In a very competitive workplace, establishing, growing, and leveraging your professional community can make all the difference as you search for your initial work opportunity, improve satisfaction at your current job, or find your next work adventure. In this course, you will learn how to tap into your existing personal and professional networks to find your tribe and then leverage your professional community for your benefit (and sometimes the benefit of your employer!). Given that job satisfaction and job opportunities, are often integrally intertwined with “doing good,” you will engage in an introspective exercise evaluating your interests and values so you can incorporate those ideals into your work. Finally, you will understand how service experiences can be extremely valuable in growing your professional community and contributing to company success.
Do's and Don'ts Montage
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Do curso por University of California San Diego
Networking and Volunteerism for Career Success
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Best Practices for Connecting and Reconnecting Work and Community
Conheça os instrutores
Jess Yuen
Gretchen Laue
Look at your community as a team and so when you see things
that somebody might be interested in or, you know,
just be aware of that person as
an individual person not as a means to an end for you and your career.
The other thing is, if you meet somebody while you're
networking and you want to follow up because you feel like they could be helpful to you,
don't sit down with like,
you know, a blank slate and say OK I need help,
mentor me, or help me.
It's much more effective to say, you know,
I still seek people out all the time especially when I became a new executive director.
Because I knew so many executive directors
having been in the grant making world for a while.
So when I sit down,
when I ask somebody to meet with me,
I have a few things I would really like their input on.
And then you're making the best use of their time,
you're getting something out of it.
They feel good because you are meeting
them halfway at least and not just you know coming in and taking.
I think it's important to think about how you how you operate in
the work world whether it's for profit or nonprofit.
A lot of, you know,
up until graduation, it's really about your success.
It's really about what you need to do to, you know,
move forward, to get into the school you want,
to graduate with the grades that you want, and all of that.
Once you get into the work world,
the most effective thing you can do and I think the most,
the best thing you can do to attract people to looking at you as
someone that they want to assist is manage up.
It's about- and managing up is inch- if you can make
your boss or supervisor look good you may not- nobody may be looking at you at first.
But if you gain the trust of your boss,
your supervisor, you make them look good,
that will just carry you forward.
And when you're a boss and a supervisor and you have a staff person that does that,
you will see why I'm saying that.
Because that is so- it is just- I'm so grateful for staff
who can do that and aren't coming in
because it's all about the impact that they want to make.
And especially when you're applying for jobs,
to look- be very cognizant of how you are
helping the vision that's been in place before you got there.
You know, this is not the time for you to assert your vision.
This is the time for you to get on board and see
how to move a vision forward as a team player.
And then later when you get a little more experience, you know,
and you've built trust then people will let you lead.
If there's someone that you would really like to learn from,
understand why, what it is,
and tell that person what it is.
I really admire this about you.
I really admire how you did this in your career.
What were some of the things or some
of the challenges or some of the things you wish you would have done differently?
People like to talk about themselves and feel that and I don't mean that in a bad way.
But you want to- it feels good if someone else can learn from your mistakes as well.
I know we already we talked a little bit about being authentic already
and I just can't emphasize that enough.
You know this is not about impressing someone with who you are or how much you know.
In fact be OK with how much you don't know and be honest with how much you don't know.
That just, that opens up people so much more than when you're,
you know, it's kind of a natural thing.
If you're, like, and early in your career,
you feel like when you know you're
networking or talking to someone that you hope would be your mentor,
that you have to impress them,
and not knowing something is going to look badly on,
you know, make you diminish you know diminish you in their eyes.
But admitting that you don't know something is about
the biggest sign of strength that you can show.
So being authentic is really the key.
I think people really need to speak up.
And when you want to speak up at work to to ask for more,
to ask for something that you think is going to move you ahead.
Don't be defensive about it.
Don't be angry about it.
This may be the first time that they've even considered it.
I remember when I was working in- this really like jelled for me when I
was working at this software company before my nonprofit career.
