s important and you have to do it. I’d echo what they said and say that effectively networking takes significant work but can be a differentiator between you and the other qualified candidates.  For on-campus recruiting with companies who have an active presence, networking is the differentiator that will help you get onto the closed list to be interviewed. For off-campus recruiting, networking is what will get your resume read and not sent into a black hole of oblivion. In total, I probably talked to over 75 different people throughout the process and half of those were conversations with Alum or current employees at a company I was targeting and in many instances it involved multiple instances of communication and follow up protracted over a few months.

Having said that, simply talking to these people isn’t merely enough. If you want the networking to lead you somewhere your conversations need to demonstrate your interest, capabilities, and personality. The person you’re speaking with needs to know that you A) care about the company and the position B) would want to work with you if they were to vouch for you. Finally, networking takes time and persistence. Simply meeting someone at an event and getting their card isn’t nearly enough. If you are hoping for it to lead to something you’ll want to stay on their radar and top of mind by occasionally reaching out to them either to ask questions or let them know of any updates. The more you demonstrate interest, capability and personality, the more they’ll be willing to help you.

 

We are in the information age; use it to your advantage – This is the information age. Information has never been easier to come by especially with the internet and social media. Finding information on companies, positions, employees etc has never been easier. Use these tools to your advantage when you researching companies, finding alum to network with or preparing for your interviews. Simply doing some research can help you understand the company, the position and the industry that you are targeting. Furthermore, it can also help you tailor your questions you have for perspective employers. Having thoughtful questions for company presentations, informational interviews and real interviews can set yourself apart from others and demonstrate your knowledge and interest. One example: I was doing an interview with someone who I knew was an active contributor to a very respectable website. I looked up and read through a number of her articles and even referenced them during my interview. She was impressed with my knowledge and that I had read through her work.

 

Don’t underestimate the power of curiosity and initiative – Even though networking may seem invasive or very motive based to some, it really is about how you frame it. In general, my experience has found that people do appreciate thoughtfulness, curiosity and general inquisitiveness. Additionally, considering most people are comfortable with talking about themselves, and you have a recipe for opportunity. In my experience, simply being curious about what people do, how they got to where they are in their life, and what they think about careers and jobs can go a long way. Through simply reaching out to people and asking them for a few minutes of their time to ask some thoughtful questions I’ve gotten a plethora of great information, sound advice, and in some cases, referrals, additional contacts and interviews. They key to this is taking the initiative. If you want to become great at building relationships you need to be proactive and about it. You’ll definitely get some rejections but what you have to gain from being proactive far outweighs what you have to lose.

 

There are lots of things you cannot control – This is one of the hardest things I had to come to terms with. In the interview process, there are so many things that are beyond your control. The interviewer, the candidate pool, and the questions they ask you, and the mood of the person who is making the hiring decisions to name a few. While it can be hard to accept, worrying about these things or getting upset about these things won’t be very productive. The only thing you can somewhat control is how well you present yourself in the interview. Did you prepare for the interview? Did you do your homework on the Alums that work for that company? I had an internship that I really wanted and I ended up getting a final round interview. Unfortunately, the final round did not go as planned and I did not end up getting the offer. I was pretty disappointed, and spent a few days reflecting on the experience. Upon further reflection, I realized that there were things I could control and that I couldn’t control. For instance, there was a case interview component to the interview and I didn’t do as well on it as I would have hoped primarily do to my lack of preparation. I realize that I could have done some more prep work to prepare for the interview, and vowed to myself that I would remember that for the next one. On the things that I couldn’t control part: I got a pretty tough interviewer, the candidate pool was full of HBS, Wharton and Stanford grads, and there was only 1 position. None of those things I just listed were things I could change or influence, so I had to let them go. Moving forward, I vowed to myself that if I didn’t get the offer, or get the 2nd interview, I would only be disappointed about things that I could control and I wouldn’t waste time on the things I couldn’t.

