A Little Bit Anxious

[Saz]

Lol love you Dylan but you seem MAF about dat booth rejection homie. Got styled in by business school bros in NYC?

[Dylan]

[NAB]

[Professor]

Perhaps my story will help clarify things a little, or not. Take it or leave it.

Graduated college (2nd largest in LA - in other words, you couldn't even see the top tier from there) with a BA in Business Management. Because of my schooling, I figured that I'd be a manager when I graduated. Yeah - ummm, no. I went to work for the Ritz-Carlton hotel in New Orleans as overnight security. Now, it wasn't all that bad - I took it because I figured I could learn a LOT from a company like that. Especially since I'd be on the opening team, I'd be able to see how things got started. Sure enough, I learned a LOT. I was promoted every 6 months for 2.5 years, eventually becoming the Group Reservations Manager (handled all the conferences and large groups for the hotel).

During this time, I went to the 3rd-largest school in LA (even less of a school than the undergrad) and got an MBA. I then was told (upon graduation) that education played no part in advancement in the hotel. Lovely. Hurricane Katrina struck, I left.

Went to work as a physician recruiter for a hospital, and was quickly promoted to their lobbyist. It was a new position, so I wrote the job description. Excelled at it and loved the job. Then, they threw more money at me to get me to start handling all their contracts for a boss I hated (and hated me, back). Stupidly, I took it. 7 months later, I left.

I'm now an Exec VP at a program management and insurance (TPA) company.

Here are a few of the things that I've learned:
- Work your way up. By that, I don't necessarily mean to stay at one place and do it, either. There is nothing wrong with changing jobs every few years, so long as you are steadily climbing that ladder.
- After your first 1-2 jobs, no one cares where you went to school. I have those 3 letters at the end of my name, which is all people see of my education. They know how successful I was at my last job. They don't care if my MBA came from Harvard or Podunk.
- Your MBA will not serve you at first, but it'll come into play later when you have real management jobs open and the other guy doesn't have one. While an MBA might not be as valuable as an MS of Computer Science at a place like IBM, and the MBA won't be as attractive as an MS of Civil Engineering at a construction firm. However, the Comp Sci degree won't be appreciated at the construction firm at all, and the Engineering degree won't be appreciated at IBM. An MBA, on the other hand, will be mildly attractive to both.
- It's definitely worth working for a company that is up-and-coming, even if you take a slightly lower pay to get it. You can often parlay that job into one MUCH higher in a few years with another company.
- Never, and I mean NEVER, stop looking for other jobs. You never know when that dream job might open up. Create a separate e-mail just for jobs. Get on mailing lists at all the companies you like, plus some like Monster, LinkedIn, and Indeed. You don't want to miss the dream job just because you are somewhat happy with a good job.
- Connections. These are probably the most important part of getting a job. Everyone has a resume that says they are the best thing since sliced bread. Everyone's resume has impressive-sounding job descriptions and achievements. But, in the end, all of this is simply you talking good about yourself. And, no one is listening. But, you get someone else to talk good about you, and you're head-and-shoulders above the rest of the field. If you find a job you like, figure out if you know someone at the company or if you know a colleague who works with the hiring person. Get them to talk you up. As someone who hires for jobs, I'll almost always take a candidate who is recommended by someone over another candidate that might have a better resume. And, keep those connections up. Take people to lunch often. A $20 lunch is peanuts compared to a $150k salary that may come from the recommendation that person gives.

If you don't know exactly what you want to do, or want to possibly do different things, get an MBA. If you know you want to do one thing for the rest of your life, get a more specialized degree.

[Philly]

Not that anything you said was bad advice Prof, but your story highlights the difference between hitting the workforce in the 90s and hitting it now. No one is starting as overnight security and working their way up through bi-annual promotions nowadays.

[Professor]

[Philly]

Point is, it's becoming rarer and rarer for companies to offer people with menial entry jobs the opportunity to climb the ladder. And a lot of this is because it's much more common these days for people to jump ship on their current employer for a new one, so companies feel less invested in their current employees and would just as soon go with an outside hire.

[eric]

[NAB]

[eric]