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Professional Development Best Practice 3 – Acquiring Experience Beyond that of Your Position

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The StrategyDriven Professional recognizes that a critical combination of knowledge, skill, and experience is needed to ascend into positions of increasing authority and responsibility. Acquiring the prerequisite experiences, however, can be extremely difficult. While many organizations’ succession plan deliberately guides candidates to positions providing the needed experiences sought, these programs are often limited to senior executives and managers. Consequently, individuals with high potential residing lower within the organization or those not having been favored by inclusion within the program may find themselves lacking the immediately apparent means of acquiring the experiences needed to achieve their career goals. Thus, it is important for these individuals to find alternative ways of gaining the critical experiences necessary to achieve their goals.

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Professional Development Best Practice 2 – Ongoing, Critical Self-Assessment

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The StrategyDriven Professional never takes anything for granted. He or she seeks to represent excellence in all areas of performance. To achieve this lofty goal requires ongoing, critical introspection; a constant identification of performance improvement opportunities and the actions to be taken to close those gaps once identified.

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Professional Development Best Practice 1 – Maintaining Annual, Three, and Five Year Development Plans

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The StrategyDriven Professional acts deliberately and with focus on achieving his or her short-term and long-term goals. Like any business seeking to optimize effectiveness and efficiency, these professionals develop for themselves annual, three-year, and five-year plans complete with near-term actions building on longer-term milestones and monitored by a comprehensive set of quantifiable performance measures. It is through using this plan that the StrategyDriven professional optimizes his or her efforts to achieving their ultimate personal objectives; minimizing the amount of effort wasted on superfluous activities.

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Big-Name Firm or Hands-on Experience: How to Get the Most out of Your Internship

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Internships can be a valuable stepping stone for college students to start on their career path. But when it comes to deciding where to intern, students must consider where they’ll gain the most experience. Should they pursue a big-name firm that offers prestige, or will a small company offering practical, hands-on experience that is directly related to their career goals be a better choice? This decision is often predicated on what year of college the student is in.

Although working at a big-name company looks great on a resume, you’ll want to spend your time doing more than fetching coffee and answering phones. If a big name firm gives you the opportunity to do meaningful work that will help build your resume, great. Smaller firms can be a great choice and offer incredible career-related exposure with varied responsibilities. There is great value in being able to show potential employers you’ve had meaningful experience in your intended field. This experience becomes more important as you move closer to graduation.

As a freshman or sophomore, going for the big-name company is fine since there is still plenty of time to gain practical experience during a later internship. However, juniors should aim for an internship that will provide ample opportunities to hone skills that will be significant when it comes time to seek full-time employment after graduation.

An internship is an important part of your career development strategy. Here are some tips to keep in mind as you research possible internships and companies:

  • Internships offer a reality check. They allow you to see what it’s actually like to work in the field you think you want to work in – or you may realize that you hate it and that it’s not for you. Regardless, this is all valuable insight.
  • Internships are a good recruiting tool for HR departments. Human resource departments offer these as a means to recruit the best students from the top schools. Attaining and completing a quality internship is a means to securing full-time employment upon graduation.
  • Position yourself as a serious candidate just as you would for a job search for a full-time position. That means you have to market yourself. Develop a great cover letter. Clean up your Facebook page. Set up a LinkedIn profile. You have one chance to make a good impression.
  • School programs can pave the way. See if your college offers a formal program to connect students with companies that offer internships.
  • Be proactive if your school does not have such a program. Contact HR departments at companies where you may want to intern to see what they offer. Ask your academic advisors if they can help get you connected to the right companies. Start networking through LinkedIn and other contacts to see who knows someone at companies that interest you.
  • Don’t procrastinate. Start looking for a summer internship as early as January because these positions go quickly.
  • Cast a wide net. Be open to companies of all sizes. Consider paid and unpaid internships.
  • Once you land the internship, take advantage of all it has to offer. Get involved in all the company’s intern-related activities and training opportunities. Network with heads of as many departments as possible. Treat it like a ‘real job.’

Whether you apply for and accept an internship at a large company or small one, remember that internships are really designed to give students a leg up in a very competitive job market, and give employers a head start in recruiting the best of the best. Interns that perform well stand a good chance of receiving a job offer even before they graduate.

About the Author

Kathy HarrisKathy Harris is Managing Partner of New York City-based Harris Allied, an executive search firm specializing in Technology, UX/UI Design and Quant Analyst placement services in the Financial Services, Professional Services, Consumer Products, Digital Media and Tech Industries For more information, visit www.harrisallied.com. Contact Kathy Harris at [email protected].

Recommended Resources – Promote Yourself

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StrategyDriven Recommended ResourcesPromote Yourself: The New Rules for Career Success
by Dan Schawbel

About the Book

Promote Yourself by Dan Schawbel provides tangible advice for gaining the visibility necessary for career advancement without appearing to be overtly self-serving. Dan delves into the hard and soft skills needed for success in today’s professional world as well as what managers are seeking when deciding whom to promote. Once presented, Dan provides actionable advice for developing those skills required for advancement.

Some of the specific topics addressed within Promote Yourself include:

  • Hard skills required to be more than your job description
  • Soft skills necessary to make every impression count
  • Online skills to use social media to your advantage
  • Gaining visibility without being a self-promoting jerk
  • What managers look for when deciding whom to promote
  • Building a network at work and beyond

Benefits of Reading this Book

StrategyDriven Contributors like Promote Yourself because it provides immediately actionable steps to take charge of one’s career in a positive and effective manner. Dan tackles the unique challenges of today’s workplace environment – social media, advancing technology, generational gaps, and workforce mobility – revealing how to successfully deal with each by leveraging resources and opportunities internal and external to one’s company. He also provides an insightful discussion of addressing the need for change with one’s boss and knowing when it is time to move on. Dan’s recommendations align with our personal professional experiences, many of which are echoed on the StrategyDriven Professional website.

Promote Yourself focuses on professionals within the workforce and, in our opinion, would not be as useful to non-professional workers. Our experience also suggests Dan’s insights best apply to management consultants and that some additional and/or modified actions would better support those professionals working in more traditional, hierarchical organizations. Lastly, we believe Promote Yourself more ideally fits entry, lower, and mid-level professionals than second tier managers and above.

Promote Yourself reflects many of the professional development and career advancement principles recommended on the StrategyDriven Professional website making it a StrategyDriven recommended read, particularly for college seniors and professionals below the first-line manager level.