Learn from the School of Hard Knocks to Gain Business Career Success
One of my college roommates had a brother who was a graduate business student and often visited our rooms. Since one of my possible career choices was to work in business, I asked this business student many questions about his studies and career choices. Everything he said expanded my knowledge and made me more interested in a business career.
This information meant a lot to me because I grew up in a small city where there were only two large employers, the Santa Fe Railway and the U.S. Air Force. Neither organization provided opportunities to learn about executive success in a large corporation.
When I began graduate business studies, I was pretty smug, thinking that I knew just what needed to be done: Get a prestigious degree and wait for highly attractive employers to bid for my services.
Talking with the other business students made me realize that I had a lot to learn about career success. I didn’t even understand what executives did in different industries.
My complacent eyes were opened wide one day when a management consultant from the famous McKinsey firm made a presentation. At the end of the discussion, I asked one of the other students who got to do what this presenter did for a living. My classmate quickly responded, “Strategy consultants.” I asked, “What’s a strategy consultant?” He responded that these were people who worked for McKinsey or The Boston Consulting Group. I remembered those answers and later applied to both firms, not quite knowing what to expect.
Even with all of this knowledge, I was totally unclear about how you went from being a management consultant to having a successful business career working for a large corporation. I guessed that someday a client might hire you. And that’s what did happen to me after I became a strategy consultant.
The key lesson from my experience is that you can have a wonderful education at a university and still lack important knowledge about the most fundamental elements of developing your business career.
Students typically prefer to get information about potential careers from fellow students and professors, but research shows that students and professors provide incomplete information. It’s better to also speak with people who have been developing a career for a decade or so to find out what lessons they learned in the school of hard knocks.
I was recently reminded of this source of information to make more effective business career plans when I corresponded with Dr. Robert Hartinger, a banking executive in Germany who is a Ph.D. graduate of Rushmore University. Dr. Hartinger kindly agreed to share his career experiences and lessons with me so that I could pass them along to you.
Dr. Hartinger started off presuming that the quality of your education was very important to career success. After graduating from his business program at a German university, he soon learned that you have few occasions to apply any of the theoretical knowledge that most schools provide. As a result, new graduates are stuffed full of knowledge and theory that has little relevance to what their employers need.
Instead, degrees qualify people to be considered for certain jobs. Many employers pride themselves on hiring from certain schools and restricting top jobs to those with the most advanced graduate degrees.
Traditional schooling provides few insights into what various industries and types of jobs are like. If students aren’t careful, they’ll seek a type of work that they won’t like. There are two alternatives available:
1. Examine industries and jobs carefully to set the right objectives.
2. Study at a school where you get practical experience in applying theoretical knowledge which gives you a sense of what a career doing that work might be like.
Dr. Hartinger doesn’t rule out the first alternative, but he’s confident that the second one is essential. If possible do both, but at least do the second. From what you learn, he also recommends that you focus on just a few opportunities. Otherwise, your attention and energies will be too widely scattered.
A lot of business success depends on your personality. That’s something that graduate schools often ignore. Outgoing people with pleasing, helpful personalities will do a lot better than grumpy, self-absorbed geniuses who rarely talk to anyone.
Many studies show that the ability to connect to other people in the organization greatly helps both job effectiveness and advancement. Why? It’s simple: You can’t know all of the answers, but with help from others you can do a great job.
But it’s not enough to simply be a connection point within the organization. You also need to add skills that improve your effectiveness.
Here’s where online learning can make a difference. People don’t care where you learn a skill; they are just pleased when you add one that’s relevant to your situation.
Today, many companies offer financial assistance for those who wish to learn new skills. When that assistance is provided over the Internet, costs are reduced and you can take more courses than those who enroll in classroom-based courses. In addition, learning while you work allows you the chance to apply what you are learning. In that way, you can sift through lots of theoretical knowledge to get just what you need. Dr. Hartinger also notes that if an online school offers flexibility in designing courses, your skill improvement can be even greater.
