Thoughts on Taking the Leap To Be an Entrepreneur

As with a lot of my blog posts, it’s half diary for me, half wanting to share with anyone who is interested, the why behind career moves, insights into some of my experiences and just generally things I’m learning. As of August of this year, for the first time since college I have taken the entrepreneurial leap and started my own company, Beeloo. If you're interested in what it is and where the inspiration for it came, you can check it out here.

In this blog post, I’d like to share more about how I came to decide to take this leap, which some consider to be drastic since I’ve worked my whole career for tech companies with at the smallest 500 employees, but usually large public companies with several thousand employees.

To fully understand current decisions, we got to go back to my first job ever. In high school, I had a moderately successful lawn mowing business in my town in the suburbs of Austin, Texas. I had a trailer, employees, commercial equipment and even a few commercial contracts. I earned more cash than a teenager should have, a lot of fun and learned many valuable lessons (like don’t take calls from a customer during a nap because you won’t remember what they said or who said it when you wake up). After that positive experience, it was only natural I wanted to continue being an entrepreneur for my career.

Once I got to college I focused my extracurricular activities on the goal of being an entrepreneur. I was the President of the undergraduate Entrepreneur’s club for my junior and senior year. As I got closer to graduation, the economy started to have a complete meltdown. (I graduated in 2009). I think I have a decent tolerance for risk but watching the housing crisis and everything else meltdown around me had me reassessing my plan. I accurately assessed that I had no money, no real skills and barely a professional network. It started to feel too risky to bet everything right after graduation. Ultimately, I decided I’d have to take the leap at a later stage in my career and I got my first entry level marketing job a few months after graduation at Salesforce, moved to San Francisco and started flying down the technology marketing career path. I remember a few friends and mentors being shocked because I had seemed so determined to start my own company. In fact, I remember talking through whether I should take the entrepreneurial leap with one of my professors and he told me “if you don’t become an entrepreneur now, you never will.”

The entrepreneurial itch was always there as my career progressed. I got more experience, built my network and was saving my money. I got an MBA and a few years later I made a riskier career move by joining a late stage high growth company that most people at the time had never heard of, Zoom. After four extremely intense years at Zoom, I felt my time at Zoom was coming to an end and it was time to scratch an itch, but the entrepreneurial itch was not the only career “itch” I had. I’m also interested in the public sector and public service. I had a goal for a long time to apply for a 1 year MPA program, which I explained in more detail in a blog post. After leaving Zoom in 2021 I went back to school full time. I loved my experience during my MPA program but of all the career paths and jobs I explored only one public sector job really stood out to me, which I pursued unsuccessfully. The timing did not feel right to go all in the public sector and public service, though my interest only increased during grad school.

During my year in grad school, I talked to a lot of friends and mentors to get their take on whether I should take the entrepreneurial leap after graduation. I constantly got two very different pieces of advice. One was “go follow your dreams, you're a go getter, I believe in you, if you want to start a company, go do it.” The other advice was “this is a bad idea, you're throwing your career away, go join another late stage company like Zoom, but at a more senior level pre-IPO and make a bunch of money. As an entrepreneur you could throw away the prime years of your career”. I fully acknowledge that if I was optimizing for corporate career growth or money, joining another high growth late stage company for someone like me is a no brainer. Part of me really wished that was something that I was excited about, but I just could not get excited about going down that path again.

My family situation and where we wanted to live also factored heavily into the decision. We have moved 4 times in the last 4 years across 3 states and with my oldest being 7 years old, we were feeling the need to settle down geographically. Before moving to Boston for grad school, we had bought a home in a suburb of Raleigh North Carolina, and really felt like that was a place that we could call home. Part of the appeal of North Carolina too was that our family “burn rate” could be so much lower than if we would have stayed in the Bay Area or settled in another large city. The tech scene in the Research Triangle is vibrant and growing quickly, making me want to be an active contributor to the community. Lastly, you work like a dog as an entrepreneur, but you get to decide where your company is based and you have ultimate flexibility, which is very appealing for my family given the age of our kids.

Years ago, after my MBA I worked at LinkedIn and I remember grabbing lunch with a colleague. Her and her husband sold their company to LinkedIn. I shared with her my entrepreneurial ambitions and she very bluntly said, “if you want to be an entrepreneur, just go do it, you don’t need any more notches in your belt.” That advice really stuck with me.