 

Decisions are tough, but internships are short-term commitments – Some of you will have the good fortune of obtaining multiple internship offers. That is a fantastic accomplishment but also comes with added pressure. In many cases, there are multiple great offers and it can be hard to choose. I was fortunate to be in this position and had a difficult time choosing my offer. The best advice I can give is threefold. First, understand your criteria and priorities. Doing this will help you evaluate how well each internship fits these priorities and criteria.Second, understand opportunity cost and trade-offs. Each decision you make will have things that you have to forgo. There may not be a perfect answer, but by truly understanding what you may have to give up you may find it easier to make a decision. Finally, also understand that internships are 10-12 weeks and are designed to give you a feel for what it’s like to work for that company and that role. While many of us want to covert then internship to a fulltime opportunity (and thus not have to recruit again!) it’s very important to view the internship as an evaluation opportunity for both you and the employer. You may realize at the end of the internship that while it would be great to have the offer, it’s not something you actually want to do. It can be easy to get caught up in trying to find the “perfect” fit or perfect offer, but it’s important to understand the internship is still just a trial period for both you and the employer.

 

Last but not least, understand that there is a lot of great advice out there on how to navigate the internship search. Some of this may apply to you and some of it may not. Ultimately, you’ll have to use your judgment to decide for yourself.

Millennials and Mentors: The key to successful mentoring relationships

I came across an article in Business Week about millennials and mentors in the workplace titled “The Misery of Mentoring Millennials.” While I sighed when I saw the article tagline (let’s face it, you gotta be a little bold with your headlines to get some clicks) I thought it was an interesting read as it covered some of the challenges that millennials see with mentoring and that mentors see when mentoring millennials. I think most of us can probably agree that having a mentor is a good thing in of itself, but as the article points out, formal mentoring programs can be the best of intentions but without the right message and execution they can fall short of their expectations. One young professional felt her assigned mentors were to formal and mechanical. On the flipside of the coin, mentors won’t just appear out of nowhere, and mentoring relationships won’t simply blossom overnight. Regardless of if you are a millennial, Gen X’er, Baby Boomer, etc if you are seeking out a mentor or would like a mentor there is a significant amount of work and effort required in order to get value out of the mentor/mentee relationship.

Like any relationship, mentor/mentee relationships require groundrules and guideposts. The article goes into detail of some bad habits that certain millennial mentees got into when trying to communicate with the mentors; I won’t pretend that these don’t exist, but I’m also inclined to believe that for many of us sound judgment and asking questions will be suffice to understanding boundaries and limits. I also believe that as a relationship between a mentor and mentee develops, a level of trust and familiarity begins to emerge, which hopefully makes both parties in the relationship more open, honest and direct about approaching each other.

As a young professional who has just started out his career, I find mentors valuable and important to my own personal and career development. Growing up, I know that any success or growth I had was a direct result of individuals who helped and guided me along the way. As such, looking for mentors was a priority for me the moment I started at my company. I am fortunate in that my firm is built on a model of mentorship and apprenticeship; these things are ingrained in our culture and happen on a daily basis. However, we also do have formal mentoring programs for all employees at all levels with a particular emphasis at those whom are entering from college or graduate school. To date, I’ve found that the best mentors happened organically, not because I necessarily sought them out, but because we became acquainted through some sort of mutual interest and ended up keeping in touch. Over time and through consistent initiative and effort the relationship grew, and a few of these mentors have opened up doors and helped me make decisions that I would have struggled to have done on my own.

Having also been a mentor to many other colleagues and staff, I find that the best mentoring relationships happen when someone takes the initiative to help the other and the other recognizes and appreciates this token or gesture. At the end of the day, a mentor and a mentee is a relationship between two people, and any relationship needs time, support and effort.

