“Eh, do I really want to work in the oil industry?” - I overheard this in an engineering class today.
A big difference between undergraduate and graduate school, for me, is that I know much better what I want to do. I’m still trying to refine it, but its much better. Job and internship search in undergrad was definitely quantity over quality. I tried to target a lot of the companies that hire chemical engineers and just hoped for a job. Shoot for everything and hope something lands. This was during a bad economy too - my school’s job fair my senior year was held on September 11, 2001.
Now, I’ve got seven years experience, I’m not worried about getting a job even in the depressed economy because I’m focusing skills and development towards a target. Also, I know a lot better what I want and what is important to me. If you try to ‘keep options open’, you’ll likely end up with no options. Work toward something in particular. If you’re not sure what you want to do, try doing something with volunteering or with a group/club.
Many of my peers are in situations where they are trying to figure out what they want to do. Here’s my advice to them as well as my other readers.
What is important to you?
What do you value?
What do you like?
What is your impact going to be?
Find a mentor or someone you admire and talk to them about these things. Talking about them outloud and describing your thoughts will make things more clear to you and figure out where you need to focus. I did this today with Bill Hanson* as part of my Leadership and Ethics course. It was one of the most valuable experiences since I’ve been at LGO.
As I’ve learned in Marketing this semester (this class is completely awesome, by the way), target specifically what you want and go for it. You can’t target everyone or everything.
Unapologetically go for what you want, be yourself, and be what you want to be.
*Bill Hanson - former Vice President of Manufacturing, Digital Equipment Corporation, founding LGO Governing Board member, first LGO Industry Co-Director; currently serving on LGO’s leadership faculty. He co-teaches my Leadership and Ethics course this fall.