Too many people are content to remain in the positions in which they find themselves. The thought of studying the needs of the next position just above them never seems to enter their minds. It is possible for every man to rise above his position and it makes no difference how humble that position may be, nor under what disadvantages he may be placed. But he must be alert. He must not be afraid of work and of the hardest kind of work. He must study not only to please, but he must go a step beyond. It is important of course, that he should first of all fill the position for which he is engaged.
No man can solve the problem of business before he understands the rudiments of the problem itself. Once the requirements of a position are understood and mastered, then its possibilities should be undertaken. It is foolish, as some young men argue that to go beyond their special position is impossible with their employers. The employer never existed who will prevent the cream of his establishment from rising to the surface. The advance of an employee always means the advance of the employer’s interests. An employer would rather pay a young man five thousand dollars a year than five hundred dollars. What is to the young man’s interest is much more to the interest of his employer.
A young man makes of a position exactly what he chooses: a millstone around his neck or a stepping stone to larger success. The possibilities lie in every position; seeing and embracing them rest with its occupant. The lowest position can be so filled as to lead up to the next and become a part of it. One position should be only the chrysalis for the development of new strength to master the requirements of another position above it.
The average young man is extremely anxious to get into a business position in which there are what he calls ‘prospects’ for advancement. It is usually one of his first questions, ‘What are my prospects here?’ He seems to have the notion that the question of his ‘prospects’ or advancement is one entirely in the hands of his employer, whereas it rarely occurs to him that it is a matter resting entirely with him. An employer has, of course, the power of promotion, but that is all. He cannot advance a man unless the man first demonstrates that he is worthy of advancement. Every position offers prospects; every business house has in it the possibility of a young man’s bettering himself. But it depends upon him, first. If he is of the average come-day go-day sort and does his work in a mechanical or careless fashion, lacking that painstaking thoroughness which is the basis of successful work, his prospects are naught. And they will be no greater with one concern than with another, although he may identify himself with a score during a year.
Want to have an international business career? Well, why not? But first, go through this short list of reminders:
* Most positions in international business career are located in the urban areas in the United States. So if you live in the rural areas, you have fewer opportunities available.
* Employment restrictions do exist so you may or you may not be able to obtain positions abroad.
* Expatriates, or American citizens working abroad, often have an advantage over non-expatriates. However, they are only typically employed if they possess certain skills or experience. So this means that having the right skills and experience are still the best guarantee you have to building an international business career.
* One of the best international employers is the Peace Corps, which has its own business-related set of opportunities. In addition, financial institutions, consulting firms, and manufactures also offer strong opportunities for international business careers.
* The fast track to an international business career in most companies is through sales, market research, advertising, or product management.
* As a general rule, your best chance for an international business career is with an American multinational economy.
Now you know the basics in international business career, here is how to prepare for it:
Start while still in school.
There is really no better starting point that when you are still in school and contemplating your career options. Seek out opportunities related to business. Preferable areas that you should focus on include accounting, finance, and marketing. Remember the stark reality: the fast track to an international business career often involves sales, marketing, and advertising. So choosing courses that address these areas in business and finance should help you prepare for a career in international business.
Narrow down your interests.
Once you have settled on a career, it is time for you to narrow down your interests. Focus on one particular field of business that offers several potential global opportunities. These may include: accounting, advertising, administrative/management, auditing, banking/finance, communications, computers/data processing, consulting, cultural affairs, and the like.
Obtain related experience.
There are many ways you can gain experience related to business. Through internships, summer jobs, or part-time employment, you will be exposed to current business practices and will gain valuable experience and even contacts as a result.
Try to find internship programs and other opportunities that are directly related to your chosen career goal. For instance, if you want a career in international finance, then work in a bank. You may not be able to intern or work in their international division, but you can still use this opportunity to learn all you can from someone in that office.
Also, you can volunteer to help out in an international division. Or ask someone who may have international experience about the international market
Dr. Joel Evans, the RMI Distinguished Professor of Business, led a discussion with economists and regional business leaders about labor market trends, the job market, and opportunities for growth.