Overall, whether it be money, career or life decisions I try to think really hard about how much I will regret not taking a certain path and how irreversible the decision is. This all led me to taking the leap at this stage of my career. It might seem riskier, but it feels A LOT less risky than when I graduated from college. I have marketable skills and a deep professional network. This will help me with my current start up but also if I decide to return to a corporate job. I think one thing people worry about the most about taking the leap at this stage of life is money. You have to think about your bills, mortgage, paying for college for kids and healthcare. Since this is something that has been in my career plans for a long time, we’ve prepared financially, we can’t do this forever but given our low family burn rate we can give it a good shot.

Sometimes I envy people who have careers with a singular path, purpose and goal, but I have come to terms I’m not one of those people. I have a lot of things that interest me and if that means my career zigs and zags, that’s ok with me. Most startups fail, but I’m confident that regardless of the outcome of Beeloo this was the right path and decision for me at this time. If there are any aspiring entrepreneurs out there reading this, I hope this gives you the courage to take the leap and be comfortable with some intelligent risks.

3 Books to Read to Get You Through a Career Crisis

If you've been following my blog posts, you know that I've recently gone back to grad school to explore some career interests in a much different direction than my tech marketing career. This may seem strange to people I've worked with because if you know me, it's clear that I have really enjoyed my career so far. 

 I'm not changing things up because I'm unhappy, it really comes down to having a lot of interests and a sense of adventure. My personal philosophy is that you have to spend a massive amount of your life working, your career should be an adventure and involve a lot of experimentation. I understand that it's a massive privilege to be able to view my career this way. Career changes, breaks and exploration can require sacrifices. It can be time consuming, emotionally draining and financially difficult, but ultimately if you feel the need to continue to explore, I believe it's worth it. 

I was extremely sure of my decision to go to grad school again, but arriving here has not provided instant clarity on the exact career paths I should take after graduation next year, so I've been doing a lot of introspection. It's not really a "crisis" like the title suggests as I figured I'd find myself in this situation, but still has me doing a lot of searching. I've encountered a lot of folks that at different stages of their career also face a period where they really want to think deeply about their career. I've been reading a lot and asking for book recommendation, so I wanted to share the three books that have been the most helpful. 

 How to Measure Your Life by Clayton Christensen. I've read this book probably more than any other business book when I start thinking deeply about career stuff. It has always been a great reminder to not abandon the other important parts of your life in pursuit of your career.

Grit by Angela Duckworth. I avoided this book for a long time because the topic did not just seem that interesting but after hearing Angela speak, I had to dive in and was surprised how many career lessons were packed in this book as she dives into grit.

So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport. I must admit, I just got recommended this book this week, but I'm already almost done with it. Provides a really compelling alternative to "follow your passion". Also, it really stuck me how important autonomy is in career happiness. 

These books have helped me a lot and I hope they help you too.

Post MBA Career Decisions: Big Tech or Late Stage Startup

A friend of mine invited me recently to talk to the Duke MBA tech club about career paths in tech for MBA's post business school. In this 5 minute clip I shared my experience and some of the pros and cons of going to one of the big tech companies or pursuing a late stage startup, as well as the potential career implications.

My Recent Post on Nathan Tanner's Blog

Recently, an author and good friend of mine, Nathan Tanner asked if I'd answer a few career related questions for his blog. I was flattered because he has been the guy I call the last few years when I had a tricky career or HR situation. As I answered the questions, I really enjoyed reflecting on a few lessons, failures and critical moments. Check it out if you are interested.

I highly recommend you check out the rest of his blog and book for great career related content.

10 Career Lessons from 10 Years in Silicon Valley

I published this first on LinkedIn. 

Ten years ago this month I drove across the bay bridge in a full-size truck with everything I owned in the back, to start my first post college full-time job. I was a bright eyed, recent BYU grad, that did not know hardly anything about San Francisco.

Fast forward to the present and I feel extremely fortunate to have spent my whole career thus far in the bay area, working with many wonderful people at some pretty amazing companies. I recognize that it has been a privilege to have a career that I've enjoyed immensely.

There are a few lessons I've learned over the last 10 years that have really stuck with me and I wanted to share them here. Some are unique to Silicon Valley, some are not, but I hope you can enjoy what I've learned.

You're smarter than you think. I remember the first time I was in a meeting with a fellow marketer that went to Stanford. I was extremely nervous, to me, he might as well have been able to read my mind. I'd never met anyone that went to Stanford. I was extremely intimidated. A few months later I realized that he was of course very smart, but I realized I could keep up. I think that is so often the case, we think others are smarter or have some talent we don't have, but it's often not the case.

