This week is dedicated to career advice. I am sharing what I have learned in my time in the job world and what has worked for me. In reflecting upon what put me in line for the job I just accepted, I realized that the skill set that made me qualified for the new job is very different from the skill set I had coming into the job market. I am proud to say the skills I gained over the years were largely self-motivated and self-directed, which in and of itself, is a marketable skill.
College
I started the mindset of gathering as much information and skills as possible in college. I went to college as a communications major. I loved all things music and played the guitar all the time, so I thought rather than going to school as a music major, I would hedge my bets with a communications degree. Fairly early on, I realized how competitive the job market is for radio, TV, and journalism jobs. Because the competition is high, the pay is pretty low (because so many people are willing to do it). By my sophomore year, I took advertising and enjoyed it. I decided to squeeze in a marketing minor to broaden my career prospects. This proved to be a great move because it allowed me to apply for a wider range of positions after college and I landed a job before graduating.
Early Career/Continuing Education
I started in a management development program in operations for a health insurance company. Like most people out of college, I was very hungry to succeed and prove myself. The great part about a program like this is seeing the work styles of many different people. I also started working on my MBA. Based on my experience, I recommend a person goes into the work world after graduation and pursue a graduate degree while working. Although this is not the case for all degrees, most business degrees hold less weight if they are not combined with experience. Plus, you won’t have to take on more debt while no income is coming in. The company I worked for paid for 75% of total expenses and I was able to afford the rest without any loans. Another piece of advice, although most programs are laid out as 2 year programs, they typically allow longer periods to complete. I found in interviews showing that you are pursuing the degree holds almost as much weight as the completed degree. Doing it this way will make it more affordable. For me, the MBA was a good idea because I didn’t have a business degree for my undergrad. Completing an MBA is also a great networking opportunity as you will likely work with many established professionals in other industries.
Managing People
One thing that I notice in my career when working with young people is an aversion to managing people. Most want to go the route of analytical or technical areas as individual contributors. Because I was on the operations side of business, the only way to move up was through managing a team. It certainly has its frustrations, but in any area of the business, at some point you will max out your growth potential as an individual contributor. I’m not advocating that anybody do something they hate for more money, but I do recommend that you give managing a shot as, often, it is a requirement for moving up in your career. Even if you start your own business, you will be managing people and relationships, so there is much value in the skill.
Look For Ways to Improve
Currently, I manage analysts and am moving into an even more technical role. The way I became qualified for this type of position and learned what I needed was by asking questions and sitting with analysts that created reports and databases for my operations teams. As time allowed, I made copies of databases or wrote SQL statements to get information I needed. I benefitted by relying less on analyst teams. I could get reports and create databases on my own to make my team run more efficiently. I must point out that it didn’t cost me a dime as I used free online resources and the library for my questions. Not only did it help with my understanding but became a strong talking point in interviews.
The overall result is a more marketable you. Using myself as an example, I have experience that allows me to apply for management, technical, and analytical jobs. In the tough job market we face, the more skills you have, the better chance of limiting unemployment. In addition, I see many companies (especially smaller ones) looking for people to wear many hats within the operation. Lastly, if you grow tired of the corporate rat race, these skills will all be useful for setting out on your own and running your own business.
Have you developed more skills since you started in the job market? Have you found yourself in very different areas of business since you started?