Talking to People to Learn About Possible Job/Career Paths

The day I first learned that Los Angeles had railroad police, I was talking at a party to a man I didn’t know, and he told me that’s what he did. I had never heard of railroad police, so of course I asked him to describe in more detail what railroad police did.

That day I learned about a possible interesting career – not necessarily for me, but just a piece of information to be filed away for a future time.

And when you’re considering possible career fields for yourself, an interest in asking people about themselves and what they do can be very valuable.

I also remember the day a professor at a California college disparaged someone working in banking. This Ph.D. thought if you were in banking that meant you were a teller. She had no idea about the number of varied career paths all under the umbrella heading of “working in banking.”

We should all be careful with pre-conceived judgments about career fields for which we only know the popular image – especially if that image comes from television, movies or the internet.

While there are books about various careers – such as jobs in the medical field, in my opinion the best way to learn about a possible career path is talking to someone who actually does that job.

First, the person may bring up areas about a career that you would never even think to consider. Second, you can ask questions if something specific in the discussion sparks your attention. And, third, down the road you may be able to ask that person to write a recommendation letter for you based on your early interest in that job/career field. Or maybe that person will offer to help you find a “test drive” internship in that field.

Whenever you meet new people, or talk to people you don’t know well, ask them about themselves. And then ask about what they do. You might even ask about hobbies, because sometimes one person’s hobby is another person’s living.

The more you learn the more you’ll know, and one of the possible job/career avenues you learn about may just be the one for you.

Do you have any “unknown” career fields you learned about only because you happened to talk to someone who did that job?

Girl Scouts Need Marketing Help

The March 25^th Wall Street Journal had an interesting advertising article by Ellen Byron titled “Girl Scouts Seek an Image Makeover.”

The Girl Scouts organization is naming its first chief marketing officer – Laurel Richie – and she’ll have the mandate of “modernizing the image of the Girl Scouts.” (Ms. Richie is a former senior partner and executive group director at WP Group’s Ogilvy & Mather.)

Reading this article I thought – here’s an opportunity for people wanting to test out a marketing career to offer marketing help in their own communities. This marketing help could be, for example, working with a single troop or having an unpaid internship with one of the 109 leadership councils (restructured from more than 300).

Although the organization is targeted at ages five to 17, you could be any age if you want to help get the word out about the changes in this organization and what’s now being offered for the target group.

Also, according to the Journal article, “Ms. Richie is hoping to increase the group’s exposure among demographics that have been underrepresented in its troops, particularly Hispanics, Asians and other groups.”

If you’re looking for a way to have some marketing experience as well as the possibility of a recommendation letter for future jobs searches, consider contacting your local Girl Scouts today.

Career Advice: Put Yourself Out There – Politely

I received an email about an illustrator/graphic design position at a Los Angeles company. Whenever I get such an email, I stop to think who I know that might be interested.

I forwarded this email to someone – let’s call him Jeff -- looking for work after being laid off when a web company closed.

Jeff emailed back thanking me for this announcement and saying that he’s interested in the position but he doesn’t have all the job requirements.

I suggested to Jeff that he reply to the job opening – telling the company truthfully what he had just told me – and adding that he’d appreciate it if the company kept his resume on file for future job needs.

Here are the exact words of Jeff’s reply to me: “Wow. I was kind of shy doing that but you have a point! Will do!”

And my next response to Jeff was that he should NOT be shy. The more people he sends his resume to the better. You never know who knows who.

Maybe the person receiving Jeff’s resume will pass it along to someone looking for a person with Jeff’s skills. Jeff’s resume can’t be passed along unless he first sends it.

If there’s a reasonable connection to a job posting (Jeff has all the required skills except one) and as long as you’re honest and polite – go for it!

Thinking Outside the Box for Career Skills

For learning most career skills there is the tried-and-true path, the one that most people know about and have followed. Yet, in some cases, thinking outside the box for certain skills may give you an advantage over people who have followed the well-traveled road.

Here’s an example:

Aspiring writers ask all the time: “How can I improve my writing?” And the usual answers include taking writing courses, reading books on writing, and studying examples of good writing.

Recently I gave an “outside the box” answer to this question because the person asking it wants to be an advertising copywriter. Now anyone who has ever seen, heard or read an advertisement knows that a good ad starts with an attention-grabbing headline and, in most cases, has very brief copy after the headline.

I suggested to the aspiring copywriter that he take improv stand-up comedy classes. Why? Because improv stand-up comics have to come up with short and attention-grabbing sentences. This could be excellent training for writing advertising copy.

This idea met with enthusiasm from the aspiring copywriter. While he said he had never even heard of improv classes, he could see how this might help his writing. I told him it was thanks to my father, who started taking improv classes at an advanced age, that I got this idea. (See my father’s blog at www.83yearoldman.blogspot.com.)

