Networking Pt. 2: Professional – In college

It is common knowledge among all those who pay attention to the hype of job searching that networking is important. Various agencies and faculties are at our disposal in order to build our network. This is the second part in a series of entries which will step through the journey I have undergone to build my network. I promised to point out steps along the way where networking opportunities were not utilized. Mostly to please Yupward Girl (the author of HELLO REAL WORLD! A Student’s Approach to Great Internships, Co-ops, and Entry Level Positions), this entry will be concerned with interships and other various methods of gaining workplace experience. I will attempt to explain both their potential and my reasons for not participating in any… until now, of course.

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Networking Pt. 1: Social – In college

It is common knowledge among all those who pay attention to the hype of job searching that networking is important. Various agencies and faculties are at our disposal in order to build our network which include but are not limited to Networking for Dummies (my mother owns a copy; it remains without creases). This series of entries will step through the journey I have undergone to build my network, and I will also point out steps along the way where networking opportunities were not utilized. In this, as in most other areas, I feel that I have done well, and I trust my detail-oriented nature to notice my successes and my mistakes.
This is the first installment in the highly anticipated series: It only concerns my college years. I attempted to build a network of peers and professors. Generally I succeeded in these areas, but they did not provide the benefits I initially expected due to short-sighted thinking on my part. Further, I did not attempt to gain an internship. I consider this as an obvious bane to my attempts to receive gainful employment.

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Reflecting on generation gaps

Holidays provide an opportunity for separated family members and friends to catch up and share recent experiences. As I’m sure we’ve all experienced in some form, a pointed criticism from a respected individual who is generally not directly connected to our present life can inspire both resentment and reflection. Since the particular incident I intend to discuss here happened over Easter weekend, it is still pretty close to home and therefore more difficult to write about objectively than most other topics. However, some reflection over a fresh wound should produce some reasonable method for properly addressing the criticism.

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Blogs: Tools or … tools?

Since blogs attempt to be the subject of much debates and concern at the moment, it seems necessary than an educated opinion should be posted by the community who most uses these resources. While generally our entries are requested to not post companies by name, Myspace.com and Facebook.com are two websites which allow blogging, and I have been asked to post my comments about them. Below is my opinion of the intended purpose to which posters post information, and also my views on the extent to which the information offered has been exploited.

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Don’t label yourself!

This kind of builds on what I said previously about knowing yourself – don’t get caught up in a “label,” either. I’m finding it limits you and can be discouraging.
As young as I am, I have been suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome for years, and now arthritis in my hands on top of that. It’s making me look at things differently, especially careers. As you may know from my previous posts, I am still searching for my “right career.” I think it’s easy to get caught up in the title game – to be a doctor, lawyer, teacher, accountant. I read a great book for career changers and the author pointed out that you must focus on your strengths and what your interests are, not the job title. In my search for my next career, one thing has remained constant – I eventually want to own and run my own business, particularly from home. I live in the Midwest and winter is not the most fun when your car turns into a big ice skate in the morning commute! Anyway, I don’t enjoy my commute, I’m tired of the office politics, and the thought of working in the comfort of my home and my own surroundings makes me smile. So I’ve been looking into careers I can do from home. I have come across a couple, but my issue with CTS and arthritis must be taken into consideration. As much as I don’t mind doing office work, it’s taken a toll on my hands and fingers, and I can’t see myself doing computer work for the long-term, as much as I may be interested in computers, tech writing and graphic design. Does anyone know any massage therapists personally? I saw online there are quite a few people suffering from the same ailments as me, but they’re interested in a massage therapy career. Being an exercise instructor would suit me as well – I want to work my own hours, do something fun, and help others in the process. Is this something I saw myself doing when I was younger? Heck no – I thought I’d be a computer programmer! But, through the years, my interests have changed and I have to think of my health, too.
So, ultimately, do what makes you happy – don’t worry that it may not be something your friends or family expected you to do. YOU are the one who will be in that career, so make sure you enjoy it! And if you can relate to my dilemma, feel free to drop me a line!

Know thyself

Know yourself. Seriously. Know what your interests are, what you would enjoy doing. There are a lot of career inventory tests and aptitude tests and tests to fit your career to your personality. Your dream job may not be the best-paying job, but based on my personal experience, money doesn’t exactly buy happiness!
Get as much information as you can about the careers you’re interested in. Interview people in the field. Job-shadow if you can. Try not to make the mistake I’ve made of just working in jobs to pay the bills. I make a decent salary, but the personal fulfillment isn’t there.

