Think As Inc

WITH 20/20 HINDSIGHT

February 25, 2010 on 1:20 am | In career coaching | No Comments

For a Fortune 500 media company, I oversee the summer internship program, including coordinating events featuring senior management speakers.  To every speaker on my panel, I always ask:  what do you wish you knew in the first year of your career that you know now?  Here are three of the most popular responses:

Start networking now.  With the labor market becoming more competitive, networking has never been more important.  Yet, for many people, networking comes unnaturally.  The only way to learn is to practice.  Have lunch with different colleagues.  Keep in touch with people you already know.  Find mentors.  Be a mentor. 

Focus on learning anything because everything is transferable.  If the job is selling insurance, your sales skill transfers to selling in other industries and your insurance knowledge transfers to other functions in financial services.  These skills add up and come in handy, sometimes unexpectedly.  I put myself through college with various administrative jobs.  Years later, when I joined a start-up company in a non-administrative position, my ability to do these “mundane” office tasks was quickly noticed by the founder.

Enter and exit gracefully.  Everyone you meet and every assignment you work on has the potential to lead to more opportunities.  Always do your best, and do not burn bridges behind you.  One candidate I met was unexpectedly laid off just months into his first job.  He went back to an employer whose offer he had turned down (albeit gracefully) and was re-offered the position.