Work is important, but not THE most important. It may seem strange that I learned this in a place that is known for promoting the "hustle". People here do work hard, but I've also seen so many examples of people that can have a ambitious career and still take care of the things in their lives that are most important. It's not easy, but I'm grateful for mentors that have shown me it can be done.

Find managers who believe in you. Looking back, almost all my managers have encouraged me, believed in me and given me opportunities to grow. If you are not in that situation, my only advice would be to find a way out as soon as possible.Your career will be greatly limited under a manager that does not believe in you.

Dream big. I think the biggest advantage of Silicon Valley is people here believe they can do crazy things and they just do it.

Find managers who tell you the truth. The most rapid personal career growth that has happened to me is when I've had managers who have told me the truth. At first it was uncomfortable and hard, the millennial inside of me would sometimes prefer constant praise, but with constant feedback you can learn so fast. If you're manager is never correcting you, you're not growing as fast as you could.

Manage your reputation like your career depended on it. The world is small, especially in Silicon Valley. Back channel reference checks are happening constantly, word gets around. Your reputation is either helping you behind the scenes or working against you. Work hard, treat everyone with respect and build those up around you and you should be fine.

Trust your gut. The first few years of my career I'd see a decision be made or something happening that deep down in my gut, I thought it was the wrong decision or disagreed with. I rationalized that they were more experienced or smarter, but hindsight is 20/20. In those situations, I now know to trust my gut and bet on myself. I remember getting that advice from the CEO of a start up I worked for in college, but did not have the confidence to follow it for the first few years of my career.

Be a missionary not a mercenary. If you are lucky enough to have the choice, I've found that I've felt much more fulfilled when I really believe in the product, the mission and the leaders of the companies I've worked for.

Leaving good in pursuit of great. In terms of roles and companies, I've seen that the people that push themselves when they get comfortable and leave a good job or role in pursuit of greater opportunities are happier. Companies in Silicon Valley have become masters of helping you feel comfortable and fulfilled in jobs that maybe don't push you to your full potential.

There is power in diversity. I truly believe that I've learned more being surrounded by a variety of people, ideas and background.

Thank you for reading and humoring my walk down memory lane.

Podcast Interview: Why Marketing Podcast

A few months ago Rusty Pepper asked if I'd join the Why Marketing Podcast to talk about how I became a marketer, what I'm working on and much more. It was a fun experience. You can listen to the whole thing below on YouTube.

How to Pick a Late Stage Startup to Work For: Lessons From Year One at Zoom

This post was first written on LinkedIn's publishing platform. 

Today is my one year anniversary at Zoom. A year ago I left a job I really liked, working on a great product, in company with a pretty stellar culture and took a bet on a late stage startup.

There is a lot of conventional career wisdom, especially in the valley, that late stage startups are the place to be to accelerate your career. I'd been thinking about working for a later stage start up for years. Especially since the last two companies I worked for were public with 5,000+ employees when I joined.

It sounds easy, but it's really tough to pick the right one. In the valley, you see a lot of people leave big amazing companies for smaller companies, only to last less than a year, then return to another big company.

Looking back on this past year, I realize that some advice I got during my search for a late stage startup guided me to a place that I could thrive. If you're thinking about joining a later stage startup, here are a few things to look for that might help you find your next move.

A culture that runs deep. Lot's of companies claim to have a great culture, but I'm talking about finding a place where employees really live and breathe it. A big indicator for me was reading interviews of Zoom's CEO, Eric Yuan. After reading a few it was clear that culture was important to him and that he was working hard to cultivate a great culture from the very top. Glassdoor reviews is a great place to get a feel for the culture. My favorite source though is calling former employees. While looking into Zoom I called a former intern and asked her what she would change and she just complained a bit about some construction that was going on at the office, that was it.

A product that captures hearts and minds. My first reaction when I looked at Zoom was, "Video conferencing? What more can be done? There are a million products." It did not sound exciting, but I decided to do my homework. I read reviews of the product on third party review sites like TrustRadius and G2Crowd. I then looked at what people were saying on Twitter about Zoom and it became clear something special was going on. Even in a crowded market, if you find something that is winning the hearts and minds of consumers, jump on it.

