Career Management Rohit Gupta 04142008 Final

Career Management Rohit Gupta [email_address] April 14, 2008

A couple questions
How many of you know what you want to do in 5 years?
2 years?
What is the point of me being here:
What I wish I heard when I was sitting in your seat 4 years ago

My Background
MIT Class of 2005
Majored in 6.1, with a minor in 17
Worked in politics, technology startups, consulting
Currently at Accenture specializing in software architecture
Spend at least 2 hours/week on career status
Interview, on average, once every month

Agenda
My Background
Managing Your Career
Reinventing Yourself
Useful Links and Books
Questions

Managing Your Career – Treat Like A Stock
What does it mean to manage your career?
Why is it important?
What can I do?

Focus areas:
Assess yourself frequently and objectively
Be cognizant of yourself at work
Find a mentor
Get to know people
Develop a personal brand
Take on multiple projects, new challenges
The customer is king
Learn to estimate

Managing Your Career: Assess yourself
Constantly update your resume and have others review
Have your family, friends and colleagues review it – ask for honest feedback
Play to your strengths
An example
Minimize potential weakness areas
An example
Take a personal assessment test
Gallup’s Strengthsfinder
Be objective!
Get feedback from people around you
Be open to constructive criticism

Managing Your Career: Self-awareness at work
Understand what other people think of you
How?
Attitude is key
The little things matter a lot
Pick your battles
Manage your boss or supervisor
Set expectations often
Seek informal feedback
Learn when and how to delegate

Managing Your Career: Find a Mentor
Early on, find someone you can trust as a mentor
Talk to this person frequently, establish trust
Seek out whenever you need workplace advice
Update them on your career thoughts and vision

Managing Your Career: Get to know people
Get to know people (i.e. network )
Always have business cards handy
Keep in touch, even if there is no immediate need
Stay in touch with old contacts from MIT, UROPs, internships
Take initiative
Listen and care to what they have to say (be sincere!)
Join common interest groups

Managing Your Career: Develop a personal brand
Learn the elevator pitch (30 seconds or less)
What you do
What are your interests
What you see yourself doing down the road (even if you have no idea)
Your experience
Make sure the people around you know what it is you do
Talk to your boss and mentor frequently
Be positive about your contributions

Managing Your Career: Take on new challenges
An example
Why take on new challenges?
Exposes yourself to more people
Demonstrates initiative and leadership
Helps you find potential interests and strengths
Make sure to seek guidance when necessary
Be open and honest about your skill-set going in
Use your mentor
Generally , it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than beg for permission

Managing Your Career: The customer is king
Old adage applies: “Customer is always right”
Understand who your customer is (not just your boss)
Cater your job around the customer and treat them well
Respond to them immediately
Turn your customer into an advocate
Talk to them frequently
Seek feedback
Be honest

Managing Your Career: Learn to estimate
Estimation is an art, so practice
Measure pieces of the puzzle, not milestones
Brainstorm all possibilities
Factor in unknowns
2 + 2 ≠ 4
Contingency (multiply by 2-3)
Always list assumptions
Seek help, research, look at old projects
Live and learn
Cone of Uncertainty

Agenda
My Background
Questions

An example
What does it mean to reinvent yourself?
Find a new role
Take on a new responsibility
Pursue something on the side
Change jobs completely

Reinventing Yourself: The Learning Curve Learning Time 9-18 months 5+ years
What does this mean?

Reinventing Yourself: How much should I like my job?

Reinventing Yourself: Environmental Factors Interest Learning Logistics People Pay Perks Everyone is different, but this is what I have found…

Reinventing Yourself: Changing Jobs
Determine interests
Explore everything
What Color Is Your Parachute
Do not incrementally improve
Play to your strengths

Agenda
My Background
Questions

Now, Discover Your Strengths
https://www.strengthsfinder.com/
What Color Is Your Parachute
http://www.jobhuntersbible.com/
http://www.amazon.com/What-Color-Your-Parachute-2008/dp/1580088686/
The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers
http://www.amazon.com/Patterns-Extraordinary-Careers-Achieving-Satisfaction/dp/B000AXRTTW/
A Car, Some Cash, and a Place to Crash
http://www.amazon.com/Car-Some-Cash-Place-Crash/dp/1579546269
The Success Principles
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060594896/

References
Varun Gupta
The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers
http://www.5patterns.com/overview.php
Career Warfare: 10 Rules for Building a Successful Personal Brand and Fighting to Keep It
Countless colleagues, interviewers, companies, professors, advisors

Questions?

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Career Management Rohit Gupta 04142008 Final

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