And there was an office where you had to start, like,
the new person on the team had to work in the bat cave and that was what we
called this really dark office with no windows that was incredibly depressing.
And I had a colleague who was leaving and she was vacating one of
the window offices which I felt I was next in line for.
But then I overheard them saying that
they would maybe put her replacement in that office.
And so, I said,
hey I think I'm I might be next in line for that.
And the boss said oh,
oh yeah, OK, great.
And I realized at that moment like nobody's they're not- it's
unrealistic to imagine that your boss or your supervisor is
looking out for every element of your well-being.
And you just need to find a voice.
So back to the question of what do you do when you're stuck?
Figure out what you need and ask for it.
I can't think of anything better that you can do in terms of
advancing your career than putting yourself out there and asking for help.
Whenever I'm thinking about,
do I need a new job, a new opportunity.
Or is there something, you know,
that I some sort of value that I can
bring to this organization if I reach out to that person. I do it.
And all that, every time,
I find that people are open to me making the contact,
and me making the ask.
And again it's not to be just like what can you do for me.
It's relationship, right?
It's not a one way street.
You're asking for help now but they know that when they need help, they'll ask you.
It's just like real relationships and friendships outside of that.
And like I said I would say to anybody don't ever be ashamed,
you know, go out there ask for help.
But be ready to give it as well because it is sort of
like the pay it forward karma thing.
And like I said,
I have no problem calling up someone and saying,
hey let's go for coffee I want to talk this thing through whether it's an issue at work
that I need to work forward or if I'm if it's time for me to look for another job.
If you're looking to transition or you're looking to kick off your professional career,
the key to all of this is getting involved.
Something that you're passionate about whether it's your profession,
whether it's a club,
it's an organization you need to get involved.
You need to get involved with like minded individuals that
would help support your passion whether again it's your job,
or it's animals, and kids, people.
Whatever it is that you're interested
in and whatever it is that you're looking to achieve,
it's getting involved getting within and running within the same circles.
And from that and it's network building, a strong network,
and knowing who you want to connect with and why and connecting with those people.
But again it starts with getting involved.
I've been in a situation where I felt stuck at my job
and it's hard when you lose the passion for what you're doing.
But at the same time you need to live and you go through the day to day.
And you have to take a moment to really think about what it is that you want to do.
Is it the job?
Is it the people at the job?
Is it that you're not passionate about what you're doing?
And then change it. Change it.
And you start, you start reaching out to your networks.
You start reaching out and talking to people about
exploring opportunities about looking for change.
Or kind of putting yourself out there saying, you know,
I have a job now but I'm always interested in growing my portfolio.
Or I'm always interested in learning and being a part of,
you know, something new or something different.
It's about putting yourself out there without giving away the fact
that you're dead stock and that you really want to get the heck out of where you're at.
But it's slowly putting the word out there.
And the more you do that, at some point,
someone's going to reach back out to you and open up a door.
You know, I think the people that are stuck in their career do have aspirations.
They're not stuck and not knowing what to do.
They're stuck and they're afraid of taking that next step because that next step
involves leaving what you're comfortable with
and reaching for that vine for the next job.
And there's a point where you're letting go of
one vine and grabbing onto the next one and that's the scariest part.
And that's why I think a lot of people avoid it.
I've never heard of anybody saying that that was a mistake,
to take that leap.
And to go learn something new and to jump into a different industry.
Not all careers are like that.
You know physicians for example they train for
12 or 14 years to do what they're going to do.
And it's difficult to turn around and go change and go take another job.
Not so much so for an undergraduate who's been working for a few years.
Another great way to cross that chasm is to go to graduate school.
You know I was in sales and marketing, I went to law school.
And that took me to a completely different area.
And there's so many interesting things about the law.
I had considered at one point leaving the science area
altogether and becoming a prosecutor or a public defender.
There's a lot of attractive things about that and it's just
really an interesting position.
I fortunately ended up still in
the sciences side utilizing the law as a tool in my toolkit.
