Gaining momentum in your career takes a lot more than just graduating with a degree, even an advanced degree. In this post, stories from top tier graduates provide some simple guidance to what many of us consider a difficult problem; that is, finding the success we seek.
I was recently intrigued by a response from one of my clients during a goal setting session. She was about to graduate from college. I had asked her what she expected from her degree. She stated that she didn’t know. She was getting the degree because it would help her move up in the company. But what power does a college degree have today? Giving in to my curiosity, I pressed on.
She was extremely smart. With a degree from an Ivy League school, she had the prerequisites for a great career. However, she felt uncertain. Something was missing. She had gone to work after graduation but for some strange reason, she wasn’t moving up the ladder as quickly as she had hoped. She posited that Ivy League degree wasn’t working like it should have been.
Just a year later, she decided to go back to college to get an MBA. This would surely earn the prestige she sought. However, she had the same plan for the MBA; that is, just having it will open the door to opportunity and generate immediate success.
This is not an isolated case. In interviewing over 65 MBA graduates, I’ve found this perception to be fairly common. If my bachelor’s degree doesn’t get me the success I want, a Master’s degree surely will. I can tell you from these same interviews, this isn’t the case. So where did they go wrong? More importantly, what did the successful graduates do to get it right?
The most obvious factor of the successful plan is that the college degree is viewed as necessary to the plan, not the plan itself. Graduation is just the building of the foundation for career success. It’s like building a house. You can’t build the first level walls until the foundation is poured. Then, your experience will build the framework and support for the next level. There’s no skipping of steps. It should be done in order. If you haven’t planned the career beyond graduation, whether you’re a working professional or a young inexperienced student, you’ll be stuck with just the beginning of a career.
David was a brilliant engineer with a top ranked Executive MBA. However, two years later, he was still in his same job. Why does an engineer need an MBA? David didn’t have a plan beyond his graduation. That’s where his plan stopped and so this is where his career stopped.
Another key to their success is determination. With a vision in their mind and a plan on paper, they feverishly pursued their dreams. Ken was a MBA graduate from Stanford. He had big dreams of a C-level office. His first job lasted on two years. The next only lasted two years. Over and over he went until he reached the level of CFO. While he changes jobs more often than he would really like, he’s found a solution to his dreams.
The last prime mover of a successful career is the development of a mentoring team. I didn’t expect graduates of the top tier programs would need sufficient support for determining their path. Dan was a MBA graduate from Harvard. This degree should have all the brand power he needs to get one of those C-level jobs. However, it wasn’t enough to Dan. Before he graduated, he contacted ten successful business professionals in his network. He told them his situation and asked for guidance. Every person he contacted responded with sound professional advice. Dan took their advice and found his first job. After gaining two years experience, he left the company and started his own business. That was 12 years ago. He contributes his success to those decisions and the influence of his mentors.
Dan wasn’t the only top tier graduate to have a mentor group. Many graduates have developed them and currently maintain them well within the midst of their career. Their approach: just find successful people and ask for help. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.
The path is certainly not clear in today’s corporate maze. Failing to plan your path will leave you floundering aimlessly. You’re essentially driving in a strange city with no GPS. Top tier graduates would tell you to stop and ask for directions. They would also say to do this as many times as it takes to get where you want to be.
Author:
Todd Rhoad is Director at BT Consulting, a career consulting firm in Altanta, and author of the book,Blitz The Ladder. He can be reached at todd.rhoad@blitzteamconsulting.com.
