The following is a guest post from Bogey at Back Nine Finance.
T Minus 1 Year
The idea that the hunt for a career to step into begins after you graduate from college (or high school, trade school, etc.) is completely outdated. In fact, the preparation time suggested by the title of this section (1 Year) might not even be aggressive enough given the employment environment that we are in currently, including an unemployment rate in excess of 9% (which some would argue is, in fact, much higher). But at the bare minimum, one year before you are set to enter the workforce, your preparation better be kicked into high gear. These days, the likelihood that you will be competing with candidates that have real world work experience is high. You must prepare very well, and be able to communicate why an employer should choose to hire you over a plethora of experienced candidates and other new grads. You might be asking - how do I prepare better than other candidates in an age where everyone has access to absurd amounts of information on this subject?
My Story
Midway through my 4 years in college, I finally decided upon the career path I wanted to pursue (commercial banking, more specifically, commercial lending). I had always been great with numbers, but had trouble picturing myself in any career that had me stuck at a desk most of the day with little human interaction. Discovering commercial lending was a breath of fresh air for me. I was thrilled to find a career in which in depth financial knowledge was very important, but also was the ability to interact with people at high levels in business, such as business owners themselves and CFO’s.
Thankfully, I lived in a college town that had countless banks, so I began to contact people inside those banks who held the job I had decided I eventually wanted to obtain – commercial lender. Most of these people were surprisingly willing to speak with me. I asked all sorts of questions about what skills I should develop, who I should get to know, how to break into the profession, etc. Throughout these conversations, one common theme kept coming up. All of my contacts said that having some sort of formal credit analysis training would set me apart from the crowd. Picking up on this recommendation and taking it to heart is the single most important thing that got me where I am today.
After interacting with several folks in my chosen profession and hearing over and over that “formal credit analysis training” was what I needed to set myself apart, it only took about 2 hours of internet research to realize that there were only 2 banks in my chosen geographical area that offered a program like this to new graduates. One of these institutions was head and shoulders above the other, and they just so happened to list the contact information of the recruiter/program coordinator right on their website. Good news and bad news. The good news was that I had just identified the company I wanted to work for out of college, and they had a program that would put me on the fast track to the career I was focused on obtaining. The bad news was that I did not have much of a backup plan (sure, I would interview with a ton of companies, but there was really only one that I wanted to work for).
The Maniacal Preparation
After realizing with 2 years until college graduation that I had identified the company where I wanted to work (and didn’t have much of a viable backup plan), I took the following steps over the next 2 years to be sure that nothing would be left to chance (at least when it came to what I could control):
- I applied (and was rejected) for an internship at my target company. Many people would give up at this early stage in the game, and I even considered shifting course at this point. But in the end, it gave me an opportunity to develop a relationship with the college recruiter at my target company. This allowed me to directly ask her what my perceived weaknesses were, which in turn allowed to me improve upon and directly address these perceived weaknesses when it came time to interview for a full time position. Keeping in touch with the recruiter also kept me firmly on her radar screen and allowed me to demonstrate my communication and networking skills.
- I read every book and attended every workshop that my school offered on the subject of interviewing (especially the workshop that was sponsored by my target company and hosted by the recruiter I had gotten to know). I participated in mock interviews when offered. I signed up for on campus interviews for companies which I had little interest in working for, just to gain extra practice.
- I obtained a copy of my target company’s latest annual report and learned everything I could about their financial condition, key executives within the company, the company’s plan for growth, key business challenges, etc.
- After being accepted for the final interview process on site at the company (following two successful rounds of on-campus interviews), I learned that I would be involved in 12 different 15 minute interviews with top executives at the company (many of whom I learned about in the company’s annual report).
- Knowing that my time with each interviewer would be short, I took into account everything I knew about interviewing and everything I knew about the company, and developed what I called at the time…
My Magic Interview Sound Byte
To put it simply, knowing that my time with each interviewer would be short, I came up with one central idea that I wanted to be sure and communicate to every single interviewer, hopefully towards the very end of each interview. It went something like this:
“I understand that you are meeting with several outstanding candidates throughout this process, all of them equally as qualified as myself, perhaps even more so. What I want to be sure and communicate to you is that I understand the huge investment you will be making in whoever you decide to hire. You’ll spend a year providing every conceivable type of training, all the while receiving very little production from me in return. I just want you to understand that I am committed long term to the banking industry – I really want to be here –and if you were to offer me a position in this program, I would jump at the opportunity and do everything within my power to become a solid employee for you.”
In my opinion, it was this simple recognition by me that company executives are worried about investing in employees who are unproven, and who might not stick around to become productive employees (the banking industry is notorious for training people and seeing them jump ship to other financial professions) that ultimately landed me the position I worked for 2 years to obtain.
A Brief Word on Choosing Between Multiple Offers
And I mean very brief. After you work your tail off to receive an offer from your dream company, you will undoubtedly receive other offers, simply because you put in so much time to become a skilled interviewer. The other offers might pay much more. Take my advice. Stick to the plan you put in place years ago. By now, your chosen career path has likely become a passion. It will pay off for you in due time.
Interesting article, looking forward to reading more. It kind of amuses me that he is in to commercial lending when my father works for a bank with the commercial loans that go bad. So basically, when the author of the article messes up. ;) Kidding.
Posted by: JM | February 14, 2011 at 06:02 AM
The first criteria is you need to know what you want to be in the future before you can do anything. The problem is many students even after graduated didn't know what they wanted to do. Happy for the author that he can realize his dream because not many people can do it. Good luck!
Posted by: jbhk | February 14, 2011 at 07:40 AM
@ JM
That is certainly a part of lending, there will occasionally be money lost. I'd say there are 4 reasons commercial loans go bad (off subject, but just FYI):
1. Lender error in judgement (usually lending team error in judgement, as several people must approve the loan).
2. Mistake by the loan documentation department.
3. Fraud by Borrower
4. Extremely bad economy hurts the business to the point where the loan cannot be repaid (this has happened a lot in the past few years).
@ jbhk
Your comment is spot on. I think young people should try harder to figure out what they want to do. Too many people just keep going to school forever because they cannot figure it out. But I'm not convinced that a lot of poeople truly want to face reality and work in earnest on finding a career that will suit them. Many people just delay entering the real world as long as possible.
Posted by: Bogey | February 14, 2011 at 08:54 AM
Awesome article, extremely informative. Thank you so much for sharing your experience - it's extremely helpful.
Posted by: BD | February 14, 2011 at 10:44 AM
@ BD
I apprciate the kind comment. By the way - if you click through the link to my website, I have a contact me form there. I am more than happy to answer any questions you might have. Alternatively, you can ask questions in this coment thread, and I will repsond for all to see.
Posted by: Bogey | February 14, 2011 at 11:23 AM
@Bogey - My comment was based on what I saw from my husband's family. You are also right that people try to delay entering the reality if they can. My husband's nephew spent 6 years in the college to get one degree. He spent two semesters to finish his last two English classes. My husband's niece didn't feel degree was important, so she spent three years after high school in many different things. Now, she is trying to get a degree in nursing. But what made them to behave like this was mainly because they had a very financially-supportive mother and their mom really liked to keep her kids staying with her.
Posted by: jbhk | February 14, 2011 at 12:25 PM
This is an extremely informative article and outlines a supurb plan which could work across multiple fields and industries. Best regards, Barb Friedberg (former career counselor at major CA university :)
Posted by: Barbara Friedberg | February 26, 2011 at 08:19 PM