Job Out of College

Achieving Your Goals

Being the ambitious and driven person you are, you undoubtedly have many goals in your life that you are eager to achieve. However, you probably find it difficult to motivate yourself to get started. Here is a 3-step approach to goal achievement that I find helpful:

1. What is your Goal, Why do you want to achieve it, and by When?
2. What do I need to Know to achieve it?
3. How will I achieve it?

The most important part of successfully achieving your goals is knowing why you want to accomplish them. Clearly define how you will measure success of the goal by assigning a reasonable time frame.  Once you have this deep understanding, brainstorm what information do you need to accomplish this goal. Then plan out the process into 4 or 5 high-level tasks, and then 5-7 smaller sub-tasks with time frames associated to each. Feel free to use the Work Breakdown Structure Template.

Advice for Accepting Rejection

Every person faces rejection at some point in life, but what separates the successful from the mediocre is how that person reacts. Most people have ambition and passion to accomplish great things in their lives, however, few choose to pursue them because they fear feeling the emotions of failure and rejection.

Have you ever...

• Chose to apply only to safe schools instead of shooting for the moon with an Ivy League?
• Sat back and watched as other guys/ girls walked up to the beautiful/ handsome person across the room?
• Didn't apply for that dream job because you thought you were under qualified?

Well here are a few steps to consider next time an opportunity crosses your path:

1. Understand your fears. Why are you afraid of applying for that dream job? Why are you afraid of taking a risk? Are you afraid of failure or rejection? Are you afraid of commitment? Are you afraid of trying something new?
2. Analyze your emotions. Take a third person view in understanding why you get angry or frustrated in certain situations.
3. Challenge your fears. The only way to grow as an individual is to do things that scare you. What's the worse that could happen?
4. Practice. Do one thing every day that scares you. If you are uncomfortable in social situations, spur up a conversation with a stranger. Who knows who you might meet?

Facing rejection is very difficult. It makes a person feel unwanted, unsuccessful and unappreciated. But remember that understanding your fears and emotions will help you grow as an individual. Next time you face failure or rejection, try to understand the other side's perspective. Once you learn why you were rejected, learn from your mistakes.

What stories do you have to share?

Find a Career, Find your Identity

Over the weekend I had the chance to talk to a few scout counselors for Plast, a Ukrainian scouting organization whose mission is to develop honest and hardworking individuals who possess personal responsibility, self-discipline and leadership skills. The counselors were worried that attendance in their weekly meetings was very low. They pondered ways to motivate their thirteen to seventeen year-old scouts to attend their weekly meetings.

At first, they felt that the best way to increase attendance was to use various advertising and marketing strategies to out-compete other activities such as soccer practice or parties with friends. However, they finally realized that the best way to motivate each scout is to help him/her understand how the activities at the weekly meetings help develop character traits of the individuals they want to become.

If you are having difficulty finding a job or profession, you could benefit from a similar paradigm shift in your approach. Many of my articles talk about the practical side of making good career decisions, but this article focuses on connecting your personal life goals to your career choice. If you purchase my system, you can read much more about your personal ambitions and aligning it with your career choices. But here is a small taste of what you should consider:

1. Who do you admire and why? Think about individuals you respect and admire. What similar character traits do they have? Are they impeccably dressed? Are they good speakers? Are they interesting? Do they tell good stories? Are they honest? Hardworking? Are they effective motivators?
2. What do you want to accomplish? What is your mission in life? Do you want to raise a happy family? Be the CEO of a large company? Do you want to be rich? Do you want to travel? Do you want to impact the world? Do you want to improve the environment?
3. What character traits do you need to accomplish your life goals? Should you mimic the individuals you admire (question 1)? Should you be honest? Do you need to be a good leader, motivator, speaker?
4. If you had unlimited funds, what would you do with it and why? Would you travel? Would you buy a yacht and sail around the world? Would you donate 90% of it to charity?
5. And finally, what kind of career will get you there?

Although each one of these questions is difficult the answer, the fifth one should be the easiest of all. Once you understand who you want to be and why, it will be much easier for you to find a career that will help you develop your individuality.

