Jeff Sonderman shared these slides with me and gave me permission to post them with a blog post about my address on career advice for student journalists. He uses these slides in his classes at Georgetown University.

1. 6 rules for career success
Posted with permission
of Jeff Sonderman

2. 6 rules for career success
1. Work beyond your job title
2. Teach yourself
3. Never assume the answer is “no”
4. Network in person
5. Talk about yourself
6. Be honest

3. 1. Ignore your job title

4. Ignore your job title
Once you get in the door, do the work you want
• Reach across departments
– Respect chain of command
• Look for new responsibilities
– Responsibility comes before advancement; not after
– Take on stretch assignments
• Be relentlessly helpful and involved
• Learn the difference between influence and
authority

5. 2. Teach yourself

6. Teach yourself new skills
• NewsU.org (journalism)
• Codecademy.com (HTML, CSS & coding)
• Lynda.com (software)
– Free with your NetID at shib.lynda.com/InCommon/
• KhanAcademy.org (math, science, economics,
history)
• Quora (Q&A from people who know)
• When in doubt, Google it

7. 3. Never say “no”
for someone else

8. Never say ‘no’ for someone
• Ask for the help you need
• Ask for the opportunity you want
• Ask to get experience you want
Be gracious and thankful, and follow through.
Don’t make someone regret helping you.

9. 4. In-person networking
is invaluable

10. In-person networking
• You only make real connections in person
– Conferences
– Meetups
– Seminars / workshops
• Find a way to get in the room
– Volunteer
– Event scholarships
• Have business cards to hand out
– Moo.com minicards, $20 for 100. Classy.

11. 5. Don’t be afraid
to talk about yourself

12. Talk about yourself
Successful people want to help others succeed
• Describe your ambitions and dreams
• Be humble, but confident

13. 6. Always be honest

14. Always be honest
• Say what you really think
– With respect, and at the right time
• Own your mistakes and learn from them
– People forgive mistakes, but not misleading
– If you don’t take responsibility today, you won’t
get more tomorrow
• You are a much worse liar than you think