One thing I will say: I think that empathy will help both the mentee and mentor in the mentoring relationship. Simply making the effort to understand where the other is coming from will provide a needed perspective in how to approach, support and interact with the other in the mentor/mentee relationship. Having the mentor explain to the mentee explain the duties and responsibilities of a manager/director/vp/svp will hopefully give the mentee some understanding of the sheer responsibility and challanges that fall on shoulders of the mentor; perhaps the mentee can identify a way to help or support a specific initiative for the mentor. Additionally, having the mentor understand what it’s like to start out in the working world and in developing one’s career will give them a better understanding of the challenges and aspirations of young professionals who are entering the workplace.

I’d love to hear about some of your mentor or mentee relationships. How did they start? What did you like? What worked? What didn’t?

The dreaded question: “What are your hobbies?”

I came across an op-ed in the NY Times this morning titled “Is there life after work?” The pieces is written by Erin Callan. For any financial services experts out there you may remember her as the one-time CFO for Lehman Brothers back when they went under in 2008. At the time, Callan was a high-performing rising star at the firm; but in the midst of the crisis she faced insurmountable challenges leading Lehman through difficult times. Callan was demoted and then disappeared from the spotlight keeping a low-profile before getting remarried and leaving New York. However, given her position and her role in such a high-profile event I was intrigued when I saw her name next to the op-ed title.

The piece starts off from a memory of a holiday party of the past. During the party, one of her colleagues asked Callan’s ex-husband if “she had any hobbies,” to which he replied with “that she sleeps.” While this may seem humorous, its very believable given the demand and challenges of being CFO for a high-profile financial services firm. As Callan’s roles and responsibilities grew, her time to spend on personal things diminished. She writes,

“First I spent a half-hour on Sunday organizing my e-mail, to-do list and calendar to make Monday morning easier. Then I was working a few hours on Sunday, then all day. My boundaries slipped away until work was all that was left.”

For Callan, work and life were one and the same, and when she was demoted from her role and when she eventually left the firm she was “devastated.” Work had become her life, and as she puts it, “I did not know how to value who I was versus what I did. What I did was who I was.”

Despite Callan’s challenges, it appears that the past few years have allowed her to evaluate and reflect on her time at Lehman, and now she has come to an understanding of priorities in her life. For Callan, it appears to be her husband and her family. Her dedication and her commitment to her job at Lehman prevented Callan from having time for anything else in her life, and while it brought her success in the form of promotions, titles and prestige, those eventually faded. Callan doesn’t believe that she could have “had it all” but does believe that she could have eventually found the same level of success in the workplace but with “some better version of a personal life” had she had a bit more harmony. Callan conveys the catch-22 of her position: she remarks how she was never delusional enough to believe she ever had any semblance of balance in her life and certainly demonstrates a fondness for the opportunities that balance would have brought her; such as: time to spend with family, friends, etc. However, she recognizes that the experience she went through might have been necessary in order for her to understand and appreciate the opportunities that she gained and experienced. She says,

“Without the crisis, I may never have been strong enough to step away. Perhaps I needed what felt at the time like some of the worst experiences in my life to come to a place where I could be grateful for the life I had. I had to learn to begin to appreciate what was left.”

Last but not least, Callan ends with an important and memorable closing line,”Whatever valuable advice I have about managing a career, I am only now learning how to manage a life.”

Callan’s story illustrates the challenges that many men and women face in their careers: How do you juggle the myriad of priorities that are important in your life? This is something that men and women both face (I realize there are differences between the genders but exploring those would take another post, or two or 10) at various stages of their lives, whether it be beginning their careers in their 20’s and trying to build their experiences and skills or later on in their careers as they try to juggle supporting kids, parents, spouses and other personal pursuits.

As a 20-something, young professional, and hopeful future leader, I can relate to many of the challenges that Callan brings to light in her writing. I enjoy working in my demanding job and profession and love the fact that I am learning and accelerating the growth of my career . However, I struggle sometimes balancing the desire to continue growing and learning by taking on challenging workloads and long hours  with the desire to explore and develop other aspects of my life, such as friends, family, hobbies, etc. I began seriously reflecting on this issue a few months ago when I was at a party and someone I had just met asked me “what my hobbies were?” While it was a simple and thoughtful question, I began fumbling over words in my answer until I realized I couldn’t really think of any.