I mean if someone feels stuck in their job you know it's a very simple thing.
Like, do an inventory, what do you feel stuck about is it or is it the people?
Sometimes it's not the job.
It's the people you're interacting with.
We've all had jobs where the personality fit wasn't right.
But if you go through, you know, like I just don't like what I'm doing,
then you have to start, then that's,
I mean Google is your friend.
Start figuring out the things that you like.
And I also think there's so- there's a wealth of
opportunity with career coaches now online, off line.
If you're really that struggling that hard,
it's good to bring someone else in.
I mean you can query your friends but they'll just say,
oh you're great at everything,
oh everything, I mean,
you need a little bit more critical eye.
And there's all sorts of diagnostic tests out there
that can really gauge your strength, interest, and values.
And that's really important because a lot of us,
a lot of times I think people,
especially in the past, pick jobs because it's like oh
well I know there's going to be jobs there, there's job security.
Well, the job market is changing so fast there's no job security in anything.
So you're going to have to embrace change,
and love it, and look at it as an opportunity.
And so that's where it gets into really what's
inside you and what makes you, what motivates you.
It's not the skills, it's not like well I can do an excel sheet,
or I can write a great story.
It's like I want to be in education because I believe it provides opportunity.
And so I'm passionate about that.
And I will change my job within that field.
But I know that that's something that gives me meaning.
And I think too many people are looking for like, you know,
oh how can can I make that money is there jobs, is there job security?
And I think we're going to have to get away from that and really look
to who you are as a person.
Because I think if you get into that,
if you get into like what really motivates me,
what gives me joy and pride,
then you can weather when things go bad in your work life.
And they are going to go bad.
No one has a work life that is just sunshine and roses.
It just doesn't exist.
So we're looking for people, I mean,
on the science side whether it's high tech or biotech in the sciences,
you want to see that spark of interest of curiosity.
You want to see people that are eager to learn.
And one of the best ways to interview for that is to
ask them about their favorite course in college.
And they might say something that they know will impress you like,
oh o-chem lab was my favorite course.
And that's your opportunity to say,
what is it about o-chem lab that you like so
much and really drill down and ask a lot of questions.
The kid that can describe the experiment to you
and what inspired them is a kid you want to hire.
So what I really do try to do is take stock of what I have accomplished over the year.
You know I try to write down the things.
Everyone tells you to write the notes to journal on
what are your accomplishments so that you don't come at the end of the year and go,
oh what did I do, like, who am I?
Why does anyone care?
So those are the kind of things that I do.
In terms of a work life balance,
you know, I am married and I have a family.
And so I've been very good in terms
of like you get my all during the times that I'm there.
And then there's a certain like between 5:30 and 8:30 my family gets my all.
And if there's work that needs to be done after that then I'll take care of it.
But it's just kind of creating, like, what,
where are the boundaries and where do you give your all at what time.
And so I think relationships get
built the same way whether they're virtual or in person, right?
And it's based on trust but it's also based on the willingness to ask for things.
So this is a very interesting story.
When I was a journalist,
I was a terrible networker because I didn't ever want to pollute the relationship.
But how I got people to trust me, or talk to me,
or do those sort of things was by being a good honest broker and doing a good job.
Right? No one ever felt burned by me.
I was courteous to a fault.
I checked all my facts,
you know, and that was how you build relationships.
And that's how I build relationships in a personal level with everyone I work with.
I don't think, there's very few people would think
that I back stabbed them or that I did anything untoward.
It was always very like sort of how I deal with people that work for me.
If it's working, it's working and we're going to be good.
If it's not, we'll talk about it and figure out a way to correct it.
So I think that goes to the social media world as well.
Right. It's like you just- you're a good person,
when people ask for help on LinkedIn, you provide help.
You know, you just stay connected.
You remain positive.
You put your best self forward.
I mean I know there's a lot of- with social media that there's
this fake world and where people look like everything's great.
And I, you know, it's always hard.
Like you want to be a little bit real but I don't think you need to be too real.
