Five Career Moves I Would Make All Over Again

Apparently I’ve reached the point in my career where I can “look back”.  How do I know this?  People younger than me ask for advice, such as “What was your biggest career mistake?” or “What do you wish you had done differently?”

My first instinct is to tell them, “Hey, I’m still in the game and playing well, thank-you-very-much!”

But I know what they mean.  Their intention is good and of course we all want to learn from those who have “Been There, Done That.”

I’m going to answer their question in a slightly different way. Here are Five Career Moves I Would Make All Over Again.

• Go to Grad School. One of the best decisions of my life, although at the time it was an escape from a poor career choice.  Little did I realize how much better prepared I would be for the business world, armed with a couple of years of work experience plus an MBA.   In more recent years my MBA has served me well when applying for jobs when most companies say “Bachelors degree required, masters preferred”.  It knocks down that barrier to entry.

• Follow My Passion. There’s truth to the saying, “Do what you love and the money will follow”. It may take a few extra years for the money to catch up, although being happy at work is priceless. It was hard to buck the trend of going with a high-paying job out of grad school in order to follow my dream, yet I have never looked back.  It’s been an awesome ride.

• Be Uncomfortable. At one time I was convinced that I must follow a certain trajectory straight to the top of the corporate ladder. Then a VP at another company offered me a job in event marketing, something totally out of left field.  I remember thinking this was a pivotal moment: stay in a job where you are comfortable or move to something totally new and uncomfortable. I took the job and discovered a new skill set and passion for work that led me to bigger and better things.  All because I allowed myself to be uncomfortable.

• Do Something Stupid. There was the time when I accepted a job pretty much for the money.  While it sounded good on paper, there was a nagging voice in my head that said “This job isn’t right for you”. Then the company threw a large compensation package my way.  It was, literally, too good to pass up and I took the bait. Despite my mistake, it was worth the move because I have no regrets, no “What if I had tried for the big payday?”  And I learned a valuable lesson – listen to your inner voice.

• Continue to Learn. When Facebook and Twitter burst onto the scene, I was one of the first at my company to log on and learn about these new applications.  Why? Because we needed to use them and it would be good for me to “own” this in my department. I continue to try new technologies and applications as they appear, even if I don’t use them regularly.  They apply to my line of work and it’s important to stay educated – especially if you want to change jobs.

There you have it; Five Career Moves I Would Make All Over Again.  This list is not complete by any means.  Hopefully it helps you think about what kind of effort you put into your career, or gets you thinking about which way you want to go.

In ten, twenty, thirty years, what will you look back on and say, “I would do that all over again?”