The 20’s are a fantastic but challenging period of your life, and while I don’t mean to belittle or downplay the importance or potential of other ages, the 20’s provide an opportunity for you to explore elements of your life that will lay the foundation for your future. Part of this is because you are finally mature enough to make decisions and explore meaningful and transformative opportunities, and part of this is because you are young enough where you can devote time and resources towards molding particular elements. However, choosing how to allocate the finite time and resources is what becomes challenging and for some people like myself, frightening. On one hand, I think the 20’s are incredibly important for career development; getting a good start in the workplace will only open doors and opportunities for the future and developing knowledge on “how to work” and developing good work habits can help the arc, trajectory and length of your career. At the same time, I also believe in personal development and personal fulfillment. Similar to career development, the 20’s are a fantastic time to explore, develop and define yourself and your values as a person. Finding your hobbies, passions and people who are important and valued is critical to your long-term life. Can you do both? How do you do both?

On the surface,  its easy to look at Callan’s story and say “well look at what she achieved. For what its worth, she did become CFO of one of the largest (at the time) investment banks and based off of the public records she seems to be very well-off financially. But at what cost? And on the flipside, its easy to look and see what she had to give up (relationships with others, personal life) and what she lacks ( no kids, privacy) and say “I’d never want that. Both perspectives have merit. I don’t know which is right. I do know both are extremes, and as a believer in the Aristotelian way of thinking I do thing there is a mean between the excess and deficiency. I’m just not quite sure what that is, and how to achieve it quite yet.

I once asked a mentor of mine if he felt he had work life balance. He told me that he didn’t believe that he could have work-life balance; that sometimes he was better at it than other times, and other times he was pretty shitty at it. He said that to do something that you love and to pursue it to its fullest potential isn’t going to come with balance, it’s going to come with sacrifice. Depending on that thing you love is (ex: work,family) something will eventually suffer. While I agree with this mantra in theory, I’m still at a point where I am trying to develop those “loves” if you will. I have a job that is helping me build my career, but I don’t know if I “love it yet. At the same time, I fully imagine that I will have a beautiful family one day but I am certainly light years away from that happening. (Well not light years) If my life were a construction site, you’d probably have to put a sign that said “work in progress.” I don’t think that’s a bad thing, perhaps that “work in progress” applies to your entire life, but the uncertainty and ambiguity of the 20’s sometimes makes life challenging.

The one piece of the article that I 100% agreed with when Callan talked about who she was as opposed to what she did. This made me think about the fact that 70-80% of the time when someone asks me how I am doing I always seem to respond with somehing related to my job. My job is a big-part of my life: its something that I spend a lot of blood, sweat and tears on. It’s something that I am committed to and something that keeps me up at night. However, my job (and our jobs) does not need to define me, or anyone else. There is so much more to who I am (and who you are) than what you do 40-50-60 hours a week.

I don’t know what the rest of my 20’s will look like. I’m still not sure what my hobbies are, and I still don’t know what my career will be. However, I do believe that if we take the time to reflect on our past decisions, remain honest to ourselves and put in effort towards being intentional about our decisions we’ll end up crafting and forging our lives and our careers.

The Uncertainty of Success

Dealing with uncertainty of success is a challenge that many people face. It’s something  I can attest to struggling with. Not a week goes by when I don’t think to myself, “I’ve been able to do well in various things, but what if that success were to end tomorrow, or what if I am not successful in the future?” 

 

As I’ve transitioned out of college and into the working world, I’ve come to a better place with dealing with the unknown and uncertainty that exists; however, it doesn’t mean that those thoughts go away. As a planner and worrier, I think its only natural to be concerned about the future even when things are going good. To a certain degree, that fear that success is fleeting motivates and pushes me to do my best but also enjoy the moment; you never know when it will cease.

