#2, Become an Expert in Your Field!

“Just as appetite comes by eating so work brings inspiration.”?-Igor Stravinsky, composer

In my ongoing efforts to explain each of the 11 principles of career management suitable to fit on a single index card, this is my second blog in that series to expound on the next principle:?In the first phase of your career (25-35 years), become an expert in your chosen field.?

As I mentioned in the first series of these blogs last week, most new college graduates (NCGs) do not know what career path to choose when they land their first job. Often, too, new graduates end up with degrees that reflect their confusion about what coursework leading to their degree gives them the best chance of landing a career-making job right out of the gate as they navigate through the job market. Entering college, or even in high school, many have vague ideas of what any profession really requires to be successful. Their ideas are often shaped by what they see around them, how their family members have chosen various career paths, and, to some extent, their own image of themselves and the dreams they carry from their early life, as they would like to imagine growing up as a successful professional.?

Although landing the right first job is important to NCGs, most do not have enough knowledge of the job market and career paths to make an intelligent choice right from the outset. This confusion often results in NCGs, as a default, going for the coveted jobs that pay the most money for their qualifications, applying to jobs at highly desirable companies (Google, Facebook, Amazon, Proctor & Gamble, Airbnb, among other such companies) or listening to someone close to them, without regard to that person’s bona fides to offer such advice. In many cases such advice comes from that person’s projection (what they missed out on) or from their own vicarious musings.?

Thus, an NCG’s first job landing is often an accident at worst or serendipitous at best. What compounds this problem is what I mentioned in my first blog: An NCG’s first job, regardless of accident or serendipity, is a major shift for them from their years’ long student-life. Getting used to the new work ethos while applying their newly-acquired knowledge to the problems at hand requires them to use a different mindset and muscles they did not know that they possessed. So, they struggle to do their best and to get some traction in their new job. Many (~30%) do not succeed and end up quitting their inaugural job before their first work anniversary, looking for something more suitable without even knowing what that is. Thus begins their desultory journey in career management.?

In my early career I, too, experienced this ambivalence and hesitation as I got going with my first job. Although I graduated as an electrical engineer, I thought landing a coveted job as an executive trainee at a prestigious conglomerate would be fun. Soon, I realized that my first job was not what I had imagined, but I slogged through it just to prove to myself that I could stick it out. In the first two-and-half years, despite my struggles and disappointments, I learned how to build my resilience to things inimical and came out victorious and guiltfree.?

Looking back, this is where I learned responsibility, about honoring commitments, and building trust with others through strong relationships.??This is also where I learned how to do a good job even if you do not like what you are doing. This hardening has served me well throughout the remainder of my career and I am grateful for that. In retrospect, I wonder if I would have consciously developed these qualities if I had loved my job, because when you do, building such character perhaps comes naturally and I may have missed out on the struggles that require to conquer those qualities when the underlying job itself is a challenge and provides you the natural crucible to build your grit and fortitude.?

As I learned how to navigate through the dynamics of a job and the organizational shenanigans, I was able to find something that intrigued and interested me in my general field of academic study—engineering as my next real job. I found an area where I was able to engage, make meaningful contributions; and that helped me develop my first area of expertise as I got more and more into it.?

This is why the quote by?Igor Stravinsky?at the top of this blog is so poignant. I realized that, until then, I had this whole notion about career management backwards: I was looking for passion to engage in the right field, not realizing that passion comes from interest in some field and then uncovering things that make your interest grow deeper and deeper. Passion is thus the outcome and not the cause of one’s ability to master something in any field. Of course, having that passion beforehand can only make that mastery that much faster, easier, and sweeter! So, do not waste your life looking for your passion before you engage in a field of pursuit; let your passions grow from engaging in some field that you find curiously interesting!

So, why is developing your mastery in the early period of your career so important??

I can speak to it from two perspectives: The first being that which stems from my own early career, where my first job was a struggle and a disappointment, but I used that experience to change course and find a new avenue that gave me something to pursue worth my time and energy to develop mastery in that field. Although later in my career, as I changed my paths every ten or so years, that particular subject area did not directly help me advance in my next career, since each career change was in an entirely different area of pursuit, the discipline I developed and the process I used to achieve that mastery helped me in each of my next career transitions (five so far). Each subsequent career transition gave me increased confidence that I could do this without having doubts about it.??So, it is not so much the “what” you master, but it is the “how” you learn to master something that gives you that confidence and identity and the mental discipline it takes to understand the process of mastering something—anything.?

So, what is the secret to mastering something early in one’s career that will shape your future success??

Here is my list:

1.?????It is alright to land a bad first job as an NCG. When you realize this do not just walk away in search of another job but try to learn how to do a good job even when you do not like what you do. Learn some basic skills that make you a good employee in any job. Remember, nearly 30% of the NCGs land in the wrong job that inaugurates their professional career.?

2.?????Find something that catches your interest and see how your academic background that relates to that interest. If there is a direct connection between your coursework and the area of your inaugural job, great. If not, find something that you are curious about or that which you find interesting and see how you can pursue that opportunity to make the connection between your academic work and what you see as an exciting new path to explore.?

3.?????Translate your curiosity and interest in your new job into your dedicated pursuit. Find someone to guide and mentor you and learn from them. Give them something in return to keep that relationship two sided. Keep taking on challenging projects to further your reach in the area of your pursuit and soon you will become the go-to expert (SME or Subject Matter Expert) in your chosen area.?

4.??????Stay focused within your subject matter expertise to continue your growth and start making original contributions and getting them published, so you become a known entity in your professional circle.?

5.?????Give talks in the forums in your area of expertise. Join groups in your area of specialty (LinkedIn alone has millions of professional groups) and take on some leadership role in the group that is important to you.?

6.?????Collaborate with someone viewed as a rock star in your area of work. Start by posting comments on their blogs, articles, or connect with them after their speech at some recognized forum. Soon, others will start associating you with these experts and you will belong to that elite circle of experts.

7.?????Further your knowledge and skill by taking advanced courses and by working on complex project or initiatives.???

Once you achieve some prominence in your subject area how long you stay there depends entirely on your own will. I know many who migrate to other areas to leverage what they learned from this process to explore opportunities in new vistas. Your confidence in your ability to conquer something new as you did in your first endeavor will propel you to do the same in any area that you choose to pursue.?

Good luck!