Friday, October 25, 2013

Opportunities

Life continually is changing and I think you can take advantage if you have prepared yourself. Luck favors those who are prepared. Recently, I have been trying to redefine my trajectory when it comes to a career. Engineering is great and all. I have experienced a lot and I want to take the things I have learned and use them in the future. I want to go into consulting and the more I am learning about business, the more I want to be able to leverage my knowledge in engineering to be even better. I want to be able to differentiate myself.

One of the main issues I have is I don't have a ton of "work" experience. I have had at least 18 months of internship experience and I have done sales and started my own service company in high school so I have experience. I have seen how businesses run and I have worked in highly technical environments in a wide range of types of companies and industries. Still, if I am going to go into consulting, I want to have more directly relatable companies and exposure on my resume.

I asked around and wanted to see who knew someone in consulting and how they could guide me or mentor me through this change. I found a friend from my childhood and we talked. He gave a lot of advice and of which, told me to apply to the University Venture Fund. By working with them, I could gain some real work experience that is somewhat related and can lead to a career in both management consulting and venture capital. The only issue is that when I started to research it, I was already past the due date for applications. Still, I thought there was no hurt in trying anyways so I put in my application. On the side, I dug around a bit and figured out a way to get involved with the local consulting club on campus and even started its own Facebook page. So from all of that, I became the vice-president of the consulting club.

Meanwhile, I had been trying to do everything I could when it came to talking to my professors and advisors, looking for projects when they came up, networking a ton, etc. I got to know consultants at networking activities. I even met and talked to the Dean of my college at a scholarship luncheon. From that meeting, we discussed my career plans and he was impressed with my passion and interests so he set up a meeting with me in his office. So now that I was a part of the consulting club, I tried to prepare for possible situations that I might discuss with him. I didn't know the purpose of the meeting so I might as well take advantage and create one. So in the end, my plan was to find a project that the club could work on so that we could generate opportunities for experience for students to add to their resumes. The meeting went really well. By the end of the conversation, I had my project. The Dean wanted me personally to be on a project he had been organizing with a fellow colleague on campus. So even though I hadn't found something for the group, I did find an opportunity so I took it.

Going back to the University Venture Fund, I was able to apply late. My friend was an alum of the fund and he sent a note for me to the director. I brought up my predicament to an individual in the Career Management Center and they said they would help my application to be seen as well. The first interview was a video interview on the internet. The second part of the application process was an analysis of a company, in which I could not contact the company directly or mention the fund. I called three of the company's competitors and posed as a potential client, talked to four previous customers, talked to a former potential investor, and talked to the former director of enterprise sales. The last part of the application process was to present the information to the directors of the fund. Honestly, the next step is the final interview with director and principal of the fund and it definitely was a pressure interview. In the end, I thought I totally bombed the interview because of how much I got ran through the ringer but today, I found out that I got that opportunity as well.

The point is that I kept finding new opportunities because I was prepared to work hard, try new things, and go beyond the social boundaries. Again, the idea that my personal brand is "No Boundaries" has come to be a blessing. I had prepared for each interview. I had thought of many different scenarios, networked, asked questions about the process, and then was willing to be myself. Authenticity, vulnerability, willingness to be teachable, desire to learn, strong work ethic, humility, intelligence, adaptability, analytical... This is the kind of consultant I want to try to be.

1 comment:

  1. good for you JOrdan! Seems like you are working so hard and going above and beyond to meet your goals! proud of you!

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