 

Recently,I came across a blogpost on the uncertainty of success. The writer of the post is reminiscing a tape he found which contained his interview with Ang Lee back in 1993. For non-moviegoers out there, Lee is the critically acclaimed Director who most recently directed Life of Pi, and has had many other blockbuster hits. While he is arguably one of the best Directors  today, his success came only after his fair share of dead ends, misfortunes and failures. For quite some time, he was known best as “Spike Lee’s NYU classmate.” After graduating from NYU, he moved into an apartment with his wife whom supported the family as a Microbiologist. While his wife worked, Lee took care of the kids and wrote scripts every day for six years straight, all of which amounted to nothing. At one point, Lee was so discouraged that he contemplated learning computer science and getting a job working in Corporate America. Fortunately, his wife refused to let him do so and he kept writing away.  Lee caught his big break in 1991 by Directing a movie that didn’t end up making it to the US. However, it landed him another gig, which landed him another gig, which landed him a Best Foreign Picture Award and put him on the map. 22 years and 4-5 blockbuster hits later (including $576 million in sales and 11 award nominations for Life of Pi) and Lee is a household name. 

 

I don’t know Lee personally but I assume that if someone were to have told him that he’d have a couple really crappy stretches of his life but that he’d eventually break through and become a critically acclaimed Director he would have sucked it up and navigated through the tough times. I bet most of you would have done the same. Unfortunately, life doesn’t work like that. Success is not guaranteed  hard work is not always rewarded, and luck doesn’t always bounce your way; each of these being reasons why what Lee did and what so many others who have been successful so admirable. To continue fighting, clawing and chasing something that you believe so passionately in is really difficult when you face setbacks and see others around you succeed. When shit hits the fan are you going to stand tall? Or when something doesn’t pan out are you going to stick to your guns and find an alternative solution? In those moments of challenge, failure and uncertainty our resolve and character is tested; there is always some light at the end of the tunnel, but are we patient and confident enough to look for it?

 

One of the reasons why I respect Lee is because he carries himself in a way that is unassuming, humble, and human. It makes him seem like he could be just another regular hard-working person just like you or me. He seems to understand that success and good fortune is not something that you get because you deserve it, but it is something you get when you can remain patient, seize the opportunity, and simply hold on and outlast the roadblocks and challenges that come in the way.

 

For all those out there who are chasing a dream or goal of their own, or are simply looking for motivation, take a peek over at the post for some insight and inspiration. In the meantime, keep plugging away at pursuing something meaningful while believing that the journey may be long and arduous the feeling of success when it does come will be special and worthwhile.

 

Advice to College Grads – Don’t worry about the advice!

It’s that time of the year again. The rain of April makes way to the sunshine of May and the temperatures begin to rise. But May is about just more than May flowers and warmer weather; it also marks the return of graduation season. This May, hundreds and thousands of college students in the US will graduate from college. With that, comes the traditional graduation commencement speech. During this occasion, some notable speaker imparts wisdom advice and stories to graduating college seniors and their friends and families.

However, the media and the blogosphere doesn’t want to miss out on this momentous occasion and decides to provide their own unsolicited advice to the soon to be college grads. As you see, there have been many articles and commencement-type posts about advice to this year’s graduating class. Some of the advice has been upbeat and cheery while some has been cold and dreary. There have even been some great responses to these posts, Such as Paul’s over at All Groan Up and Kayla’s over at Lost Gen-Y Girl (I’m a half-glass full kinda guy, so I’m a little biased on the pieces that I like) These pieces have begun to gain some traction in both my Twitter and Facebook news feeds, some with disdain and sorrow, others with commendation and delight, and unfortunately in some cases, downright anger!