Do you have other examples of “outside the box” answers for acquiring certain career skills?

Life After Active Military Duty

The front-page of the March 25^th Wall Street Journal has this news blurb:

“Returning veterans earn less than civilians and have a harder time finding work, a government report concluded.”

An hour after reading this news item I received a message on MySpace from “Jay.” He told me about a website www.afteryourservice.com to help former military personnel earn good pay in civilian jobs.

I’m not endorsing this website because I don’t know enough to do so.

What I am saying is that this is a very important topic – civilian employers frequently do not adequately value the skills and talents that ex-military personnel have learned in the military. And this leads to the lowered earning power and harder time finding work.

One reason for this may be because civilian employers have never been in the military themselves. Thus these prospective employers have no idea what skills and talents are learned. And putting “Reconnaissance Marine” on your resume probably doesn’t mean a great deal to people who have no experience with the military.

While national programs to help ex-military personnel enter civilian life are needed, I also believe that ex-military personnel must learn how to leverage their service skills for the civilian workforce.

A Reconnaissance Marine, for example, must figure out – by himself/herself or with help from others – how to translate military skills into civilian work skills. Here’s a partial list of military skills that are very important in business:

Teamwork

Cooperation

Initiative

Preparation

People can be taught civilian skills such as marketing or bookkeeping much easier than people can be taught teamwork, cooperation, initiative and preparation. These four skills are best learned while actually doing them – and these skills are practiced every single day in a person’s military career.

I will return to this subject sometime in the future. I have the letters I wrote home to my parents while my husband and I were stationed in Munich, Germany. In the letters I complained that my husband was losing valuable years out of the workforce. And my mother wrote me very encouraging letters about all the skills and knowledge my husband was gaining that others were not.

(For my blog on military topics in preparation for the release of my novel MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL, go to www.mrslieutenant.blogspot.com.)

It’s important to focus on all these important “business” skills that military personnel utilize every single day. These skills can be great assets to any prospective employer.

Watching What You Post on MySpace and Facebook

We’ve all heard people say that our reputation is one of our most precious possessions. And that once our reputation gets tarnished, it’s very hard to untarnish it.

Another one of the advice points from the book by Harry H. Harrison Jr. -- “1001 Things Every College Student Needs to Know” -- is:

“You need to know many career and graduate school plans have been derailed by pictures of drunken, half-naked students being posted on Facebook and MySpace. Employers and graduate school admissions officers have computer access too.”

In FLIPPING BURGERS AND BEYOND I spend a great deal of time discussing how to protect your image. The advice ranges from getting a professional email rather than something such as “sexyme” to looking the part for the type of job for which you’re interviewing. (Proper dress for an established engineering firm may be totally different than for a start-up web company even though in both cases you’re interviewing for a website designer position.)

Yet the most important advice for preventing the destruction of your image is when I discuss being careful what you put on any public online space. Anyone and everyone can and probably will see any R-rated photos you post.

Before you upload the photos of your most recent birthday party, check that all the photos are “decent.” If there are any that you wouldn’t want your current employer or a prospective employer to view, do not put them on your profile page.

Strive for a clean public image in person and online, and your career opportunities won’t be limited by one silly antic or racy posted photo.

Using a Lull in One’s Career to Explore New Possibilities

I’ve just been in contact with a 30-year-old man laid off a month ago when an aspiring web company threw in the towel. I don’t know the particulars of his story – his ultimate goals, where he wants to go from here – yet I’ve been giving some thought to what opportunities there might be at this time in life for him.

(I do know that he started out in life as a musician, and that there are often not numerous steady paying career jobs for musicians.)

Let’s take this young man’s case as an example. We’ll call him George. And right now George is looking for a full-time job.

Yet as he has flexible hours at this point, is there some place at which he could volunteer for a few hours a week? Some place that might connect him to a job in computer programming or a job connected to music or even a third area that he’s always wanted to try out?

Although he’s worried about finding a job to pay the rent, etc., could he look at this momentary hitch in his career as an opportunity to test drive another possibility along with meeting new people? People to whom he can tell he’s looking for a job. (Always tell people that you’re looking for a job; do not assume that people will figure this out on their own.)

There’s even the possibility, for example, of George taking a job at Starbucks. He doesn’t necessarily have to put this job on his resume once he gets a new position. But in the meantime he can reduce his worries about paying the rent and get out among new people. He might even get an idea for a job from a casual remark made by a customer.

Let’s hope George takes this unexpected break in his career to explore new possibilities while looking for a steady paying career job.

Any wisdom you have for George in this situation?