Growth. Growth. Growth. If there is growth, it creates so many career opportunities. In the past year I've had essentially three different roles, competitive product marketing, running a user conference and international marketing. It has been challenging but I feel like I've learned so much is a very short period of time. The easiest way to find fast growing companies is to look at their headcount growth which you easily track on LinkedIn. A lot of good things can happen when a company is growing. If you can be picky, pick growth.

Especially in the valley, you have a lot of options of late stage startups to join. I hope these tips guide you to a place that you can thrive. Also, if you think that place where you can thrive might be Zoom, please reach out. :)

One More Tip for MBA Students LinkedIn Profiles

A few weeks ago I was interviewed by the Financial Times asking for me to share some advice on how MBA's can leverage LinkedIn to get a job. There is some great advice in the article, not just from me. I recommend you check out the article here.

There is one piece of advice that they did not publish from me or anyone else they interviewed. If you can, make sure that you share examples of your work on your profile. 

This can come in a lot for forms. Here are a few examples.

-Link in your profile to a news article about a product you worked on
-Post a YouTube video of something you have recorded that's work related
-Post something you've written for work. It could be a blog post, writing sample or anything in-between.

Look at how my friend and former classmate Nathan Tanner does it on his profile.

People will be able to see what you can really do and get a much deeper understanding of your skills and abilities.

You might be saying, "What I do can't be put on my LinkedIn profile...". To that I say, dig deep. There is always something.

Why BYU Students Should Start Their Careers in Silicon Valley

First off, this is not an anti-Utah post. I've got lots of friends and family in the Beehive State and nothing but love for BYU. I will always cheer on the great state of Utah and hope it continues to become an economic and technology powerhouse. Heck, my kid’s 529 accounts are in Utah because I’m bullish on the whole state. 

 

That being said, I felt compelled to write this post because BYU students are frequently reaching out to me to get my opinion. I’ve noticed lately that the exuberance for the technology scene in Utah (with good reason) is keeping them from seeing some of the reasons why they might want to start their careers in Silicon Valley.

Even, though the title says BYU, this could apply to any student in Utah or any other state for that matter that is considering launching their career in Silicon Valley.

Here are a bunch of reasons why you should start your career in Silicon Valley.

It's going to get harder later. It is so expensive to live here especially for single income families. The odds of you deciding 10 years into your career that you're ready to give Silicon Valley a shot are slim to none. If you're going to do it, the best chances are while you're young and have a low burn rate. You're not going to want to leave your 5 bedroom house in Lehi for a more expensive two-bedroom cottage in Palo Alto with 4 kids.

It will broaden your worldview. Silicon Valley is just a special place. It will broaden your worldview, it will change what you think is possible, you'll meet a much broader variety of people.  

More companies. When it comes to amazing fast-growing technology companies Utah has a good handful but Silicon Valley still rules the roost. There are a ton of options of places to work when it comes to world-class companies with worldwide brand recognition.

The network. I was lucky enough to start my career at Salesforce. 8 years after starting at Salesforce I can now look at my network and see that I know people at just about every major or fast-growing company in Silicon Valley from the people I met in my first job. That network has helped me in getting other jobs and helped me be better at what I do. I'll continue to benefit even more as my network as a whole progresses and people I know get bigger and more influential roles.

The halo effect. When a company does well, employees of that company often get more credit than they deserve. The same goes for when a company fails. There are immense benefits to starting your career at a company with a strong brand and a great reputation in Silicon Valley.

You’ll be better off if you go back to Utah. If you look at a lot of senior leadership of companies in Utah, you'll often see that they have spent time in Silicon Valley. The skills that you develop at companies in Silicon Valley are valued throughout the world. I've seen it play out time and time again where BYU grads come out to Silicon Valley to work for a few years, then go back to Utah getting paid much more and a much higher position because Utah companies value the Silicon Valley experience.

There are only really two major cons to living here. First is that housing is ridiculously expensive. If the primary way in which you are going to measure early career success is the size of your house, you should really not move here. Also, for a lot of people they have better access to friends and family in Utah, which is a very valid reason to stay in any place.

Utah is a fantastic place to work, but the reality is that Silicon Valley will continue to rule the tech world for the foreseeable future and there are immense career benefits to spending some of the early stages of your career in Silicon Valley.