While I’d love to take this opportunity to impart my own wisdom and advice for this year’s graduating class there have been many others who have already taken the liberty to do so. In a world of copious amounts of information, conflicting and competing sentiments and in some cases downright confusion I do think it would be useful to provide some context and insight on how to interpret these golden nuggets of wisdom,  I offer this: read these articles, all of them, and then ignore them for the next 3-6 months. This may sound drastic, but here’s why I think:

1)      Graduating college is a momentous occasion, one that is not without sacrifice, commitment and diligence, and that should be celebrated and rewarded, not spent on time worrying about how your career will look for the next 30-40 years.

2)      2) These pearls of wisdom might seem well and good or really confusing, but until you get some real live experience in the “real world” it’s hard to know for sure how to really take these things, so instead of worrying about go out, relax and have fun! You’ll have plenty of time to worry about careers, big decisions and loan payments…eventually. A little perspective can make a big difference

One of the greatest (and most challenging) thing about being a post-grad is that you have an incredible amount of autonomy to make your own decisions. From deciding what to have for dinner to if you should or shouldn’t send that message on OK Cupid you are constantly making decisions. Just like you’ll have plenty of time to make these decisions you’ll have plenty of time to decide which advice to take and which advice to ignore. Heck, you may even end up one day being the one speaking at one of these Commencement Speeches doling out that advice!

So, go ahead and read the editorials, posts and snippets, take them at face value, but most importantly, go and celebrate your fantastic accomplishments – there is plenty of work to be done and plenty of problems to be solved, but trust me when I say they can wait a few months. Until then, go and enjoy this time and celebrate your wonderful achievements.

Links

Boston Inno: What You Really Need to Hear before you graduate

BC Heights: Admissions Letter

WSJ: Mr. Stephens

Want to change the world? Consider a reality check first

I’m a big fan of David Brooks. I read his articles pretty regularly and I think he provides insightful perspectives that blend both reality and optimism, two things I really admire. His recent post titled “Sam Spade at Starbucks” hit a chord for me because I know many of the “young people” he refers to in his article. These are the people I grew up with, went to school with and some I work with now in my professional career. These are fantastic young people with great minds and hearts. Above all, I truly believe they want to make a positive impact on the world, which I very much respect and admire.

Despite this “service religion” mentality, Brooks highlights some challenges that these individuals face, most notably around their attitudes towards how to go about making change and their belief (or disbelief) in working through traditional mechanisms such as politics and government. While I’ll be the first to admit both of these avenues present incredible challenges and have their share of faults, they still are necessary in order to enact scaleable and meaningful change to society. If you look back through our history, most of the meaningful and memorable positive steps forward came because people worked through government and politics to enact change.

I definitely share many of the sentiments of the young people Brooks refers to in his piece. I feel passionate about making a difference and changing the world, and I really do believe that I can and will in fact do just that. To some, that may seem like a lofty, fluffy or out of reach goal, but its something I’ve always believed. Having said that, I think that blending some reality with optimism never hurt, and if anything, helps ground you and keep you convicted in your beliefs. For those of you out there who think about these kinds of things I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you think you will in fact change the world too.

 

Moving on: Finding the right next step in your career

As someone who really values communication as well as friendships I make a significant effort to stay in touch with my friends, especially those who I know I won’t get to see very often. Fortunately, technology makes this task a lot easier than I could have ever imagined. With Facebook, Texting, Twitter (insert your various modes of communication here) it’s fairly easy to actually communicate with others. However, it still requires focus and effort.

Lately, quite a few of the friends I’ve been in touch with have inquired to me about job advice. Many are at the point where they are coming up on their 2^nd or 3^rd year “anniversary” of working in the “real world” and are looking to make their next move but aren’t sure where to start. Knowing that I’m passionate and interest in career development, they often come to me for advice, asking if I know of any jobs, leads, etc. After going through this a few times, I’ve come up with a three piece strategy to help my friends decipher and determine the next step in their professional career. Note: I’m a consultant, and infused a little bit of consulting lingo in my strategy. Apologies for my dorkiness, but bear with meJ )

Current State – The first step in the process is to take a look at the current state. Think about where you are now, and the skills, opportunities and experiences you have gained in your current role. A great thing to do is to literally write them down or list them out.  From there, begin to categorize them. Some good categories to start include: Strengths, Likes, Dislikes, What I want to keep doing, what I want more of, What I want less of. This current state assessment will help you analyze and reflect upon the entire body of work you’ve done in your current role.

