Building Your Career

For the past 11 months I have been interacting with my classmates in my Sport Management master’s program through Drexel online. It wasn’t until this week that we all came together in person for the summer seminar. It was so exciting to match a face to an e-mail address (as one of our program managers described it). The speakers have been wonderful and come from a variety of backgrounds, giving us a broad overview of what our field has to offer. As much as I would like to detail everything I learned in the past two days (and we are only halfway through), I would like to take this opportunity to outline some career advice that was given in various presentations:

 

1. What is your skill set? Our program director asked us this question on the first day, adding to it that we need to sell ourselves and “be a star.” Tonight I had the opportunity to speak with him a little bit more and he said something that really resonated with me. We spend too much time focusing on our weaknesses while we should be putting more effort into enhancing the skills we currently have.

 

2. Network. While I admitted to the class some of my issues with this buzzword (mainly how to network without seeming needy or phony), I learned some tips on how to approach it in a genuine manner. Stay in touch with people even when you don’t need something. Make friends. Volunteer. Join professional organizations. Lastly, perhaps the best piece of advice that was given (also by our program director) was to be nice and helpful always, not just when you think someone is watching. His point was that the person who might help you out one day could be someone you didn’t picture having an influence. You never know who you’re going to need in your corner or who is going to recommend you one day!

 

3. Org Charts. Not only is it important to study the organizational chart of a company that you are interested in, it’s just as important to create an org chart for yourself. You are the “Chief Career Officer” but who is on your board of directors? What five people can you turn to for help or advice?

 

4. Other tidbits of advice: Grab onto someone’s ankle who’s going somewhere, don’t eat lunch alone, keep an updated resume, increase your visibility, commit the time to network, show a genuine interest in others, send articles to colleagues, write notecards, and use LinkedIn.

 

Lastly, he also mentioned the following two quotes which I think are great:

 

“It’s not who you know, It’s who knows you.”

 

“Everyone is connected (e.g., mobile devices)…but not everyone is connecting (e.g., we don’t even say hello in the hallway anymore).”

 

So get out there and CONNECT!

 

Thank you Dave O’Brien (and everyone else in the department!) for not only providing me with material for this blog, but for the building blocks I can use as I climb up my career ladder!