Make the most out of EVERY experience

I can’t say this enough. The positions I’ve held in recent years helped me build on skills I’d learned previously, which often resulted in more responsibility, and in some cases, more (merit) pay.
I never really thought much of my 3 years at Burger King, but I worked in Food Prep, cashier, inventory, and was even a shift supervisor for a while. It was here that I learned to multi-task and get the job done. These skills have served me well in all jobs I’ve acquired after this one.
Working in a small organization (our branch had less than 20 employees total) is beneficial too – this gave me the chance to get my hands into different aspects of the office environment. At first I felt like a fish out of water – going from the erratic work hours of the fast food world to a set 8-5 M-F schedule took some adjusting to. But I went from a lowly office assistant, answering phones and following up on orders, to becoming the ISO Internal Auditor for our plant, working with our top salesman on our top account (Chrysler), focusing more on purchasing and inventory management, and training our employees on a new software system that was implemented.
Wherever you work, if you are given the opportunity to learn new things, by all means give it a shot. It will serve you well later on down the road – and looks good on your resume!

Still reflecting/in the interim……………..

I worked at the boring data entry job for a month. Given a choice between staring at spreadsheets all day long, and wanting to sleep for boredom of it all, and sitting at home having the freedom to run my errands and work out whenever I wanted, I had to choose the former. I did not want to use up all my 401K money that I had cashed out, simply because the job wasn’t “right.” I had to work! I had 5 weeks off and, granted, they were a nice 5 weeks off, but it was back to the workforce for me, and this was the best job that had come my way.
Fortunately, I was still keeping my options open, updating my resume on all the sites I’d had it posted to. Within a couple of weeks I came across a position that was similar to what I’d done at my purchasing job(s), but not in purchasing. There were a few qualifications I wasn’t sure I met, but I took a chance and applied anyway. Would you believe I had a moment of self-doubt, and almost didn’t interview for the position, because I felt I wasn’t qualified? **NOTE: Don’t do this to yourself.** Give yourself a chance to show your employer what a good asset you would be to the company.
Assets, by the way, are my specialty for the moment. I am now employed in an asset management position at an automotive company. Yes, the job is still a bit dry (okay, a LOT dry) and totally doesn’t offer the challenge or even the workload that I’m accustomed to, but it pays more than my last purchasing job did, and I needed good benefits to boot, so I took the job. At the time I was just happy to have obtained a half-way decent job that paid me well enough for me to feel more “whole.” I am still keeping my options open, though, believe me!

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Path of Reflection – Pt. 2

I last left off with my taking time off from working – at all. This was a scary concept for me, as I need to work to pay my bills, and if it weren’t for my 401K sitting in my savings, I would’ve had no money to fall back on, but I was tired of having “just a job.” So I considered going back to school to obtain my Bachelor’s degree already – a goal that’s been 13 years (off and on) in the making. Part of my procrastination was due to the fact that I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to keep pursuing an IT career, or change direction.
By my second week of job-searching I was getting antsy – how come I wasn’t getting a job? But I told myself to be patient, and make the best use of this “time off.” I started taking career inventory tests and found out more what careers fit my personality and interests best. Accounting was one of them. Counseling, one I’d always thought about in the back of my mind, was another. I discovered there were plenty of accounting jobs in my area. So I figured that was the route for me to take. I chose to dismiss the fact that I didn’t do well in Accounting I years ago – I would just have to take it again.
After 5 weeks of not working, and working with recruiters, I finally was offered a data entry position within the Big 3. It was a contract position, still a paycut for me and I knew it would be a bore, but I decided to take the job anyway. It was better than sitting around, and who knew when the “right job” would come along? Contract work seemed perfect for my situation.

Path of Reflection

Picking up where I left off on my last posting, I had left ophthalmology after getting a really strong gut feeling that this wasn’t the right field for me. I made this decision after my boyfriend and I came back from a nice long weekend away – which means I had no other job to go to. This was a scary thing for me to do, but I had my 401K from my old job in the bank (I DON’T RECOMMEND DOING THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE TO USE IT, WHICH I HAD A FEELING I WOULD!!), so I had a bit of a buffer financially while I searched for work. But I was a little lost as to where to go next. I was so sick of purchasing, having done it for about 10 years now, but besides having general office experience, this was the one thing I did well. And I was realizing just how important having a Bachelor’s degree – even any Bachelor’s degree – is when trying to secure a well-paying job. Even with my extensive purchasing background – not to mention my unused technical education – no one would touch me because I only had an Associate’s degree. I had been putting off working towards my BA for too long now – now was the time to act.

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