How to Find Fast Growing Companies near Where You Live

There is a plethora of articles advocating ambitious young people to join fast growing start ups to accelerate their careers. Here is a great example from the muse. One thing that always bothered me is how hard it was to find these companies, especially near where you live. I think I've found the most simple and straightforward way to do it. I must warn you, this does require a LinkedIn Sales Navigator license, but it could save you a lot of time. It's at least worth a free trial.

1. Use a website like this one to figure out all the zip codes that would be in the area you'd be willing to work. For example, if you don't want to commute more than 30 minutes, you should find all the zip codes within a 30 minute drive.

2. Log into Sales Navigator, hit the magnified class at the top, then select accounts on the left hand side. 

3. Select the region drop down and pick by zip code. 

4. Add the zip codes you'd be willing to work in, separated by commas

5. Then scroll down to the company growth slider and put it to your preferred %, my recommendation is 20% and up. 

You'll now have a list of fast growing companies where you live. You can add other filters like company size, or industry to narrow down even further. 

I hope this helps you find the kind of companies you're looking for, best of luck!

How to Be Easy to Mentor

In this series, professionals thank those who helped them reach where they are today. Read the posts here, then write your own. Use #ThankYourMentor and @mention your mentor when sharing.

In my first job out of college, there was a reorg where I got a new manager (Dave Kellogg) that I had never met before. He was not just one or two levels above me as you might expect, but a SVP and GM of Salesforce’s Service Cloud business.

I was eager not just to get aligned with my new manager, but to learn from him. I just had one big problem, it was quite challenging to get on his very full schedule. After a few weeks of trying to schedule a few minutes here and there, I had an idea. I thought it was a bit crazy, but I was ready to give it a try. I asked him if I could get a ride with him to work. In a previous conversation, I found out that he lived near me and we both commuted to San Francisco. I remember waiting to hit the send button on the email wondering if I would get a response back with a link to buy a Caltrain pass, but instead he responded, “No problem.”

To make a long story short, I hitched a ride many times to work with Dave. The conversations developed over time from alignment, to Dave providing invaluable advice about marketing, Silicon Valley, business school and how to make everything work while taking care of your family. He is still a mentor today and I am so grateful he was willing to give a ride to a young employee that was eager to learn.

I share this story because I want to thank Dave for being a great mentor, but also to encourage those looking for a mentor to take the initiative. Often, we put too much pressure on our mentor finding and helping us instead of what we can do to be easy to mentor.

To give you a few ideas, I asked three senior executives that I know are great mentors to share what the mentee’s can do to make life easier for the mentor.

“In order to be a great mentee, be proactive and clear about what you want to get out of the relationship with your mentor. Don’t expect the mentor to figure out where to focus your work together, but instead, you should help drive that discussion and be clear about your goals from the outset.”

Shannon Stubo, CMO LinkedIn

“If you want to be easy to mentor you need to...

1. Prepare: come to a meeting ready and armed with 1-3 pithy questions.

2. Listen non-defensively: defensiveness kills communications. If you're always interrupting and explaining (e.g., "but we only had one week to get that done"), it means you're not listening

3. Act: put the ideas in practice and come back with feedback and questions based on those actions.

Most mentors love teaching, so being easy to mentor means becoming a good student.  Good students come prepared, are motivated to learn, do their homework, and challenge their teachers.  It’s a win/win relationship where both parties learn from each other.  On the flip side, nothing is worse for a mentor than someone who’s just going through the motions and not genuinely interested in learning. After I’ve given the same feedback twice, if the person hasn’t tried anything or changed anything, then it’s time to move on.  It’s a waste of everyone’s time if you don’t really want to change and learn."

Dave Kellogg, CEO Host Analytics 

“In my experience, each member of the mentoring partnership contributes to the relationship and shares responsibility for its effectiveness. Both the mentee and the mentor learn and benefit from the experience. I have found that the best relationships occur when both mentor & mentee establish a mutually beneficial partnership where they can OFFER and GIVE during each engagement.”

Shawn Bryant, VP American Express

 

To all my mentors past and present, thank you!

This post was originally posted on LinkedIn.

When You Might Not Want to Work for "the man" After Graduation.

This is a guest post by Jon Bradshaw. Jon is the co-founder and CEO of TinyTorch and an adjunct professor at Brigham Young University's Marriott School of Management. He is a huge advocate for entrepreneurship and very involved in the entrepreneurial community in Utah.

Derek is a good friend of mine that graduated from BYU's Marriott School of Business around the same time as I did back in 2008. Since then, we have often debated when the correct time is for someone to walk the path of entrepreneurship.

