Want an entry level job? Or slip right into a professional position?
Career management is a scary thing. I hate wondering what my next gig is going to be. Shoot, I hated wondering what my major was going to be (I think I seriously considered about 60 majors during my first two years of school).
I'll tell you right now, the "wondering" is common. Most people don't have a methodical process the use to figure out their future. And it actually starts way before the resume is prepared. On our teleseminar we had a question asked that I think will resonate with many of you:
I have experience in different areas - which direction should I go? Do I have to start at entry level in my job search with out a degree (this applies to recent grads also, doesn't it??), but with work experience? Is there a time limit on an internship?
No one can really tell you which direction you should go. You need to go through exercises to figure that out. Susan Strayer's next teleseminar will address this very question, and the answer will be different for each person - the key is the model.
Do you want to be asking yourself this question in 20 years? I don't either.
The next question is about starting in an entry-level role. Before I graduated with a CIS degree I asked my advisor what kind of job I was looking at upon graduation. He said it would be an entry-level tech support job making about $30k a year... I was absolutely not interested in starting there (after all, its a long journey to the president's office from that post!). I asked him what I could do to set myself apart from my competition. He had one word:
Internship.
He was absolutely right. I had an 18 month internship as a web developer at a huge company, and that changed my career path forever. About a month before I graduated I had a soft offer from the company where I had an internship, and a solid offer to be the IT manager of a growing $175M company. Way different than doing tech support.
Finally, is there a time limit on an internship? Sometimes there is, I think it depends on the employer. I know guys that had internships during the summer, and that was it. I think a valuable internship is one where you aren't necessarily treated as an intern, rather you are given professional work and expected to deliver like a professional. If you find the right company, an internship position might mean:
- better pay than the average student
- flexible hours (professionals don't clock in and out - they work to get the job done)
- real projects that have an impact on the bottom line
- excellent experience in a corporate environment with some immunity from the politics
- incredible opportunities to be mentored by industry leaders
- a terrific way to complement your education
... and more. I strongly recommend getting an internship. It changed my career in a big way.
If you want an internship, or get an internship, make sure you save all the contact information of people you meet - these people are now in your network! Go get a free account at JibberJobber.com to keep track of these people, and the various contacts from companies that you look at. You'll thank me later!
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