If you want to read more about finding your individuality and a career that supports it, read more about my system.

Happy Hunting

Bored at Work?

FACT 1: More than two out of every eight hours at work (not including lunch and breaks) are wasted on activities that are non-work-related such as Internet Browsing.

FACT 2: The top cause of stress at work is lack of time to "get things done"

To quote Alanis Morisette, "Isn't it ironic... don't think you think?"

We all need our downtime to reduce stress and clear our brains, but couldn't you use your downtime more effectively? Here are a few ways to fill your downtime at work:

DO...

• Start a Blog
• Organize your email, calendar, and files
• Read and take notes on developmental e book
• Go speak to a mentor with a formalized agenda
• Walk around your office and say hello to a few individuals
• Talk to others and find out what they do in their job - make sure it does not turn into complaining
• Research and think of ways to improve the way the business functions

DON'T...

• Read news sites. Save that for the car-ride home.
• Read non-educational blogs.
• Browse "Video Websites" like ebaumsworld or break. They add no value
• Shop online - you'll waste time and money

What are some of your ideas?

Resources:
Staying Productive at Work
How to Reduce Stress at Work
Four Hour Workweek

College Internship: Why it's a great idea

It's the beginning of spring. Spring break has past and there are only a few more months of school before freedom of the summer. You and your friends are all talking about plans for the upcoming months. Maybe you will be renting a beach house or traveling for a few weeks around Europe then bumming around the house getting a nice tan.

And why not? You have definitely deserved it after all the hard work you have done this year!

I completely agree that you need a break from your stressful lives. However, one of the best ways you can set yourself up for a great career while you are still in college is working an internship or co-op in the summer. Because internships are generally about 8 weeks long, this still gives you plenty of opportunity to relax and have a good summer vacation.

Here are a few reasons why it's a good idea:

1. Experience - talk to some of your friends who have recently graduated and currently seeking employment. Most of the time, the reason they can't find a job because employers want to see experience. So you have a Bachelors or Masters degree, but you have not been able to put it to practice yet. Get some experience - whether it's a paid or non-paid internship, you will still be able to put it down on your resume.
2. Networking - in working an internship or co-op, you are able to align yourself to people in your field. It gives you the perfect opportunity to be able to talk to people, establish relationships and learn as much as you can. Who knows, when you graduate, they might even have a job opening for you. That's how I got my first job out of college!
3. Speak the Language - college may teach you the "technical" skills and knowledge you need to know in your career, but they don't teach you much of the "practical" skills that are required. If you are able to understand the lingo, you will sound much more qualified during your interviews when you graduate.
4. Money - depending obviously on the internship, you can make a lot more money as an intern at a corporation than painting houses or working at a bar. As a freshmen college intern, I made an equivalent to $38,000/yr. Not a bad deal for someone with no degree and no experience.
   
5. Decisions about a career track - you have thousands of dollars in student loans, your parents are scrounging for  cash to pay for your tuition, and your not even sure if you like what you are studying! In working an internship in your career, you will be able to tell first hand whether or not you like the career you are aiming to reach.

So there are 5 really good reasons why you should work an internship or co-op this summer. What are some of your success stories?

Work Ethic

A strong work ethic is one of the most important character traits to exhibit when starting out your career. One of the easiest traits to witness as a manager is an employee who works hard and gets things done. As a manager, those are the kind of people you look for and those are the kind of people you promote.

Every now and then, I take a lap around the office just to see who is working and who is not. You would think that it varies depending on certain factors, but it doesn't. Some people work hard all day and some people play solitaire on their computers all day - majority of the people are somewhere in between. But the point is, it's those hard workers that I want on my winning team.

There are plenty of ways to look busy, but everyone can see right through that. Take on more projects, never say "no" to a job that's asked of you, never say you are too busy to get something done.