Derek recently wrote an article called, "Why You Might Want to Work for "the man" After Graduation." He made many solid points that I would like to expound upon. Here is what I recommend you think about if you want to lead a start up, join a startup or get work experience first.

Lead a Startup

Out of the hundreds of students that I have taught at BYU, I believe that venturing out on your own is only advisable for about 5-10% of the student population. How do you know if this is you? Here are my thoughts (these are guidelines, and there are always exceptions):

You have always worked for yourself since grade school. You began with a lemonade stand, saved your pennies to build a lawn-service company, and then found bigger and better ideas from there. You have at least two years of real-work experience for the industry that you're wanting to pursue. For tech entrepreneurs, you have a marketable skill like coding or design, which allows you to easily fall back on to help fund your company

Join a Startup

For most graduating students, if you're interested in startups this is the route that I'd recommend. Reasons for this include:

There is no better teacher than a proven entrepreneur starting another company. Your experience here turns into paid training which means that you can make costly mistakes on someone else's dime. Even if you end up working for a dud company, in many ways you'll learn more from a bad entrepreneur than from a seasoned veteran

Get Work Experience First

If you decide to not work for a startup, then go big. Shoot for companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Google, or another large tech company. Reasons for this include:

They will pay to train you in many important skills. You will learn how important processes are to making a venture successful, which is something that many entrepreneurs miss. You will get a great paycheck, which you can stash 70-80% into savings, helping you launch a startup later in life. You will develop a strong network, which will help you form partnerships in the future

So after working in startups for 6 years, do I wish that I corporate job? Rarely, but those moments do happen. Watching your friends go on trips to Europe without you, seeing them upgrade to flashy cars, or having the stability to not have to worry about being able to afford the necessities in life would be great. But when I look back at where I've been, and the lessons I've learned, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Why You Might Want to Work for "the man" After Graduation

Obviously I'm terribly biased because this is the path I've chosen. I decided to write this post because in the last few year, I've talked to many undergraduate students who have been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug in a big way. I was exactly the same way. I had started several cash flow positive business in high school so I thought I might as well repeat my success after I get my undergraduate degree.

That all changed after I worked for a start up during my undergrad. Lets just say I saw the good, the bad and the ugly. Overall it was a positive experience, but the start up crashed and burned. I even saw a hostile takeover that outed the founder. At one point, most employees were working for free in exchange for equity. After I crunched the numbers, I realized that even under the most optimistic circumstances, the equity I owned would not be worth more than one year's salary I could make working for another company.

In my opinion, inexperience, a rogue founder and a poor market assessment led to it's downfall. After this experience, I found an internship with a high growth tech company, which has lead to a career at high growth public tech companies. Here is why I think you should consider working for "the man" after graduation, especially at a high growth technology company.

Marketable skills. Following  this route, you'll likely pick up skills that fit within a job title that will be an asset to you for the rest of your career.

A strong network. With a little effort, a strong network of talented people in your field from all functions and levels can be built within a few short years.

Financial stability. Earning competitive wages in the tech industry will not make you a millionaire, but will enable you to save aggressively.

The entrepreneurial spirit is rewarded. At many tech companies having an entrepreneurial spirit is encouraged and even rewarded. You'll be able to climb the ranks faster if you bring that entrepreneurial spirit to your job.

The halo effect. If you go to a start up and it fails, you'll get more credit than you deserve. If you go to a growing company that succeeds, you'll also get more credit than you deserve.

Do I still have the entrepreneurial bug? Of course! Joining a start up or doing my own are still in my future. I believe when that time comes, I'll have the skills, network and emergency fund to have a better shot at being successful.

How A Pen And Some Paper Can Set You Apart During Your Internship

Last year I went with a few classmates to Boeing’s headquarters in Washington as part of a recruiting tour of a variety of different companies in the Seattle area. As we sat with their recruiter in charge of hiring MBA’s, she began to rave about two of our classmates that had interned there the year before. Finally, one of us asked, “What did they do that set them apart?”

Her answer really surprised us. She did not talk about their projects, GMAT scores or long hours. She talked about how both of them were the most engaged interns over the summer. She explained that everywhere they went they carried notebooks, always listening attentively and taking notes. She also said they were always prepared with questions. There was never a moment where they zoned out and started checking their phones.

Companies often go to great lengths to create a great internship experience for you, show your appreciation by doing your best to be engaged. Our generation often gets accused of having short attention spans. You can prove them wrong. As you go to your internships this summer, take notes, ask questions and set yourself apart.