Like I have people on there like,
you're sharing that when they're rerunning.
Really? But what I do think is really
interesting about these social these virtual networks that we're
creating is that it does allow you to be-
to ask for help from people that feel like strangers.
And it's really difficult for people to do that.
But I can't think of anything better that you can do in
terms of advancing your career than putting yourself out there and asking for help.
Making the contact through LinkedIn?
Great. If they respond say, sure I'll help you.
Great. If you don't hear back from him. Pay him one more time.
This is- it should not become a stalking situation right?
And if and if they say and if it goes well,
they say, hey can we meet for coffee.
Then great. But if they say, no I'm too busy.
Then that's sort of- you just have to- the social cues that we
have in our real life is the same with virtual life.
And again knowing the boundaries,
if it's someone that you would refer to,
you can push a little bit more,
if it's someone that you're sort of almost cold calling.
I think you have to be a little bit more sensitive.
Everyone will tell you with their social media, like,
really do an audit,
and think about who you are, and who you want to present.
Right. The example that everyone says is like, you know,
go through all your pictures on Facebook or Instagram and how many
like red solo cups or drinks are you- I mean what does that look like, right?
I mean it's, obviously, we take pictures when we're at parties.
But really do an audit of who you want to be perceived as and how are
you going to be perceived if people just did a scroll
because everyone's looking at your social media.
And so I think that's very critical.
Like don't be fake but put your best foot forward or face forward.
And again I think really realizing what the tools are for and how they're different.
You know, I look at Facebook as sort of like that's
what you get to share with your grandmothers,
and aunts, and everything like that.
But you still have to remember you're a professional or professional world
and you're going to have some professional people look at that.
So you want to make sure that whatever you have is something that's kind of,
you know, a PG or a G like a general audience.
Twitter is where you can engage on a professional level and show your chops.
I mean I look at Twitter as sort of my news feed.
And the people I follow are people that are in my areas of
interest whether it's news, politics, education.
And I look at that as a way to have conversations with those people and remain relevant.
LinkedIn is just, you know,
it is what you want to use for your job search and
sort of again the very professional forward-facing,
you know, how can you be engaged in that really professional conversation.
Instagram again it's the glossy thing and it- I don't know if that gets you a job.
But again you have to have an eye toward what
your brand is or who's going to be seeing it.
So just take a glance a lens through that,
you know, you don't want to be so manufactured.
You need to be an authentic person because you are
a person and I always hate when people talk about,
oh know what your brand is, and because it's kind of icky.
But you have to be authentic.
But also again really think about how you're going to be perceived.
I know when it's time to move on from a job and
you're looking and you're just looking for a job is like the worst.
Right? I mean you just, it's like you're putting yourself out there.
People are judging you and it's horrible.
But that's the time when you need to be more bold.
When you need to really push yourself out there.
It's like kind of after a breakup and like friends are telling you to go out for it.
Let's go out and party and you're like, no.
That's what you need to do when you're looking for a job,
you need to get out there.
You need to have positive re-affirmation even if it doesn't lead to a job.
And you need to practice your elevator pitches.
And those are all those things you can do when you're doing these networking.
And I saw what it did for them and I'm like,
hey people like me.
I can make this- ask and it was- and as soon as I
started asking for coffee or lunch people are saying yes and it's helping.
So then you just go with what works.
I think the difference today from multiple generations before is that
technology and globalization are
changing local communities and local jobs in profound ways.
When I was a girl,
I graduated from college in 1964.
You went to two or three cities if you wanted to work for a national company.
And if you wanted to go into foreign affairs or work for an international company,
you probably went to Boston or New York.
But, nowadays, you can live in Wichita,
Kansas or Santa Ana,
California and work for a global company.
Nowadays, no matter where you work advanced technology is changing the content of
the products you produce or the services you deliver
and oftentimes displacing people with automation.
So these imperatives in the 21st century that we have to respond to,
of globalization and rapid changes in technology,
mean that nothing is certain nothing is fixed.