Here are a few reasons why:

• Earn Respect - When you're young, the way to earn people's respect is by getting things done. Unfortunately, age/ experience is a huge factor when trying to earn people's respect.
• Knowledge - The more you are exposed to different aspects of business and different projects, the more experience you gain in a faster period of time. People will eventually be coming to you for answers, instead of the other way around
• Networking - The more projects you work on, the more relationships you build. Next time, when you need to find an answer to a question, you will know who to go to and the right questions to ask
• Setting an example - When you begin managing project teams or even employees, the best way to make them work hard is by setting the example yourself. They will strive to be as hardworking as you. Believe me, this works!

What are some other benefits?

Doing "BS work"

So you graduated college with a Master's degree and you are ready to work! If you are lucky enough to find a job you are qualified for, you may find that small menial tasks are delegated to you - you know, "BS work". If you are like me, it can sometimes get you disgruntled.

My advice - do it and do it well!

In a career interview with one of my mentors, I asked how he got to be in an executive level position. His answer - leadership and doing everything that no one else wanted to do. He told me about his entry-level position, where there were certain jobs or projects that no one else in the company wanted to work on because they were boring and uninteresting - so he volunteered.

After a while, people started recognizing the fact that my mentor worked on many projects (regardless of size) and he would always get everything done on time, on budget, and with great results. He established a very positive reputation & credibility in the company and before he knew it, he was managing larger and much bigger projects. The rest... is history.

So next time your boss asks you work on something seemingly insignificant, try to figure out how doing that task will benefit you and your career. There must be something you can learn from doing the task. Here are a  few:

1. Exposure - maybe you will have to work with someone outside your team or department with whom you will have to work for again
2. Education - maybe you will actually learn something! Managing people, time lines, budget, new MS Excel skills, communication skills, presentation skills, knowledge of the business?
3. Credibility - just like my mentor, maybe you will do such a great job, that you will get more projects to work on.
4. Responsibility - because the task may be small and seemingly meaningless, you will be solely responsible for following it through. On larger, more "interesting" projects, you will most likely have to work under someone.
5. Credit - hey, it may not be the most important thing in the world, but you still did it and did it well

So next time you are asked to do some "BS work", instead of grumbling about it, think about how you can benefit!

Taking Criticism

A few days ago, I had a meeting with 2 team leads for a project I'm managing. The meeting was a project issues meeting, where the 3 of us reviewed how the project was progressing and how we could modify our approach to accomplish our project goals more effectively. One team lead and I arrived on the subject of delegating more tasks to certain team members who were not as actively involved as the others. We felt that in order to get their dedication to the project, we needed to make them feel like they have a role in the project and to make them want to succeed. The other team lead stayed quiet during this conversation and for the rest of the meeting. I did not think anything of it at the time.

A few minutes after the meeting, the quiet team lead approached me and asked why I criticized his management style in front of the other team lead. Although it seemed like this comment came out of left field, I quickly asked some clarifying questions to get to the root of the issue. I explained that I realized there are different management styles that work for different people, but stated that delegating tasks to other team members has helped make my projects successful. This comment was not taken well. Although I further "sweet-talked" my way through the conversation to make him realize the benefit to my approach, getting so emotionally attached to the criticism the way the quiet team lead did is not an effective way to grow as an individual.

One of the most difficult and rewarding parts of the learning experience is being able to take criticism. I always try to take criticism lightly, no matter how much it annoys me at the time. I will argue until I'm blue in the face, but when I leave the conversation I think about the other side of the argument critically and see if there is any value. Using this approach, I am able to emotionally segregate myself from the argument and not necessarily lose face to the person I'm arguing with. It's always good to get other people's opinions - because who knows, they might teach you something!

My experience shows that the most important lessons I learn which make me a better person, come from people who are not afraid to give me criticism. As soon as you begin getting criticism, take your emotions out of the situation and try to understand what is being said and why its being said. Whether you accept or reject it in the end, you will at least know that it is a possibility and other people might feel the same way as your critiquer.  This goes for your career, education, and even your personal life. 

Not only should you take criticism, but you should ask for it! After an interview, feel free to ask how the interviewer felt you did. Ask how you could improve for next time. Although it may be difficult at times, it's one of the most valuable approaches to personal growth.