5 Ways Students Can Protect Their Online Reputation

Have you ever Googled yourself? If you haven't done it before, do it right now. Now this thought may be a little scary but 80% of employers will Google you before they invite you for an interview. What employers find online about you is at best an incomplete picture of who you are but it's just a fact of life. Below are a few ideas of what you can do to make sure your online reputation is stellar.

1. Revisit the privacy settings on all your social channels. Most social media sites have a "view as public" link to make sure you know what is public and what is private. Anything that you'd be concerned about a future employer seeing, make sure to delete it or that it is private. You might be surprised what photos the whole world can see.

2. Set up two factor authentication for increased security. Getting any of your accounts hacked sucks. The last thing you want is SPAM being sent through your Facebook, LinkedIn or Gmail accounts to all your contacts. Two factor authentication makes it so you have to enter in a code from a text message to your phone, to be able to log in from a new computer. For example, if someone in Nigeria tries to log into your Gmail with your password, unless they have your cell phone, it will be impossible for them to get into your account.

3. Set a Google alert for your name. This works best if your name is not very common. If you do have a common name try to add another keyword like your place of employment, hometown or school. These alerts will send you an email anytime Google finds a new website or article where your name is mentioned.

4. If you don't have one yet, create a LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is the worlds largest professional network. LinkedIn is the best place to establish your online professional presence and reputation. On your LinkedIn profile you can make sure employers find the information you want them to find. Check this other post I wrote which explains the LinkedIn basics all students should be doing.

5. Put up a professional picture for your LinkedIn and Google profiles. LinkedIn is a professional social network, so the picture should be professional. I recommend a professional picture for your Google profile too because it can show up in the emails you send through Gmail. If you are using Gmail for professional communication, you want a professional picture to show up.

A little bit of effort can go a long way to protect your online reputation. Now is the best time to set yourself up for success in preparation for when that recruiter, from your dream company, Googles your name.

How To Get Great Work Experience While You Are In College

When I was in college, I organized a Guinness world record breaking rock paper scissors tournament as a fundraiser for my university’s entrepreneurship club. To promote the event we had a helicopter land on campus, parked a Lamborghini in the quad and got the volleyball team to act as the referees for the tournament. It was a ton of work and a ton of fun.

Would it surprise you if I told you that being in the leadership of that club and running that tournament helped put me on the path to landing a great full time job when I graduated? The skills I learned from running that tournament and the exposure to the local business community it created, helped me get my first internship. That internship led to a better internship, which led to a great full time job.

These days companies seem to have higher and higher expectations for the skills that grads have coming out of college. It is important to get good grades, but having valuable experience AND a diploma is more frequently the recipe for success when it comes to finding a job after graduation. Below are 10 ways students can get great work experience.

1. Do an Internship- Internships can often lead to a job or at least provide you with skills that will help you get a job later.

2. Volunteer- Getting paid is not a requirement to count as work experience. Often volunteer work can be done on a project basis or maybe over a holiday break.

3. Get involved in clubs- Don’t just go for the pizza, get involved in the leadership of the clubs that interest you. This will increase your visibility and access to the club’s network.

4. Get a part time job- Not only does it pay the bills, but can help make you be more marketable for after graduation. Try to find something that could be a stepping stone towards your post graduation plans.

5. Look beyond your current role- Leverage your current job to get exposure to other parts of the company that might interest you. Offer to help another department with a side project to learn a skill you need.

6. Work for a start up- They are often are fast moving, exciting and willing to give you more responsibility than you should have as a student.

7. Take the right classes- This could be a class that gives you hard skills, like an advanced excel class. It could also be a field study or an on campus internship. Select your classes with a future job in mind.

8. Participate in competitions- It could be a film competition or a business case competition. Often the sponsors of competitions for students are interested in hiring students. Take the chance to show them what you got.

9. Start your own business- Can’t find someone to hire you? Have a great idea? Don’t wait around. Try it on your own.

10. Teach yourself the skills you need- There are many skills that can be self taught. Read a book or watch “how to” YouTube videos. Connect with professionals that currently have those skills to get ideas how to develop them on your own time.

Those four years will be over before you know it. Don't forget to take the time now to make sure that you graduate with a diploma and a resume. Make sure that each semester, whatever you are doing outside of the classroom, is getting you one step closer to your dream job.