Category Archives: The Career Contender

The Career Contender – The 5 Year Plan

Posted by on February 6, 2008 No comments

Welcome back to the shatteredcube presents “The Career Contender, a college graduate’s guide to their first job”. This is the third installment of our series and quite possibly the MOST important.  Ironic that I would go from “least” important to the most important back to back, but that’s the way it is.

If you haven’t read the first in the series or the second, I recommend you do so because the personal inventory and “not for me” list are both great tools.

We’ve reached the final step before starting what most would consider real job hunting.  I know it may seem like we are exploring a lot of tangents, but I assure you that having these three tools will help you succeed in your career search and in maximizing your joy in life.

We know who you are, what you like and don’t like, what you don’t want to do and what you might want to do.  The “Now” is established and the “how” exists, all that stand is for us to point ourselves in the correct direction and shoot for the stars.  We will be doing this by creating a 5 year plan.  It’s super simple and allows for you to fantasize a bit.

I want you to grab a pen and paper.  (You and that pen should be good friends by now.)  Write down “Now” and under it I want you to list what your current salary is (2000*hourly wage if you work 40hrs/week), your current job title and on a scale of 1-10 the number that best describes your happiness with the current situation.  (10 being the highest.) Don’t worry if your choices sound stupid and don’t be afraid to put a negative number for salary if you are a student. The goal here is to be honest with yourself. (If there is more info you want to list then go right ahead, the more the merrier.) Next write down “1 Year”. Go ahead again and write down ideal salary, ideal job title and preferred happiness rank. Feel free to be more specific on the job as well. The more specific your goals are and the more attainable they are, the more likely they are to become reality.  This should be balanced with the fact that if your goals are very outlandish that this exercise won’t be of much use unless you really struggle to make them reality.  Repeat the process for 5 years. Anything beyond 5 years is way to hard to predict in my book. You should now have a sheet of paper with the most simple of road maps for your life.

Alrighty then!  We now have three documents.  Who you are, what you don’t like and where you want to go.  For those keeping track, that leaves how and why.  How?  That’s pretty much addressed by the rest of the posts.  Why?  Because food doesn’t grow on trees…er…hmmm…because there’s no such thing as a free lunch?  You get the point.  To be a productive member of a modern society you need to have a source of income.  To be a free member of society that source needs to be legal.

We are now armed and ready to move into the foxhole of the career search.  You better bring your big kid underwear because it’s about to get dirty.  Until then…

Happy Hunting!

The Career Contender – What Do I Want To Do?

Posted by on February 6, 2008 1 comment

Welcome back to the shatteredcube presents “The Career Contender, a college graduate’s guide to their first job”. This is the second installment of our series and quite possibly the least important. You may be asking yourself “How can that be!”; rest assured that I will make it apparent soon enough.

If you haven’t read the first in the series, I recommend you do so because the personal inventory is a great tool.

Now onto the meat of this post. What do you want to do? I bet you have a general idea in your mind or at least a general idea of what you don’t want to do. If you are completely lost and have absolutely no formations in your mind, worry not.

It’s exercise time! Find another sheet of paper and that fancy pen of yours. Now write at the top of the page in nice clear letters: “I Don’t Like To:“. You can scribble some skull and cross bones, X’s, sad smiley’s (oxymoron) or whatever else you want to get the message across. You do not like doing these things. Now proceed to list all the activities you know you do not like doing and will not do for any amount of money. Draw upon past experiences, past jobs, schooling, household chores and any other source of dislike. Feel free to get wacky and seriously brainstorm. By eliminating what you don’t want to do you can better focus in on the things you like to do or at least don’t mind doing.

You should now have a broad (or maybe even focused) scope of what you want to do. This is where it becomes apparent that in choosing our first job it is not so much what we want to do, but rather what we don’t want to do.

Get an internship, go on a site visit or talk to someone in the industry.  It’s not necessary, but it can certainly be a big help in figuring out what you don’t like to do.  Think being an analyst is the bomb.com?  If you take time during your schooling to figure it out, then you won’t be caught off guard when it comes time to enter the real world.  Numbers may be the most thrilling part of life during your education, but real world analysis might not be exciting enough to get you out of bed!  The more you look and listen, the more you will know and knowing is half the battle!  (GI Joe said it best.)

I would venture to say that for most people your first job will not be your ultimate resting place.  This should give you some relief.  It means that this first position you are trying to get will be more of a vantage point as opposed to a ball and chain.  The position should serve to enlighten you further on your likes and dislikes.  From here you can continue on the promotional path, take a horizontal promotion, find a new line of work, go back to school, barely do enough work to maintain your job or quit, buy a surf board and move to California.  The choice is really up to you.  Don’t get stuck somewhere you aren’t happy.  You have one life to live.  With pensions being a thing of the past and employer loyalty being extremely low, you don’t owe the company anything.  If it’s not the right fit, it’s time to add more items to your list of things you don’t want to do and move on.  Keep narrowing down that list and eventually your true calling will reveal itself.

This ends our second entry into the “Career Contender” series.  You should now have two pieces of paper: the personal inventory and a list of things you don’t like to do.  Who you are as a person should now be revealing itself.  It will be important to understand the information that has built these two documents as we move into our third topic tomorrow.  Until then…

Happy Hunting!

The Career Contender – Who Am I?

