Passing The Torch - Watching The Young Minds of Today Ready Themselves for Tomorrow

A couple of Thursdays ago I had the opportunity to meet up with both alumni and current students from Bryant University (Smithfield, RI) in NYC. The university held a panel discussion with five alumni from different class years as the moderator posed questions regarding their careers. In the audience were fellow former students as well as juniors and seniors that are currently going to Bryant. I enjoy staying in touch with the school, and it’s exciting to see a university put effort into (as I suspect many universities do) connecting its alumni with current students. I was once one of those young alumni and enjoyed participating in similar events back in the day...

It was 20 (make that 40) years ago today…

Well, not exactly, and there is no Sgt. Pepper teaching the band to play. But, as "time keeps flowing like a river to the sea" (yes, that is an Alan Parsons song reference) it was 40 years ago this year that I embarked on a career – much the same way these young men and women will be doing within the next few months or coming year. As part of the “old guard” we can sit around and talk about how different things are today from 40 years ago (no argument there), but as I sat in the audience listening to the alumni talk about their careers and listening to the questions that the current students had there were three concepts that came up that I don’t think are much different today than they were 10, 20, 30, or 40+ years ago.

Finding a place to start a career – as much as graduating seniors might love to move out from their family’s home, backpack across Europe, hike the Appalachian Trail (or all of the above, haha), the high cost of rent, student loan debt, and starting salaries (depending on profession) may serve to handicap the new graduate. For the person serious about starting a career it’s amazing how taking on these responsibilities (getting employed, paying rent, paying back loans, owning a car, paying insurance) offers the potential to help them grow into becoming responsible young (taxpaying) adults. Graduating seniors will do their best to find a place where they can launch themselves into a career and into that new life after college. Hopefully the internships and summer work will pay off.

Think about where you started and what that was like. We'll come back to that later.

Is this career the right choice? – The simple answer is that no one really knows. Taking assessment tests on what you like and what you’re good at may offer some insight, but sometimes trial and error may lead you to the career that is the best fit. We throw around the term “career pivot” pretty freely. That may be easier said than done. Changing careers (a different job in a different profession in a different industry) may require small, purposeful steps. It was nice to hear the grit and determination that a few of the alumni expressed as they walked us through their respective careers. A successful career choice could be a combination of "nature" and "nurture". You have to bring the talent, but you have to bring it to a place that can help you grow, achieve positive results and help you to get the most out of your talent.

Am I making the right decision? – Wouldn’t we all like to be able to gaze into a crystal ball with a glimpse to the future (or correct the past for that matter)? Starting a career is the ultimate commitment (of course next to marriage and having a child). Not that it can’t be changed (as evidenced by the many that have had multiple careers), but it’s the first step towards the next 30+ years of working, so it's in your best interest to find something that:

1. Matches up with your aptitude (allows you to do things you can be good at).
2. Meets your personal needs (i.e., non-profit; small or large corporation; socially conscious; has a mission you can get behind; offers challenging work; gets you excited to want to do the job each day; etc.).
3. Has a manager whose style you can respect and learn from. Or, if not you can at least learn what you don't want in a manager. ??

Career, Career, Career

The panel spent the vast majority of the time talking about their career journey, and only one panelist really made any reference to family. That would be one area that I think deserves to be examined more closely (but not necessarily in this particular session where the target audience age was 21 and 22 year old college students!). As a future topic though, I’m not sure enough is made of how a career can be redirected based on relationships and family. Good career intentions and ambition can easily be paused or detoured based on personal relationships, personal decisions as well as an individual’s wants and needs. In addition, the views of career and work have changed significantly in the last couple of decades, and Covid-19 did companies and their young employees no favors (or did it?).

What was your first career?

So much is made about "what have you done for me lately" when it comes to your career and if you happen to currently be in a job search. The prevailing thinking is that your most recent experience is most relevant. I wouldn't argue that point, but I think it's worth going back in time think of how your early career experiences may have helped shape the "you" of today.

What was your first job and company, and what was it like? Here's mine:

My first five years out of college began as a Food Production Supervisor for Sky Chefs (Airline Catering) at Kennedy Airport. After a few months in that position I was promoted to be an Assistant Controller (Accounting & Finance) at the airport terminal restaurants at Kennedy. That was just a holding spot as I was being prepped to take the job of Controller at Newark Airport for the start-up of airline catering operations of American Airlines by Sky Chefs (taking over the contract from Dobbs House). I remained in that position for about three and a half years.

What a whirlwind. I felt like I was going through an MBA program. Three different roles in three different office locations with three different managers in a couple of tough places to work (Kennedy and Newark Airports) over a five year period created quite a career foundation. Looking back? It's an experience I could have done without, but one I would not trade for the world.

Now it's time for for those college grads to create their own career foundations. Torch passed!

Have a great weekend!

Dave

About David Shultis

Enough reminiscing for one week...getting back to today's reality, I am a senior level B2B marketing and product management professional with experience in the life science/med device/manufacturing space. A return to a leadership role (formal or informal) where coaching and mentoring a team or working with a cross-functional team would also be an important component of the position. This could be in the form of a director of commercial excellence, marketing director, a group product director or as an individual contributor in a senior product management capacity. I'm especially interested in under-performing departments, startups or rebuilds where I can contribute by making a positive change through leadership and the implementation of procedures and metrics.

When not in pursuit of my next opportunity you can find me biking in and around New Jersey (just getting started again in 2024) or trying to get my walking in with a 15k step goal each day.

Photo(s) of the week. Sunrise is always a favorite, and in this picture we're not quite there yet. This was taken at 6:41 EST on Tuesday, January 23, 2024 at the Manasquan Reservoir on the return leg of a 23 mile early morning ride.