Q2 2017 Blog: Taking Responsibility of Your Own Career
Taking Responsibility for Your Own Career
The staff of the Stephen Stagner Sales Excellence Institute work extremely hard each semester to place our undergraduate students into sales careers within amazing organizations all over the world. For the last 20 years, our students have averaged 2-3 job offers before they walk across the stage at graduation. Not too shabby, especially when you consider the fact that over 40% of U.S. undergraduates will start their careers in jobs that didn’t require a degree (https://goo.gl/HIrO2Z). While our curriculum and the professors of the Program for Excellence in Selling are second to none, the 150 students seeking a minor in sales are the real stars. Here’s the “raw material” we get to work with each year:
- 46% are First Generation College Students
- 34 GPA (average)
- 54% are Multilingual (30% speak Spanish)
- 13 Countries of Origin Represented
- 73% are working while attending school
- 63 average work experience (years)
I’ll leave the training and coaching our students receive while in our program for another article (see: selling real products, carrying real quotas), but can you imagine what that diversity in experience means to an employer?! One can understand why our students can become overwhelmed with options when it comes to deciding where to start their career (analysis paralysis anyone?).
One of my favorite responsibilities each semester is the opportunity to mentor and coach our students on career strategies. Below is the outline I use during our conversations:
Begin with the End in Mind
In chapter 2 of the classic book, 7 Habits of Successful People, Stephen Covey encourages the reader to “…envision in your mind what you cannot at present see with your eyes.” So many students become so dang short-sighted when trying to decide which company/industry/role to start their careers. Our conversation goes a little something like this…Student: “I want to work for Company X!” Me: “Why?” Student: “Because it’s Company X!” Me: “…”
In our conversations I ask the student to look into the future at least 10 years from now to the role they would like to develop into. They need to leave specific industries and companies out of the discussion, for now. Usually, the role ends up being some variation of high-level positions in the following: Sales, Sales Management, Product Management, Process Management, Marketing, HR, and Entrepreneur. I ask the student to give me the top 3 roles they’d be interested in, and then walk me through what that position looks like to them. Two criteria they need to use when ranking the potential roles:
- Base it on your most valuable/marketable skill sets (today and what you believe you will develop over time)
- What you are passionate about (developing people, creating efficiencies, etc.)
Side Note: Any of you that think following your passion should be #1, should read this article about Steve Jobs: https://www.fastcompany.com/3001441/do-steve-jobs-did-dont-follow-your-passion.
Or watch this video by Mike Rowe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVEuPmVAb8o.
Once the student has chosen which corner office with the window they want to pursue, we work backwards. What kind of experience is necessary to get to that position, which industries are growing at a rate that will create an environment for you to be successful, what companies offer roles similar to what you want?
Date Around
Once a student has an idea of where they are going, they need to start interviewing high-level decision-makers within companies they have a relationship with. The Stephen Stagner Sales Excellence Institute does business with over 1000 companies a year, so our students are very fortunate in that they are able to interact with executives of Fortune 500 companies every day. Even with this environment, they need to have the courage to engage and build relationships with these individuals, and make every conversation count. A Vice President of Sales can walk you through every detail of your first role, and your fourth. Better yet, that VP probably has the ability/power to get you to your fourth role, so take a shot of Red Bull and get to work!
We encourage our students to keep a rolling list of 3 companies they are currently engaging with. Trying to engage more than three companies at one time can be overwhelming. This process should include the following:
- Research: Use Google News, Hoovers, Social Media, Alumni, On-Campus interactions, etc., to learn as much as possible about the company.
- Network with Executives: Already noted
- Interviews- Utilize the time at the end of the interview strategically by asking well-researched, specific questions about each role you would take on your way to the top, and skill sets necessary to be successful.
- Ride-Alongs/Office Visits- Most organizations will not have a problem with potential hires riding with a current sales person AFTER the first or second interview. The student needs to use this time wisely! Hopefully, they walk away with a clear picture of the day-to-day responsibilities, corporate culture, development/training programs available, etc. They need to be reminded that, if they can’t do the first job well, getting the promotion will be near impossible.
- Internships/Part-Time Jobs: Since most of our students are working their way through school, our corporate partners have responded by creating engaging internships and part-time roles with very competitive pay structures. I can’t think of a better way for an organization and a student to test each other out before making “the BIG commitment.”
I coach our students daily to follow this process with every company in their top 3. When a company no longer meets their expectations, move them out, and place another company on the list and start the process over.
Make a Decision!
I recognize that, to date, this is probably the biggest decision a student at the University of Houston has ever had to make. They work so hard, sacrificing so much, to get through school, they don’t want to make a bad decision. At the end of the day, it’s still just a decision, and life is full of them. They’ve got 2-3 job offers from amazing companies that have potential to propel them to their 10-year goal. They have relationships with executives from each company and they’ve seen firsthand what it will take to be successful in the first job. I encourage our students to do the following when comparing the opportunities:
- Give yourself a deadline to make the decision.
- Look at the data- what does your research say on your competitive advantage within each career path, within each company. Look at the opportunities side-by-side and let the data speak for itself.
- Go with your gut.
Look, the research speaks for itself. Millennials average 2.85 jobs in their first 5 years after college (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/millennials-job-hop-more-than-previous-generations-guy-berger-ph-d-). Now, the corporate partners of our undergraduate program have worked diligently to create opportunities and career development strategies within their organizations to ensure the student stays with their company, but we can still look at this logically. If the student makes the wrong career decision, they have spent the last year (at least) of their college careers building relationships with decision-makers at other organizations. They should have options. But, research by the Sales Education Foundation has revealed that companies who recruit from undergraduate sales programs like ours experience 30% less turnover (and 50% faster ramp up!). The student has put themselves in a position that, whichever company they choose, they will have a high probability of success. How awesome is that?!
One Last Thought:
In an article published by our Institute in early April (https://goo.gl/lkIJvz), SEI Executive Director Randy Webb discusses the benefits of finding a mentor early in your career. Our undergraduate program has a built in mentorship program where the students seek out a high-level executive within a company/industry they are interested in, and asks that person to walk alongside them as they go through our program. Nothing is better than surrounding yourself with people that care about your future, whom speak openly and honestly about your future. If you are interested in becoming a mentor, come see us. www.bauer.uh.edu/sei
Fore more blogs and resources, sign up to be a member today:
http://www.bauer.uh.edu/sei/executive-education/membership/
Have questions or need further information? Contact Frances Wheeland, fwheeland@bauer.uh.edu