Posted by on February 5, 2008 No comments

“You don’t understand. I could have had class. I could have been a contender. I could have been somebody, instead of a bum — which is what I am.” – Marlon Brando – On the Waterfront

So you’ve just graduated college. Four, maybe five (or more), years of hard (?) work have been dedicated to getting a small piece of nicely embossed paper. You feel a little ripped off and don’t quite understand how this piece of paper differentiates you from the rest of the world. Let me sooth your worries by saying that you have now taken a vital step in differentiating yourself from the rest of the workforce. You have taken the time and the effort to procure yourself a tool set that employers will look upon favorably. At this moment it doesn’t matter what your degree is in or where your degree is from. What matters is that you are able to set a goal and achieve it.

Great, now that I have assuaged maybe one of your worries, you are still confused as to what to do next. I’m guessing you received your degree from an “accredited” institution and they likely have a career center. While you should take advantage of all opportunities available to you…you are clearly at your computer right now and don’t need me to tell you that you need to exit the house. Besides, leaving now to go to the career center won’t be much help to you if you don’t know YOU!

Quick, right now, what do you want to do for the rest of your life? Blanking? Don’t be concerned. I would be willing to bet that the majority of the population, young and old, would not be able to answer that question and believe whole heartedly in what they say.

As a child it was easy. We weren’t hampered down by things such as salary, schooling, prestige, retirement, job security, supporting a family, mortgage payments, economic shocks or any of the other annoying things that invade the “big kid” world. That’s why it was so easy to say fireman, policeman, astronaut, artist, pro athlete, surfer, etc. It’s almost sad at times to think about having to “grow up”. But, this is where you have to make a decision to take charge of your life. The date has changed, your interests may of changed and you certainly have more experience as a human being. It is now time to evaluate yourself and your desires.

To first figure out where you want to go, you must figure out where you are now. One method I would suggest is doing a personal inventory. Take a piece of paper and a pen and proceed to list your name, address, phone numbers, hobbies, likes, dislikes, favorite color, places you have traveled, favorite sound, favorite smell and whatever else you want to list. If you have something like Facebook or Myspace this process can go pretty quick. I strongly urge you to write it down physically on a piece of paper with a pen or pencil and refuse to erase. Writing invokes all of your sense and makes the experience that much more real and intimate. If something is worth your effort to write it in the first place, it is likely important to you somehow. Should you change your mind, don’t erase but cross out the “incorrect” item. Hopefully, when you have completed this exercise you will have a good understanding of who you are as a person. (Be honest with yourself. If you have to lie to yourself, then I suggest seeking professional help because I will not be able to help you be happy.)

Now that we know what composes you as a person, how does that person act? Take an inventory of your hobbies and a critical look at your social relationships. Are you a person that spends most of your time on the computer? Do you prefer to be outdoors? Do you have a small group of really close friends? Do you have a large group of “part-time” friends?

I’m not here to judge you and you shouldn’t judge yourself. We are who we are and when we accept that we can start to have a truly happy and fulfilled life.

While these form the basic concepts of introverted and extroverted personalities, in the modern age things aren’t so black and white. All jobs require you to interact with people. Therefore, even if you are extremely introverted, you will have to work on communicating with other human beings. That’s why it is up to you to figure out how all the pieces fit together. Understanding what you like, dislike and how you best interact with other humans will be the foundation of your career search.

I feel that we have a decent start on our career path. You should have one sheet of paper now that describes who you are in a nutshell. This will be the foundation for everything to come. It will save time in the future and be immensely valuable to you if you actually do write down the personal inventory. (To save even more time, I would suggest writing down past jobs and experiences you have had.) Should you want more insight, there are many tools on the internet to assist in profiling your personality. There are some at monster.com. (You will have to sign up for an account, but if you follow this series you will likely be signing up anyway.) They can give you a decent understanding of what type of work environment would best suit you. Other than that I recommend using Google or your favorite search engine to find resources. There is a lot of garbage to sift through if you go this method. Or, you could get up off your butt and go down to your college career center. I’m sure that they will have a number of tools that you can use to profile yourself and more.

As Always Happy Hunting!

The Career Contender – Introduction

Posted by on February 1, 2008 1 comment

The topic I have chosen to write about for the next 20 or so post is “Building a Better You: A recent college graduate quests for a job.” I figure that since I am going through the process and already doing research on it, that it would be a wonderful choice. My hope is that I can create a good resource for any one prospecting a new career. There should hopefully be tips for the young and 0ld , or at least a few refreshing points that one may have forgot. I created a rough table of contents that should give you an idea of where we will be going.

  1. Who am I?
  2. What do I want to do?
  3. Where do I see myself in 5 years?
  4. Resumes
  5. Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com
  6. Online Applications
  7. Cover Letters
  8. Interview – First Contact
  9. Interview – Preparation
  10. Interview – Appearance
  11. Interview – Composure
  12. Interview – Thank You Cards
  13. Interview – Call Back
  14. Interview – Basic Negotiating
  15. Interview – Contract Negotiating
  16. Interview – Finalization
  17. First Day on the Job
  18. Conclusion — Etc.

The series will start on Monday and a new section will be posted every weekday. If you feel passionate about a subject that is not included, please feel free to submit your ideas via email or in the comments section of any related post.

Happy Hunting!