Future State – Think about what you want to do in the future. Based off of what you’ve done in your current job what do you want to do in your next job? What kind of roles or responsibilities does that job have? What kind of environment is it in? Is it in a large company or perhaps a smaller company? This is also a great time to lay out all the types of industries or professions you might be interested in. The future state is a great way to dream up the job that you’d like to see yourself doing.

The Landscape – Combining one and two, scour the landscape to find out what is out there that matches the skills and responsibilities you enjoy along with the areas and functions that you are interested in. There are various “landscapes” to search for job opportunities. Various job posting websites such as Career Builder, Monster.Com are great starts as well as LinkedIn and other social networks. By searching and reading job descriptions you’ll get a better sense of the jobs and opportunities that are out there as well as the ones that appeal to you.

While your perfect job might not come right away, doing these three things should set you up on the right path towards finding that next job. Job searches not only take hard work and thoroughness, but also a deep assessment of where you are, what you’ve done, and where you want to go.  It might be at times a difficult and tedious process, but it will ultimately help you find the job that is right for you and for your career.

Guest Post over at Grad Meets World

Hi Folks,

I recently wrote a guest post for Amanda Abella’s Grand Meets World, which in my opinion is one of the top Gen-Y/Grad Blogs out there. Feel free to check it out when you get a chance, and make sure to take a look at all the great content/goodies Amanda has!

 

 

Stepping up from setbacks

When I was a little kid, I was one of those kids who didn’t take losing very well. For awhile I was your typical “poor sport.” If I would lose at something I would get upset, disappointed and often cry foul. Fortunately, my loving and supporting parents nurtured me through that stage of my life and I ended up having a solid athletic career throughout my teenage years. It didn’t make losing easy to take, but I learned how to deal with it and how to respond. To me, losing in athletic events was hard because I always felt that I prepared, did my homework and gave me best. Whenever the result would fall short it always stung because I felt the output never matched the input.

Much like losing in sports, disappointments and setbacks in life work the same way. Recently, I’ve talked to a number of young professionals who have encountered a setback or disappointment that is work or career related. Some didn’t get the performance review they thought they had earned, others got snubbed for a role or project, and the list goes on. I sensed anger, but also angst and frustration in the tones of the individuals I spoke with. Many didn’t quite understand how they saw themselves one way but someone else viewed it an entirely different way. Others felt exasperated because they thought they had done everything and it still wasn’t enough. And finally, others felt dejected, feeling like they have no more answers.   You go down a path, you invest time, effort and energy and despite this something doesn’t end up working out the way you had hoped. The end result doesn’t match or show the work you did and invested. Disappointments and setbacks in our careers or at work can be particularly frustrating. In some cases, we blame ourselves, thinking there was more we shoulda, coulda and woulda done. We play the “what if” game and run through thousands of scenarios of how it could have ended differently if we had just done this or that. Or, we blame others involved, and fault them for their mistakes, their lack of due diligence or their transgressions.

While it might sound peculiar to “get good” at dealing with setbacks or disappointments, knowing a few ways to manage and think through setbacks can help you identify opportunities and navigate through adversity. After all, many of our achievements end up coming out of setbacks. Through perspective, assessment and persistence, we can find ways to move forward.

Walk Away- Its easy to get upset or emotional when we first hear disappointing news. Its important to act rationally and appropriately, and to do what is necessary in order to do just that. After hearing of the news, step away from the environment you are in and do what you have to do to let it out. Feeling emotional or upset is absolutely natural, but doing so in a way that doesn’t damage your reputation is also critical.