And so going back to our early count earlier,
ideas around networks and adaptability and readiness for change.
Those are the watchwords today for career success.
It's really important to have foundational knowledge.
You've got to be able to write.
You've got to be able to do math.
If you're, you know, if you're going to work in
engineering related fields a good solid background in engineering is important.
But the specialization you've came out of college with
may be obsolete within five years of graduation.
And so you've got to be ready to acquire new skills.
I want to share an example and, again,
it's based on the San Diego economy which is very much
a high tech entrepreneurial economy but it's going through a pivot right now.
We have a one of the highest percentage of engineers working
in our professional workplace of any city in America.
And there're- because there're engineers in the defense sector,
there're engineers in high tech,
there're engineers increasingly in the life sciences, and in retail,
and in food technologies because of the significance of software and data analytics.
And just a few weeks ago,
I was in a conversation with the chief technology officers of
a half dozen multi-billion dollar drug development companies
who are tearing their hair out saying,
UCSD is graduating all these great engineers and there are
all these engineers that used to work in the defense industry,
and have worked for places like Qualcomm but none of
them understand life sciences and drug development.
We can't hire them.
They don't understand our product,
our market, our processes.
And so, we said,
well let's do a fast-track education and training program:
introduction to the life sciences industry,
introduction to drug development,
introduction to clinical trials and drug development.
So they can bring their engineering and programming skills to a new set of problems.
And the reality is that more and more of us are being asked to acquire new skills
to complement the foundational skills we've gotten whether we
got a teaching credential or a Ph.D. in physics or an M.D.
in neurosurgery.
I mean nobody wants a brain surgeon who's
still doing brain surgery like they did 50 years ago, right?
You'd like to believe the guy who's going to do surgery on
your brain tumor has the most advanced and up-to-date knowledge.
Well that's true across multiple professions,
so in the 21st century,
because markets change so quickly,
competitive issues change so quickly.
And technology means that a clothing company in Shanghai
can design and sell on the web glorious children's clothing that you and I want to buy.
At the same time that we're looking at a similar company in Sweden
which is designing children's clothing that we want to buy on the web.
Or in Buenos Aires.
And the competition is global even though the company's logo, local.
So these imperatives mean that how people think about their careers today,
in contrast, to how my generation thought about careers,
has to be very different.
And I use words like you've got to be opportunistic,
open to unplanned for opportunities,
take a chance, try a new job.
As I've said in earlier comments,
make a lateral move,
make a step back if you have to because it might open a door.
But you also have to be ready.
You can't just have to want to do something.
You have to know enough about how to do it,
that you'll be an attractive promising employee,
which is why lifelong learning and continuous education.
And there's very good data that shows particularly among older adults,
which means 35 and above if you live in California,
one of the things employers look for is is the person taking classes.
Is the person learning new skills,
learning a new programming language,
or learning a foreign language,
or going to a sales course,
or going to a management course?
It's seen as an indicator of a willingness to adapt,
a readiness to take on new challenges and opportunities.
And then, the third thing that I think is important about
the 21st century workplace which is
covered in some of the other courses in this sequence,
is the ability to take on a project where the goals and the way to
get to the end point are not clear but to be problem focused.
To find a way to- a different way to build a box,
or a different way to reach a market,
or a different way to deliver a service,
or a different way to save money for the company.
So a little bit of creativity and risk taking.
And you can get practice at that in
your workplace but also in workshops and other things.
What I hear from these young employment companies like Hired is that
employers also like people when they look at resumes who are long distance runners,
or hikers, or hang gliders.
You know, people who are adventurous who suggest they're capable of taking risks.
People who've gone to the rain forest
rather than on the typical summer European study tour.
And so the 21st century workplace I
think lives off the networks,
the readiness, and the adventurous openness that employees can bring to the workplace.
And then if you can develop those qualities,
on top of the foundational knowledge you've got
in a college degree or in your previous work experience,
you've got the recipe for success.
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