See the other side– Once you’ve settled down and have begun analyzing the situation an important but difficult thing to do is to acknowledge the other side, or play devil’s advocate. Think from the other side, or other person’s point of view and try to understand how they arrived at that outcome or decision. Doing so will widen your perspective, and help you strengthen your argument. In addition, when you can acknowledge the counterpoint in a discussion, it can win the respect of your peers because it shows them that you are mature, intelligent and respectful.

Seek an outsider view- Perspective is so important that sometimes getting asking someone who doesn’t have any perspective is just the perspective you need. Find an honest outsider that you trust (both from a confidentiality perspective and an advice perspective) and as best as you can lay out the information objectively and get their opinion. Sometimes having a set of foreign eyes will help you see things you didn’t originally pick up.

Create an Action plan – Words and analysis will only take you so far. Put together what you will do to move forward and bounce back. As I said earlier, many of us have already created successes in life out of events that were initially setbacks and failures. Creating an action plan to move forward is one step towards finding that success.

Bouncing back from disappointments and setbacks isn’t always easy. But when we take the time to step back, think, get perspective and move forward there are opportunities to be found. While they will always part of our lives, learning to manage them will help us grow our live and careers and identify future opportunities.

New year reflection: What’s important to you?

Happy New Year!

Its been awhile since my last post, but as I’ve finally recovered from the busyness and fun from the holidays I have some time to sit down and write. I’ve had a busy few weeks, which has brought me from East Coast to West Coast (and even a little of the south) but I am finally back to the Northeast and in the cold and the snow. Somehow, it just feels like home!

Like many of us, I went home for the holidays and was able to spend some time with my family. Each Christmas, we always host the party and we have our friends and families come over to celebrate, laugh and enjoy the company of one another. I couldn’t help but be filled with joy and excitement throughout the holidays, moreso than I had in the past. I was reflecting on this one day and I realized that I think this was one of the first holidays in a long time where I didn’t have any other things to distract me from really being present to the moment. In college, I was constantly distracted during the holidays thinking about what my friends where doing, when I was returning to school, trips I was taking over the break that I sometimes took the time I had with my family for granted. Fortunately that was not the case this year, and I throughly enjoyed spending all my time with family and friends relaxing and enjoying the time we had together.

I think its easy when we are young to sometimes lose sight, and to not “see the forest through the trees.” We sometimes get so wrapped up in what keeps us busy as well as the many things on the horizon that we forget what is in front of us. In this situation, all those other great experiences and opportunities that college afforded me sometimes made me take for granted the time I had with my family when I would come home for the holidays. Thinking about this made me realize the importance of family to me in my life. It truly is one of the things that I value most, and something that I want to hold close to me and to always make a priority. We all have values and priorities. Family, Friends, career, volunteering, what have you- we all have them. It can be easy to lose sight of them, but those things that are central to us hopefully always keep us focused and on track in our lives.

Last week I was  talking to a friend about what we thought our career paths would look like. While neither of us couldn’t guarantee what we would be doing, where we would be living or what job titles we would have, we both agreed that it wasn’t so much about what we were doing, but if what we were doing would enable us to keep close those values and priorities that are important to us. It got me thinking again about what my priorities were, and if I how I was living made it clear what those values were.

So, with that in mind, I did the following, and urge you to do the same.

– Think about your values and priorities, and write them down

– Put examples of things that you are doing that demonstrate you hold those values close to you

– Where there are gaps, think of ways to demonstrate that those values are important to you

– Go out and do them!

The last thing I would say is that if you feel comfortable, tell a friend to help you hold yourself accountable. Some of us are better at holding ourselves accountable, so you don’t need to do this if you feel comfortable you can on your own, but sometimes having a close friend keep us honest doesn’t hurt.

As for me? I don’t know the path my life will take, but I know these things are central to my life. Family, friends, love, faith, and helping others. Some days I am good at holding those true, other days I struggle a bit, but I know the longer and harder I work at it, the happier I will be with my life.